On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines--and Future

This book is informative and well written. But then I would have expected no less from Karen Elliott. I know first hand that Karen spent a lot of time and effort researching for this book, including a lot of time in Saudi Arabia. That is in addition to the insights she earlier gained as Foreign Editor of the Wall Street Journal (and later as publisher).I was amused at Karen's comparison of Saudi society to that of Matador, Texas, in the 1950's and 1960's. But I certainly do appreciate where she was coming from and her perspective on it. I have noticed a number of other reviewers commenting on her references to Matador and wondering why she would draw that comparison. I will attempt to explain. I grew up with Karen, her sister, and brother at Matador, Texas,(population about 600, total county population about 1,200 now) during that time. She was one of the first persons I remember meeting as a child, aside from my immediate family and numerous cousins. At that time the Elliott family lived in an old house across the mesquite pasture from our house. My recollection is that their old house, rented from an old Matador Ranch cowboy named Gafford, did have some electricity but no running water; water was hand pumped from a cistern. Rattlesnakes would occasionally crawl out from under the the old house in the summer to loiter in the moist coolness of her mother's flowerbeds, where they likely got their heads chopped off with the garden hoe that all women kept near the doors to their houses for just that purpose. I remember building sand castles with Karen in the dry creek bed under the old wooden bridge near our homes after the sand was moist from one of the infrequent rains. West Texas was in a drouth then, as it is now. Not that it ever rains much in West Texas anytime. I thought she was the prettiest girl in the whole world then.Karen's father, Ted Elliott, was a good man, but he had his ways. Her mother Baily was an angel. Ted Elliott, a World War II veteran from rural Texas, ran the Modern Welding Shop in Matador. The only thing Modern about it was in the name. It was basically a blacksmith shop and Ted was the village blacksmith of Matador, population about 1,325 back then. Ted was a very hard and steady worker, well read and with a native mechanical genius at welding and making new things needed by the local farmers and ranchers. He provided for his family as best he could and it wasn't bad by Matador standards. But the whole area economy was then, as now, not very good and nearly everyone, even the people we thought were rich, was poor as dirt by today's modern city standards. We didn't know it because we didn't have much to campare with. Ted and his family were members of the Church of Christ, probably the most conservative of the Christian Protestant denominations. So were my parents and grandparents. Ted was one of the most conservative of the conservatives. Ted was described by many as cranky and hardheaded, and he probably was. But he was honest and forthright, and as for Bill Clinton today at the Presidential Library dedication describing George W Bush as being someone who spoke his mind, well he never met Ted Elliott. Later the Elliotts bought a modest frame house in town and Ted bought Baily a new 1965 Ford car about the time Karen was a junior in high school. Ted didn't believe in watching television and there was never a television in any of their houses. The homes were always spotlessly clean, but there were never televisions or any other entertainment devices. I think they finally did get a telephone (my own parents never got a telphone until after I had left home to go to Texas A&M). Ted didn't belive in dancing or partying or any other such foolishness, not for himself and certainly not for his daughters. He didn't want his daughters out dating unruly boys and carrying on like a bunch of heathens. That was what Ted wanted and that was what he got. Even by rural West Texas standards, Karen grew up in a repressive atmosphere. Probably much more so than nearly anyone else in town.All of rural West Texas is still staunchly independent, religious, and very conservative. It was even more so then. We used to have to drive sixty or a hundred miles just to buy a case of beer. Or pay the bootlegger a lot higher price. Only in the last year or so did Matador and Motley County elect to allow grocery stores or any other stores to sell beer and wine. The old red sandstone Motley County jail was in the 1970's condemned as being the worst jail in Texas, largely because all the three or four jail cells on the second floor faced the hanging cell and trapdoor in the middle. There is hardly any crime, except for a shooting every couple of decades or so. Usually over land or women, about the only things of value. The County Sheriff and his one deputy, along with the occasional highway patrolman, are all that is needed to keep the peace in the county. The people are overwhelmingly independent, law abiding, hardworking, honest, religious, and expect everyone else to be the same way. I guess some people would describe this as a repressive society. I didn't think so then when I was growing up there, and I don't think so now. Yes, it was and still is a little primitive compared to the permissiveness in the rest of the country. But that may be for the better. Most of us growing up there had our share of fun and wild times. Matador and Motley County society was never anything near the absolute monarchy and total islamic theocracy that still keeps Saudi Arabia and much of the rest of the world back in the stone age. But I can understand how Karen Elliott, growing up under the very firm hand of Ted Elliott, can remember it being a little repressive. But look how it all turned out. Both Karen's younger brother and her older sister earned doctoral degrees and sure don't seem very repressed to me. And Karen, well, she travelled the world, won the Pulitzer Prise, ran The Wall Street Journal, raised two children, and wrote this book. Not too bad for the daughter of a blacksmith from Matador, Texas.

Karen Eliott House's analysis of the Saudi Kingdom is colorful, authoritative, and startling in its conclusions. Among the strengths of House's examination of this troubled American Ally is the experience she gained from living in Saudi Arabia for several years over two decades, and in her use of interviews to lend depth and interest to her theses. The variety of those interviews, from Saudi Princes to the poorest of citizens lends support to her belief that, as a western woman, she has greater access to Saudi Society than a western man would. Many Saudi men met her, for while she is a woman, she is not a muslim woman, which made a great difference, And, of course, as a woman, she had access to Saudi women, who are forbidden to have contact with any unrelated male.Eliott presents many issues that may surprise her readers. Poverty is widespread in the Saudi population, and the Royal Family maintains power through handouts, but these handouts discourage ambition and promote a sense of entitlement. At the same time, the Saudi Royals keep the lid on religious fundamentalists by accommodation and bribery. Another ominous problem is the aging of the first generation of Saudi Princes, the youngest of whom is now over 60 years old. Unlike many monarchies, the Saudi royal family has arranged succession among the approximately 37 sons of the Saudi founder, Ibn Saud. As the end of the line approaches for this generation of brothers and half-brothers, succession will soon fall to the third generation. But which branch? An inter-family conflict is almost guaranteed. Eliott continues to delineate threat after threat--oil reserves are exaggerated, attempting to broaden the base of the economy has failed, citizens and clerics simmer with anger and resentment. Eliott explains each issue clearly, marshals numerous facts, excerpts appropriate interviews, and supplies interesting personal anecdotes. While I would wish for better editing to more tightly organize the many subjects and to eliminate repetition, this is a quick read. Eliott told me much that I did not know. The conclusion that Saudi Arabia is teetering on the edge of becoming a failed state is both startling and frightening. One can only dread the consequences of such a failure. This is an important book which will help us to accept and to prepare for this eventuality.