Kings and Presidents: Inside the Special Relationship Between Saudi Arabia and America Since FDR

Kings and Presidents: Inside the Special Relationship Between Saudi Arabia and America Since FDR (2018) is a book by Bruce Riedel, a CIA analyst for three decades and a Brookings senior fellow. Riedel traces U.S.-Saudi ties from Franklin Roosevelt and Ibn Saud through oil, Israel, the Gulf wars and September 11. Using declassified records and memoirs, he shows how personal bonds between presidents and kings shaped a partnership built on shared interests more than shared values.

Recommended by 1 person

Fareed Zakaria: “This week's book of the week is Bruce Riedel's "Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States Since FDR. For decades, Riedel was one of the top experts in the American government on the Middle East and South Asia. Now he has written an absolutely fascinating, vivid, and highly intelligent book about one of the oddest geopolitical relationships in history. This book superbly illustrates the kind of talent we have in government and why it is so sad that the current administration won't use it.”