Description
Book SynopsisFor many people, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia evokes images of deserts, camels, and oil, along with rich sheikh in white robes, oppressed women in black veils, and terrorists. This book paints a lucid portrait of contemporary Saudi culture and the lives of individuals, who like us all grapple with modernity at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Trade Review"Vivid descriptions and moving personal narratives ... Crossing the Kingdom paints a lucid portrait of contemporary Saudi culture." HEPPAS Books "A travelogue that is more sophisticated than the perspectives that dominate Western media reporting on the kingdom." Times Literary Supplement "Danforth provides a superb anthropological analysis of the cultural problems the Saudi state has become entangled in." The Middle East Journal
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface Introduction 1 * Can Oil Bring Happiness? Alternate Visions of Saudi Aramco 2 * Driving While Female: Protesting the Ban on Women Driving 3 * Saudi Modern: Art on the Edge 4 * Finding Science in the Quran: Creationism and Concordism in Islam 5 * Roads of Arabia: Archaeology in Service of the Kingdom 6 * Saving Jeddah, the Bride of the Red Sea 7 * Who Can Go to Mecca? Conversion and Pilgrimage in Islam Notes Bibliography Index
