Unholy Kingdom TR by Malise Ruthven

Product Details

• Publisher: Verso (2026-02-24)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 400 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781839760105
• Item Weight: 368.55 grams
• Dimensions: 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0 cm

THE FAULT LINES OF THE MIDDLE EAST CONVERGE IN SAUDI ARABIA

In recent years, the de facto head of the House of Saud, Mohammed bin Salman, has promoted the oil-rich kingdom as an open, liberalizing nation that has invested in culture, tourism, and social innovation to become a beacon for the region. Malise Ruthven, a leading commentator on Islamic affairs, reveals the historical currents beneath these changes: how the royal house co-opted Wahhabism to consolidate its power and enforce authoritarianism in collusion with Western businesses and governments.

About the Author

Malise Ruthven worked as an editor with the BBC Arabic Service and World Service in London before teaching Islamic studies and comparative religion at universities on both sides of the Atlantic. He is the author of several books on Islamic affairs as well as fundamentalism and religion in America. In 2004, London's Prospect Magazine ranked Ruthven among the 100 top public intellectuals in the UK. His blog on the New York Review of Books, Revolution by Latrine, won an award from the Overseas Press Club of America in 2011. He contributes regularly to the Guardian, Independent, The Financial Times, New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books.