Desert kingdom : how oil and water forged modern Saudi Arabia / Toby Craig Jones.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Toby Craig, 1972-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Natural resources--Government policy--Saudi Arabia--History--20th century.

Natural resources.

Water resources development--Government policy--Saudi Arabia--History--20th century.

Water resources development.

Water--Government policy--Saudi Arabia--History--20th century.

Water.

Petroleum industry and trade--Government policy--Saudi Arabia--History--20th century.

Petroleum industry and trade.

Saudi Arabia--Politics and government--20th century.

Saudi Arabia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (321 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This is an environmental and political history of Saudi Arabia, revealing the power of the environment to shape and influence the political state. Jones traces the modernization of the Saudi state and its rich oil reserves that were developed with the help of U.S. expertise and a technocratic elite who managed not only the vast oil reserves and water supplies but also the growth of political institutions. From the time oil was discovered in the 1930's, its control has been at the center of Saudi political authority and of the modern state. In addition the state quickly learned to exploit access to water as a means of controlling the population. Jones demonstrates the power of the Saudi environment to influence its modern political institutions and ideologies over the last eighty years. It is a fascinating story that helps explain not only how the Saudi state was transformed but also how the U.S. was inextricably involved in its technological and political modernization from the beginning.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

1. The Nature of the State

2. Imperial Geology

3. The Dogma of Development

4. Engineering the Garden

5. The Black Gold Coast

6. The Wages of Oil

7. Nature's Retreat

Epilogue: House of Wisdom

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674264861

067426486X

9780674059405

0674059409

OCLC:

680017864