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harinid's review against another edition
3.0
Ben Hubbard's biography on MBS feels a bit too premature. While the text is littered with interesting anecdotes, it reads more as a scattered collection of articles rather than a well edited, single novel developing many facets of a character. The book, expectedly, spends a lot of time on the Khashoggi murder and in that does a better job of building Khashoggi's narrative rather than that of the young prince. As the book keeps coming back to Khashoggi, MBS' characterisation gets a bit repetitive and one dimensional. Nonetheless, there are a lot of interesting nuggets on the prince which any student of politics/ international relations would find extremely interesting.
marite's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Vi kommer ikke innpå privatpersonen Mohammad bin Salman i denne boka, men det er likevel interessant og (ganske skummelt) å lese om denne åpenbart svært sammensatte mannen. Det er vel tvilsomt om MBS har lest Fyrsten, men det er ingen tvil om at han har anvendt seg av en del av de triksene Machiavelli foreskriver. Saudi-Arabia er et svært motsetningsfylt land, hypermoderne og ekstremt gammeldags på samme tid. Innbyggerne (saudierne, ikke fremmedarbeiderne) lever i luksus, men uten frihet. MBS ser ut til å ønske å omfavne alt moderne, uten om tanken på demokrati og frihet for innbyggerne. Han har gitt kvinner flere rettigheter, men samtidig undertrykkes opposisjonen på stadig mer brutalt vis. Skjebnen til den (mildt) kritiske journalisten Jamal Khashoggi er som tatt rett ut av en skrekkroman.
nataalia_sanchez's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
maryjoens's review against another edition
5.0
The rare nonfiction book that has both meticulous reporting and gripping storytelling. Excellent all around. Also the audiobook was really well-done.
iffer's review against another edition
3.0
I found this to be an interesting read, though it took me a little longer than expected for a short book due to the fact that my knowledge of Middle East/West Asia politics are sorely lacking. I was curious to learn more about MBS after all of the news about the Jamal Khashoggi murder. The book is a bit sparse on the biographical details of MBS, though I am sympathetic to the author, because I believe him when he states that there is not much information available (classified, destroyed, nonexistent, etc) and few people are willing to go on the record to make comments about MBS due to legitimate fears of having their lives, families, and livelihoods ruined.
That said, I do feel like I learned a significant amount about Saudia Arabia and the geopolitical situation of the region. Like the author, I find the contradictions of MBS, his rule, and his future plans for Saudia Arabia to be simultaneously horrifying and hopeful. On one hand MBS has shown a strong commitment, backed by action, to giving women in Saudia Arabia more daily freedoms (driving, access to education, etc) and to developing jobs and entertainment for younger generations. On the other hand, MBS is an open proponent of having a surveillance state in order to rule his people, and he has repeatedly taken overt, violent action against those who he deems his enemies, whether they are corrupt royal family or mild-mannered critics like Khashoggi. It was also interesting to read about the relationships between MBS and Trump, and MBS and Jared Kushner. It makes sense that the Saudi people were more willing to work with the Trump administration, and less put off by the way in which Trump's daughter and son-in-law were wielding political power, because it was more similar to the way in which Saudi's monarchy and clan politics work. It is also an important observation that MBS, despite having different political and economic goals than the US, UK, and other countries, has also ridden the wave of populism to power.
In this book, Ben Hubbard makes his point that, unless something drastically changes, it is a hindrance that there is so little information about MBS, his rise to power, and his operations, because MBS will be one of the most powerful people in a volatile region that also impacts the rest of the globe.
That said, I do feel like I learned a significant amount about Saudia Arabia and the geopolitical situation of the region. Like the author, I find the contradictions of MBS, his rule, and his future plans for Saudia Arabia to be simultaneously horrifying and hopeful. On one hand MBS has shown a strong commitment, backed by action, to giving women in Saudia Arabia more daily freedoms (driving, access to education, etc) and to developing jobs and entertainment for younger generations. On the other hand, MBS is an open proponent of having a surveillance state in order to rule his people, and he has repeatedly taken overt, violent action against those who he deems his enemies, whether they are corrupt royal family or mild-mannered critics like Khashoggi. It was also interesting to read about the relationships between MBS and Trump, and MBS and Jared Kushner. It makes sense that the Saudi people were more willing to work with the Trump administration, and less put off by the way in which Trump's daughter and son-in-law were wielding political power, because it was more similar to the way in which Saudi's monarchy and clan politics work. It is also an important observation that MBS, despite having different political and economic goals than the US, UK, and other countries, has also ridden the wave of populism to power.
In this book, Ben Hubbard makes his point that, unless something drastically changes, it is a hindrance that there is so little information about MBS, his rise to power, and his operations, because MBS will be one of the most powerful people in a volatile region that also impacts the rest of the globe.
miguelf's review against another edition
4.0
The main protagonist of MBS is not a sympathetic figure, unless of course one identifies with Middle Eastern royalty that prioritize buying half billion dollar luxury yachts and dreaming of future techno-fantasy cities in the desert. It’s perhaps why Hubbard spends a good portion of the book describing Jamal Khashoggi’s background and ultimate notorious demise as we encounter someone we can actually identify with and root for. It might have been MBS’s absence of any written documentation or few interviews, or it may be that MBS is such a cypher. However, what little is concretely known about him is laid out well in this work, although the relationship between him and Kushner is perhaps just as well documented in the recent book ‘American Oligarchs’. As the author points out, we might be seeing this daunting leader ruling well into the 2060’s which based on what we know doesn’t bode so well for Saudi Arabia or the greater region.