Hachette Books
Blood and Oil: Mohammed Bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power
Key Metrics
- Bradley Hope
- Hachette Books
- Hardcover
- 9780306846663
- 9 X 5.9 X 1.5 inches
- 1.3 pounds
- Business & Economics > Government & Business
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
From award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters Justin Scheck & Bradley Hope (coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale), this revelatory look at the world's most powerful ruling family reveals how a rift within Saudi Arabian royalty produced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a charismatic leader with a ruthless streak. *Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award* 35-year-old Mohammed bin Salman's sudden rise stunned the world. Political and business leaders such as former UK prime minister Tony Blair and WME chairman Ari Emanuel flew out to meet with the crown prince and came away convinced that his desire to reform the kingdom was sincere. He spoke passionately about bringing women into the workforce and toning down Saudi Arabia's restrictive Islamic law. He lifted the ban on women driving and explored investments in Silicon Valley.
But MBS began to betray an erratic interior beneath the polish laid on by scores of consultants and public relations experts like McKinsey & Company. The allegations of his extreme brutality and excess began to slip out, including that he ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While stamping out dissent by holding 300 people, including prominent members of the Saudi royal family, in the Ritz-Carlton hotel and elsewhere for months, he continued to exhibit his extreme wealth, including buying a $70 million chateau in Europe and one of the world's most expensive yachts. It seemed that he did not understand nor care about how the outside world would react to his displays of autocratic muscle-what mattered was the flex.
Blood and Oil is a gripping work of investigative journalism about one of the world's most decisive and dangerous new leaders. Hope and Scheck show how MBS' precipitous rise coincided with the fraying of the simple bargain that had been at the head of US-Saudi relations for more than 80 years: oil, for military protection. Caught in his net are well-known US bankers, Hollywood figures, and politicians, all eager to help the charming and crafty crown prince.
The Middle East is already a volatile region. Add to the mix an ambitious prince with extraordinary powers, hunger for lucre, a tight relationship with the White House through President Trump's son in law Jared Kushner, and an apparent willingness to break anything-and anyone-that gets in the way of his vision, and the stakes of his rise are bracing. If his bid fails, Saudi Arabia has the potential to become an unstable failed state and a magnet for Islamic extremists. And if his bid to transform his country succeeds, even in part, it will have reverberations around the world.
Author Bio
Bradley Hope is a financial reporter for The Wall Street Journal based in London. He was formerly a correspondent in New York, covering exchanges and market structure. Before that, he was based in Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Beirut, where he covered the Arab Spring uprisings.
London-based Bradley is also co-founder of innovative content studio Project Brazen.
Co-author of BLOOD AND OIL about the rise to power of Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and the New York Times bestseller BILLION DOLLAR WHALE: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood and the World, about the global 1MDB scandal and Jho Low.
To contact securely: https://github.com/bradleyhopeWSJ/contact
Formerly a Beirut- and Cairo-based foreign correspondent for The National newspaper, which is headquartered in Abu Dhabi. Before that, police bureau chief and a features writer for the New York Sun.
Author of "Last Days of the Pharaoh," an Amazon Kindle Single about the power struggle inside the presidential palace of Hosni Mubarak during the 18-day revolution that forced him to resign.
Source: Wall Street Journal and Linkedin.com
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