Contesting The Saudi State: Islamic Voices from a New Generation: 25 (Cambridge Middle East Studies, Series Number 25) - Hardcover

'This is an extraordinarily interesting and highly nuanced book, a welcome relief from the conventional journalistic banalities about 'Islam' and 'Saudi Arabia' which substitute for proper analysis in the media, or even on some of the lower foothills of academia.' Peter Sluglett, University of Utah, Salt Lake City

'... the book is essential reading to understand the medley of tensions buzzing away in a society that remains so opaque to outsiders. A hundred years ago the Raj was able to shape our conceptual vocabulary and succeeded in associating Wahhabism with malevolence. Today we have a better understanding of hegemonic discourses and can be wary of the traps.' Salaam

'... even when her book deals with relatively worn ground, the perspective she takes allows new insights. ... Contesting the Saudi State succeeds admirably, and deserves the widest possible readership.' www.saudidebate.com

'... it is a thought-provoking effort, which will interest all those who want to study the role of Saudi Arabia in the regional or international context.' Ather Zaidi, Islamic Studies

Madawi Al-Rasheed is Professor of Social Anthropology at King's College, University of London. Her publications include Politics in an Arabian Oasis (1991); A History of Saudi Arabia (2002); (with R. Vitalis) Counter Narratives: History, Contemporary Politics, and Society in Saudi Arabia and Yemen (2004); and Transnational Connections and the Arab Gulf (2005).