Thicker Than Oil

America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia

Rachel Bronson

Drawing on a wide range of archival material, declassified documents, and interviews with leading Saudi and American officials, Bronson chronicles a history of close, and always controversial, contacts between the US and Saudi Arabia. She argues that contrary to popular belief the relationship was never simply about "oil for security." Saudi Arabia's geographic location and religiously motivated foreign policy figured prominently in American efforts to defeat "godless communism." From Africa to Afghanistan, the two worked to beat back Soviet expansion. But decisions made for hardheaded Cold War purposes left behind a legacy that today enflames the Middle East.

Thicker Than Oil

America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia

Rachel Bronson

Description

For fifty-five years, the United States and Saudi Arabia were solid partners. Then came the 9/11 attacks, which sorely tested that relationship. In Thicker than Oil, Rachel Bronson reveals why the partnership became so intimate and how the countries' shared interests sowed the seeds of today's most pressing problem--Islamic radicalism.
Drawing on a wide range of archival material, declassified documents, and interviews with leading Saudi and American officials, and including many colorful stories of diplomatic adventures and misadventures, Bronson chronicles a history of close, and always controversial, contacts. She argues that contrary to popular belief the relationship was never simply about "oil for security." Saudi Arabia's geographic location and religiously motivated foreign policy figured prominently in American efforts to defeat "godless communism." From Africa to Afghanistan, Egypt to Nicaragua, the two worked to beat back Soviet expansion. But decisions made for hardheaded Cold War purposes left behind a legacy that today enflames the Middle East.
Looking forward, Bronson outlines the challenges confronting the relationship. The Saudi government faces a zealous internal opposition bent on America's and Saudi Arabia's destruction. Yet from the perspective of both countries, the status quo is clearly unsustainable.

Thicker Than Oil

America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia

Rachel Bronson

Acknowledgments
Prologue
1. Oil, God, and Real Estate
2. Dropping Anchors in the Middle East
3. An Islamic Pope
4. Shifting Sands
5. Double, Double, Oil and Trouble
6. "A New and Glorious Chapter"
7. Mobilizing Religion
8. Begin or Reagan
9. "We Support Some, They Support Some"
10. The Cold War Ends with a Bang
11. Parting Ways
12. September 11 and Beyond
13. Reconfiguring the U.S.-Saudi Strategic Partnership
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Thicker Than Oil

America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia

Rachel Bronson

Author Information

Rachel Bronson is Vice President of Programs and Studies at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Her writings have appeared in publications such as Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Chicago Tribune. She has commented widely on foreign affairs in outlets such as NPR, CNN, The Lehrer News Hour, The Charlie Rose Show, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Thicker Than Oil

America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia

Rachel Bronson

Reviews and Awards

"Rachel Bronson's Thicker than Oil: America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia takes on an important subject matter, the history of the U.S.--Daudi relationship, and makes an important contribution to the literature. Bronson's book is thoroughly researched, with extensive citations to diplomatic accounts, autobiographies, government documents, and intersting interviews woven into a storyboard text that is lieable and enjoyable to read."--Amy Myers Jaffe, International Journal of Middle East Studies