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MBS
- The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
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Summary
A Financial Times Book Best Book of the Year 2020.
A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year 2020.
The gripping chronicle of the rise of Saudi Arabia's secretive and mercurial new ruler.
MBS is the untold story of how one man fought his way to the summit of power in Saudi Arabia, the wealthiest country in the Middle East and a key ally of the United States. Even in his youth as an obscure prince among the vast Saudi royal family, Mohammed bin Salman nurtured sweeping ambitions to accumulate power and reshape his staunchly conservative kingdom and its interactions with the world.
He got his chance in 2015, when his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne. MBS became known as 'Mr. Everything', the young leader working to overhaul the kingdom's economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran. That vision won him fans at home and in foreign capitals, including in Washington, where President Trump embraced the prince as a key partner in his own vision for the Middle East. Over time, however, the sheen of the visionary young reformer has tarnished, leaving many wondering whether MBS is actually an aspiring dictator whose lack of experience and rash decisions are destabilising the world's most volatile region.
Based on years of reporting in and outside of Saudi Arabia and hundreds of interviews, MBS provides new insights into Saudi Arabia's catastrophic military intervention in Yemen, the bizarre kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister and the surprise detention of hundreds of princes and businessmen in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton. And it explores one of the greatest scandals of the young prince's rise, the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by MBS’ deputies, a crime that shocked the world and shook Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Washington.
MBS is a riveting portrait of a young autocrat whose actions and obsessions will reverberate across the Middle East.
Critic reviews
"A rare and penetrating look behind the curtain of the world’s most important family and its dangerous new leader. Ben Hubbard brings all the strands together in this absorbing biography." (Lawrence Wright)
"A devastating profile of the Saudi prince who rose rapidly to become one of the Middle East’s most powerful players - and one of the world’s most ruthless leaders. Ben Hubbard has provided a chilling and occasionally horrifying portrait of a man known world-wide simply by his initials, MBS. It’s a captivating read." (Robin Wright, author of Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World)
"Saudi Arabia is testing the extremes of tradition and innovation, of half-baked visions and intensifying repression. Ben Hubbard's authoritative reporting on the inner sanctums of its society offers a perfect synthesis of journalism and area expertise: the best description we have at the moment of why things happen as they do in the Kingdom." (Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century)
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What listeners say about MBS
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ka
- 01-06-20
couldn't stop listening
a great insight into what makes Saudi Arabia the country it is today and highlights scandals that have populated world media in recent years
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- PCampbell
- 03-11-21
Very informative
Having known very little about KSA before listening to this book it was a fascinating education in the kingdom and the rise of MBS.
Well read, and a good book to capture the complexities associated with balancing a desire to reform with the ingrained conservatism of the Kingdom.
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- cmwyoung
- 11-11-21
The man and his country
Great, balanced biography of a man and a nation. Useful insights also into Trump's US, Yemen, Qatar, UAE and a range of Saudi characters
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- Anonymous User
- 31-07-21
orientalist tone but compelling saga
orientalist narrative at times - yet also compelling. no heroes here. the house of Saud's western allies emerge as useful idiots.
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- stuart smith
- 12-06-22
Great Narration
The narration of this book is fantastic and incredibly engaging. The book itself is well researched and interesting, my only criticism is it doesn’t profile MBS as much as would have been hoped and focuses on well known incidents / Saudi wide developments. However, worth a listen!
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- The Abdulkareems
- 17-06-20
An absorbing read!
Very informative. Analyses problematic issues without being alarmist. We've forgotten too easily what befell Jamal Khashoggi. This was a stark reminder that all isn't well.
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- Asta Rootsi
- 12-01-21
Interesting and well narrated
Well written and well narrated book, giving some rather interesting insights into the workings of Saudi Arabia and this particular individual who will probably have influence in the Middle East and the rest of the world for the decades to come. While the portrait is of a mosaic type with the bits and pieces gathered from different places,
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- Amazon Customer
- 22-05-21
Eye opening
a fascinating insight into the mindset of a self professed visionary in his own country. except shows clearly that sociopathic tendencies are more prevalent. Great narration, clearly this is a book that is required reading/listening for all interested on how the mentality of the Crown Prince works & his flagrant disregard for active open dialogue with anyone who dares to oppose his ideology. the chapters surrounding the Khashoggi murder & feeble attempts at deflection are shocking & worrying- the US administration refusal to continue to press & eventually capitulate due to a failed presidential policy is damming. a fantastic book RECOMMENDED
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- francis mooney
- 31-10-23
excellent listen.
Fantastic listen. Thoroughly enjoyed the learnings about the middle east. But drew breathe a few times at the horrific nature of Jamal Kashoggis death.
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- Mr E Asta
- 28-02-21
V.Good and brief
A good and as far as i can see it impartial account and run through of the key topics and chronology of MBS’ accent to power.
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