David Commins Saudi Arabia A Modern History recensie, review en informatie over de inhoud van het geschiedenisboek. Op 22 april 2025 verschijnt bij Yale University Press het boek van historicus en kenner van de Arabische wereld David Commins over de moderne geschiedenis van van Saoedi-Arabië. Hier lees je informatie over de inhoud van het boek, de schrijver en over de uitgave. Een Nederlandse vertaling van het boek is niet verkrijgbaar.
David Commins Saudi Arabia A Modern History recensie review en informatie
- “Commins has written the finest modern history of Saudi Arabia. He elegantly weaves together the strands that make up its story—religious doctrine, warfare, royal politics, social tensions, oil and economics, foreign influences and modern ideological movements—and in so doing offers the most sophisticated yet readable account for understanding this opaque society.” (Bernard Haykel, author of Saudi Arabia in Transition)
- “Commins documents the expansion of the House of Saud from a small oasis emirate to form one of the most powerful Arab states. He fills a major gap in our knowledge and will attract interest from all who want to understand the background against which the Kingdom currently reinvents itself.” (Ulrike Freitag, author of A History of Jeddah)
Saudi Arabia
A Modern History
- Auteur: David Commins (Verenigde Staten)
- Soort boek: geschiedenis van Saoedi-Arabië
- Taal: Engels
- Uitgever: Yale University Press
- Verschijnt: 22 april 2025
- Omvang: 384 pagina’s
- Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook
- Prijs: $ 35,00
- Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Bol
Flaptekst van het boek over de moderne geschiedenis van Saoedi-Arabië
A major new history of Saudi Arabia, from its eighteenth-century origins to the present day.
Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, a major player on the international stage and the site of Islam’s two holiest cities. It is also one of the world’s only absolute monarchies. How did Saudi Arabia get to where it is today?
In this comprehensive account, David Commins narrates the full history of Saudi Arabia from oasis emirate to present-day attempts to leap to a post-petroleum economy. Moving through the ages, Commins traces how the Saud dynasty’s reliance on sectarianism, foreign expertise, and petroleum to stabilize power has unintentionally spawned secular and religious movements seeking accountability and justice. He incorporates the experiences of activists, women, religious minorities, Bedouin, and expatriate workers as the country transformed from subsistence agrarian life to urban consumer society.
This is a perceptive portrait of Saudi Arabia’s complex and evolving story—and a country that is all too easily misunderstood.
David Commins is born in 1954. He is the Benjamin Rush Chair in the Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of history at Dickinson College. He is the author of Islam in Saudi Arabia, The Gulf States, and The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia.
