cover image INSIDE THE MIRAGE: America's Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia

INSIDE THE MIRAGE: America's Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia

Thomas W. Lippman, . . Westview, $27.50 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-8133-4052-4

With nearly two decades of experience writing about Saudi Arabia for the Washington Post as a Middle East bureau chief and national security correspondent, Lippman is as effective on today's street-level perspective as he is on a nearly century-long history of political and economic alliances between Saudis and Americans. While "Riyadh is just like Phoenix" on the surface, he proposes, Saudi Arabians have a radically different mindset that often includes resentment over what they perceive as American interference with their way of life. His insightful journalism points to a frayed relationship that may get worse before it gets better. B&w photos, 1 map not seen by PW . 40,000 first printing. (Mar.)