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Ibn Saud
- The Desert Warrior Who Created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- Narrated by: Brian Bascle
- Length: 21 hrs and 52 mins
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Editorial reviews
In the early years of the 20th century, the Arabian Peninsula was populated by loosely affiliated Bedouin tribes living as they had for millennia, with no central power and great vulnerability to the rapidly modernizing world around them. Into this desert land was born a boy the world would come to know as Ibn Saud, or King Abdulaziz, who established the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 and whose lineage hold the throne to this day.
Performed by Brian Bascle, Michael Darlow and Barbara Bray’s engaging, thorough, and decades-in-the-making biography of this mysterious and important ruler cover Saud’s life from his early years as a desert warrior to his overseeing of the oil boom that elevated his kingdom to the powerful position it holds today.
Publisher's summary
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. Equipped with immense physical courage, he fought and won, often with weapons and tactics not unlike those employed by the ancient Assyrians, 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 one hundred 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 it is also the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and 15 of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. Saud’s kingdom, as it now stands, has survived the vicissitudes of time and become an invaluable player on the world’s political stage.
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What listeners say about Ibn Saud
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- engineeringstudent
- 05-16-22
This is what I feel Biographies should be like
This is an excellent book I've always lacked knowledge about Saudi Arabia and this book has really taken it to the next level. the stories are excellent and very engaging. information about the kingdom seems quite unbiased and well presented.
The narration is also really spot on, with Arabic sounding westernized but not completely unnatural.
if you like historical biographies I would say this is a must read.
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- qwerty
- 03-27-15
Recommended book
Wellwritten and wellresearched. The reading performance and soundwas really bad. Monotone and robot-like performance and please let someone read who can pronounce arabic names.
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- Linda D
- 09-17-20
Shakespeare?
Can anybody tell me is they call Gertrude Bell in this book “ Shakespeare “??? Why would that be so
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- Majed S
- 07-24-21
A Review
Avery interesting to read and learn about the recent history of Saudi Arabia. I had a problem understanding the pronunciation of the Arabic words and names of places. This made hard for an arabic speaking person to relate them to his knowledge of saudi history.
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- Brian Hayward
- 01-17-23
Fascinating history of the Saud family
A sympathetic, yet critical history of the formation of Saudi Arabia, and particularly Ibn Saud, its founder. Though I have a good background with Arabs, I learned a lot about bedouin culture and history through listening to this well told narrative.
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- Kaidong
- 07-01-22
I Appreciate This Book
The topic of this book is one that eludes Western audiences a lot, so I appreciate this book for giving me an opportunity to understand Saudi Arabia not just as a rich, theocratic, brutal oil producer in the middle east. There are nuances in every geopolitical entities, and I am thankful that I get to know more of them.
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- AKM
- 01-28-22
Great story, bad narration
Whoever narrated this was obviously looking to wrap it up quickly.
For the first time ever, I had to slow the narration speed just to catch his words.
It was also very monotone, with no feeling, and frankly could’ve been a robot.
Despite all that, I loved the story. Very fair and informative portrayal of Ibn Saud.
The author does an excellent job describing the context of the world in which Ibn Saud operated, something which is very important in attempting to understand his motivations.
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- Dr.
- 03-18-23
Awesome book.
Killing in the name of religion and peace. The struggle of humanity to survive and thrive. Wow.
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- Kindle Customer
- 06-16-22
El Saudis
A charming historical narrative.
Al ibn Saud crosses the sands of time. Felix Arabia ?
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- C. Jay Robbins
- 07-05-22
Good book annoying narrator
Information dense without being plodding or tedious. Narrator mispronounces lots of word. The editors did a very bad job policing this.
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