The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power

Saudi Arabia is an enigma to most Americans. The country is home to Islam's holiest sites and the world's largest proven oil reserves. A strategic partner to the U.S. in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is also the homeland of Osama bin Laden, and -fifteen of the nineteen hijackers who attacked the United States on Septem-ber 11, 2001. Although officially considered a "moderate" Islamic state by the U.S., Saudia Arabia enforces the same state religious ideology as did the Taliban.

In Saudi Arabia & the U.S., Arab American scholar As`ad AbuKhalil examines Saudi society, its history, religion, and ethnic tribalism, and the shared interests, tensions, and con-tradictions inherent in U.S.-Saudi relations.

As`ad AbuKhalil is the author of Bin Laden, Islam, and America's New "War on Terrorism."