Faisal: The King and his Kingdom

No monarch and no country has been so suddenly thrown into the world's limelight as King Faisal and his country, Saudi Arabia ... In 1973 in the aftermath of the Second Middle East war Saudi Arabia emerged as a world power and King Faisal became a leader of obvious world significance. In his own country, however, Faisal had already accomplished vast social changes and had seen his kingdom transformed from a desert state to a prosperous nation. Mr. Sheehan writes with the confidence of personal knowledge ... The author's close knowledge of Faisal brings a particular feeling of immediacy to this book and makes it of topic importance to all those who seek to understand the Arabian Penninsula