Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia, Third Edition (Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East)

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia now has been under the spotlight of Western curiosity for more than 80 years. More than 15% of the world's total oil reserves lie underneath Saudi Arabia and, in the early 1990s, the kingdom became the world's largest crude oil producer. Not surprisingly, a world highly dependent on oil regards the desert kingdom as an area of intense strategic concern, as reflected in the coalition of forces assembled on Saudi soil to oust Iraq from Kuwait in 1991. Also, it played a major role in the invasion of Saddam Husayn's Iraq in 2003 and shares concern with the West over Iran's nuclear intentions throughout the 21st century. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Saudi Arabia. About the Author J.E. Peterson is a historian and political analyst specializing in the states and international relations of the Arabian Peninsula. He has taught at universities in the United States and France and written extensively on all seven countries of the peninsula. His latest books are The Emergence of the Gulf States: Studies in Modern History and Saudi Arabia Under Ibn Saud: Economic and Financial Foundations of the State.