~ finding the right voice ~
"Ibn Saud grew to manhood living the harsh traditional life of the desert nomad, a life that had changed little since the days of Abraham, and then made a careful study during his adolescence in Kuwait of the ways of the great imperial powers such as Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire. Thus equipped, and endowed with immense physical courage, between 1902 and 1930 he found and won a series of astonishing military victories over a succession of enemies much more powerful than himself. Over the same period, he transformed himself from a minor sheikh into a revered king and elder statesman, courted by world leaders such as Churchill and Roosevelt. A passionate lover of women, Ibn Saud took many wives, had numerous concubines, and fathered almost 100 children. Yet he remained an unswerving and devout Muslim, described by one who knew him well at the time of his death in 1953 as 'probably the greatest Arab since the Prophet Muhammad. ' Saudi Arabia, the country Ibn Saud created, is a staunch ally of the West, but ironically it was also the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. The question that looms high in the minds of the vast majority of people is whether the Kingdom, as it now stands, will survive the divisive cultural pressures of the twenty-first century. " -- Book jacket. The ultimate biography of the warrior-politician who founded Saudi Arabiain 1932 and created one of the world's most powerful nations.