if olaya street could talk saudi arabia: the heartland of oil and islam

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	• If Olaya Street Could Talk -- Saudi Arabia: The Heartland of Oil and Islam John Paul Jones The Taza Press, 2007 - 235 pages average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

WELL-WRITTEN AND INFORMATIVE READ

Having lived in Saudi Arabia--Riyadh to be exact--on two different occasions over a twenty-year period, I found "If Olaya Street Could Talk," a most interesting narrative on the life of an expat. I think Mr. Jones was wisely cautious in not mentioning names in his narrative, and did a rather masterful job in tiptoeing around sensitive issues, while at the same time giving the reader a feel for the excitement and frustrations that are part of living and working in that part of the world. And as cautious as he was, I understand that his book is still haram--forbidden--in the Kingdom. Yes, as fascinating as that part of the world is, it is still a long way from being an open society. Regardless, I recommend this book for those who have and have not been to that part of the world.

Bruce M. Petty

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an excellent look into an American's life in Saudi Arabia

This was an easy book to read...really informative of an expats life in Saudi Arabia for the past 25 years, and the massive changes going on there. The trips he and his family took through the Arabian desert were all the more interesting with the inclusion of a well marked map in the back of the book...grand idea. You actually feel that you have seen these places, and know the people he talks about. Now I want to read more about his wife and childrens life in Saudi Arabia, and about the other travels that they took over the years throughout that area and in Europe. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a bit of the real Saudi Arabia. A very good read. Way to go, John Paul!

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Highly Recommended

I have just finished reading "If Olaya Street Could Talk" and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Saudi Arabia. It will have special appeal to any "expats" who have worked in Riyadh or at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital. I worked there in the late 70's and while I don't recall ever meeting John Paul Jones, he has managed to capture the essence of the dramatic changes that many of us, including the Saudis, experienced on a personal, cultural and societal level. It is a rare pleasure to read something positive about living in Saudi Arabia, its history and the Saudi people.

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if olaya street could talk saudi arabia: the heartland of oil and islam

Congratulations to Mr. John Paul Jones for writing an excellent book on Saudi Arabia for us western readers. At last here is a book that rings true. I have a chance to go to Saudi Arabia in December and was in two minds about it, but after reading "If Olaya Street Could Talk"...I will take up the offer, and who knows, I might even visit Olaya Street. Moving on to another matter, I am sick to the teeth with this pushy Jean Sasson person who is for ever singing her own praises at every given opportunity. I have read two of her books about Saudi Arabia, both are tabloid sensationalism, and do not ring true at all. This woman is now trying to steal the thunder of Mr. John Paul Jones's success by posting and advertising her own trashy books on his review pages.

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Heartily Recommended

The diplomat and author Sir A.T. Wilson once wrote,"Arabia retains to an extraordinary degree the power of conquering hearts," and it is obvious that the heart of John Paul Jones is one of those conquered. In this lively and thoughtful work the author celebrates the freedom of the desert - a place where you can drive without restraint in any direction for days on end, the beauty of the unpolluted night sky and the allure of ancient places, where the generosity of the poorest nomad who will slaughter his last sheep for a total stranger because that is what you do for a guest still lives.

But all is not romanticism in this book and as he writes in any population there is a 10% that will cause 90% of the problems and he is very explicit about this ten per cent - be they smug Americans or sanctimonious Saudis, that disappoint one's hopes and expectations. Mr. Jones is a perceptive realist who writes clearly about those trouble makers without losing sight of the vast majority of Saudis, Americans and others who made his 25 years in Saudi Arabia such a delight. I would heartily recommend If Olaya Street Could Talk to those relative few of us expatriates who ever lived in Arabia for any period of time and also to the many who ever considered what it would be like to live in this most astonishing desert kingdom.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

If Olaya Street Could Talk is a portrait of Saudi Arabia and its people, encompassing a 25-year period during the era of its dynamic transformation from being one of the poorer countries in the world to becoming a state with a modern physical and economic infrastructure. It is also a story about the western expatriates who worked and lived in the country--from the "free and easy 70's"--to the period when they became specific targets for execution by certain religious fundamentalists. The book addresses western perceptions of the country and how those perceptions were formed, from TE Lawrence and Wilfred Thesiger to NY Times columnists Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd and David Brooks. The book's fundamental purpose is to examine the issue which dominates today's headlines: the "Islamic-Western cultural divide" and places this concept within the context of American issues, such as the experience with the black-white cultural divide as well as America's last significant conflict, the Vietnam War. It is in parts a travelogue, a sociological examination, a historical documentary, a love story, health care development and political commentary. The author is one of few Americans to have lived in the country during this period of time who had access to Saudis at all levels of society and freely traveled throughout a large portion of the country. No other book, in English or Arabic, covers this period of Saudi Arabia's transformation to a modern nation, the period from 1978 to 2003. The motivation for writing the book was to render a realistic image of the people of Saudi Arabia, as well as to examine some of the basis for the American misperceptions of this country and region, in the hope that it will inspire others to take steps towards ending the current policy of war without end.

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