Toby Jones tells us things about Saudi politics that no one else has, at least not reliably, using scholarly sources and methods. This is now the go- to book that breaks both empirical and conceptual new ground in Middle East studies. -- Robert Vitalis, The University of Pennsylvania In this excellent book, Toby Jones demonstrates that managing the environment was a means of building a state that could also manage its society. An outstanding contribution to the increasingly sophisticated historiography of Saudi Arabia and an essential read for those who want to understand the country's contemporary politics. -- F. Gregory Gause, III, University of Vermont A lucid account and a comprehensive analysis of how state power unfolds in oil fields and water wells. The state of nature and the nature of the state are meticulously explored in this fascinating book that definitely succeeds in mixing oil and water and sheds light on how the Saudi state exercises power over nature and society. -- Madawi Al-Rasheed, author of A History of Saudi Arabia, and Contesting the Saudi State Jones shows how technology, foreign expertise and physical resources were managed and mobilized to produce the structures of power in Saudi Arabia today-it is indispensable reading for understanding why Saudi Arabia is what it is. A signal achievement. -- Bernard Haykel, Princeton University It is impossible to think about Saudi Arabia's history the same way after reading this book. -- Jon Alterman, Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies In this highly original approach to investigating the underpinnings of power in Saudi Arabia, Toby Jones demonstrates the power of state institutions, multinational corporations and engineering firms to reshape societies and the environments they inhabit. -- David Commins, author of The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia
Toby Craig Jones is Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
[A] provocative book...Desert Kingdom is a much needed addition to
the small shelf of Saudi Arabian histories based on archival
research and political economy rather than caricatures of oil
wealth and the desert. The connection of geography to political
power is compelling.
*The Nation*
For a desert kingdom to concern itself with the control of water
would seem to be a given, but the subject has received slight
attention in studies of Saudi Arabia. Although oil has always
figured prominently in Saudi studies, this book is surely the first
to trace Saudi policies concerning oil and water since the 1920s.
Jones presents these policies as dictated by a Saudi drive to
create not so much a nation-state as an empire in the Arabian
Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is not all desert, but the agriculturally
more advantaged Eastern Province, with its appreciable Shiite
population, has been the most disadvantaged when it comes to
receiving a share of the government's development projects. This
explains the Shiite uprising there in 1979 and the halting Saudi
efforts thereafter to address the issue. Woven into this book is a
pessimistic view of technologically driven policies,
environmentalist reflections, and a harsh portrayal of selfishness
on the part of both the Saudi state and the oil company it owns,
Saudi Aramco.
*Foreign Affairs*
Toby Craig Jones's new book about the kingdom examines the Saudi
state's relationship to water and oil, the twin resources that are
its blessing and its curse (or, according to some, its two curses).
Jones argues that Saudi ruling classes hold their inherently
fragile state together through a strict and bold program that
manages these two substances. In Saudi Arabia, more so than in
almost any other place on earth, the business of the state is the
control of nature, because to control nature is to control
people.
*The National*
Desert Kingdom is sure to spark discussion and debate. It touches
on some of the most sensitive nerves of a society. But, it also
describes how determination and perseverance built Saudi Arabia
into a Middle Eastern powerhouse. Toby Craig Jones opens the door
to understanding how it happened.
*Saudi Gazette*
A lucid account and a comprehensive analysis of how state power
unfolds in oil fields and water wells. The state of nature and the
nature of the state are meticulously explored in this fascinating
book that definitely succeeds in mixing oil and water and sheds
light on how the Saudi state exercises power over nature and
society.
*Madawi Al-Rasheed, author of A History of Saudi Arabia and
Contesting the Saudi State*
It is impossible to think about Saudi Arabia's history the same way
after reading this book.
*Jon Alterman, Director of the Middle East Program at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies*
In this highly original approach to investigating the underpinnings
of power in Saudi Arabia, Toby Jones demonstrates the power of
state institutions, multinational corporations and engineering
firms to reshape societies and the environments they inhabit.
*David Commins, author of The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi
Arabia*
In this excellent book, Toby Jones demonstrates that managing the
environment was a means of building a state that could also manage
its society. An outstanding contribution to the increasingly
sophisticated historiography of Saudi Arabia and an essential read
for those who want to understand the country's contemporary
politics.
*F. Gregory Gause, III, University of Vermont*
Jones shows how technology, foreign expertise and physical
resources were managed and mobilized to produce the structures of
power in Saudi Arabia today—it is indispensable reading for
understanding why Saudi Arabia is what it is. A signal
achievement.
*Bernard Haykel, Princeton University*
Toby Jones tells us things about Saudi politics that no one else
has, at least not reliably, using scholarly sources and methods.
This is now the go-to book that breaks both empirical and
conceptual new ground in Middle East studies.
*Robert Vitalis, University of Pennsylvania*
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