PUBLICATIONS

KEEP THE FLAG FLYING
by Sir Alan Munro

From first arrival in Lebanon as a fresh faced graduate to the heat of the first Gulf War conflict as managed from Saudi Arabia, Sir Alan Munro's account of life representing Her Majesty's government in embassy posting across the world will enchant and engage. This book is intended to convey something of the flavour – and the frivolities – of escapades and encounters which Sir Alan and his wife experienced in the course of thirty–five years in diplomacy in the Middle East, Africa and South America, and at home too. The narrative is set against a half–century of post–imperial adjustment in Britain's foreign policy, in which withdrawal from a global role is offset by an overriding concern, shared with western partners, to counter the extension – political and economic as well as military – of Soviet Marxist influence across a fractious post–colonial world. It is no purpose of mine to denigrate or burlesque any individuals who appear in its pages. This account brings out the human side, as well as the value, of a profession in which 'life's rich tapestry' plays an uncommonly prominent part.

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SCALPEL IN THE SAND
by Dr René Chang

René Chang worked as a surgeon at the ultra–modern Riyadh Military Hospital, Saudi Arabia between 1979 and 1989. This book records his experience of working amongst, and interacting with ordinary people. It is a time–capsule of a period of great changes. He participated in the development of new services including a kidney transplant programme that achieved international renown, a comprehensive hospital–wide Nutrition Support Service, the Major Disaster Response Plan for KKIA and seminal research which caught the attention of the medical world. He had the rare privilege of teaching the first group of Saudi women to graduate as doctors. Thus, he was well placed to observe the "green shoots" of women’s emancipation and also their problems. This book should contribute to improving relations between the West and the Muslim Arabs

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INSIDE THE KINGDOM
by Robert Lacey

“The author has come up with a timely and worthy sequel to his first book on the subject. ‘The Kingdom’, Robert Lacey's magisterial study of the history of Saudi Arabia and her powerful ruling dynasty, the Al Saud, has for nigh on 30 years provided a definitive introduction to one of the world's most wealthy, yet most secretive, states. This sequel is the product of three years spent reconnecting with old haunts and contacts, and new faces too, to take stock of the process of adaptation and reform that has been gathering pace through the reigns of three Al Saud monarchs.”

This review by Sir Alan Munro of ‘Inside the Kingdom’ was published in the Middle East International Magazine (MEI).
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Sir Alan Munro, Honorary Vice-President of the Saudi-British Society, was a former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and is also author of ‘Arab Storm: Politics and Diplomacy Behind the Gulf War’ (see below).

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"Saudi Women Speak" by Mona Almunajjed. Publisher: Arab Institute for Research and Publishing. ISBN 9953-36-918-6.

"Interesting work. The closed, conservative...society of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is being challenged from within by women. In this taboo–breaking book, Saudi sociologist Mona AlMunajjed has interviewed 24 brave, highly educated and public spirited Saudi women, each of them a powerful agent of change. United in a reformist vision for their country....the future of the country may well lie with them."

Patrick Seale, Journalist and leading writer on the Middle East.

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ARAB STORM
Politics and Diplomacy Behind the Gulf War
by Sir Alan Munro

The author of the book Sir Alan Munro, former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Honorary Vice–President of the Saudi–British Society, presents a superb account of the diplomatic interplay, the difficult communication with the international media, and the politics of war surrounding the Gulf war in 1990. The book is an opportune reminder of the pressures, difficulties and the potential of international diplomacy in the region and a thoughtful analysis of the politics of the Middle East.

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BEYOND THE DUNES
An Anthology of Modern Saudi Literature

“Beyond the Dunes” is a remarkable insight into the uniqueness and diversity of contemporary Saudi Arabian literature presented for a first time to an English–speaking audience. Mansour Aal–Hazimi, Ezzat Khattab and Salma Kkadra Jayyusi have included a selection of poetry, novels, personal accounts, drama and essays providing a fascinating glimpse into the challenges, dilemmas and identity struggles encountered by Saudi nationals, striving to balance between modernity and traditional values.

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TRAVELLERS IN ARABIA:
British Explorers in Saudi Arabia

This wonderful masterpiece is based on a collection of unique photographs from the great British travellers to Arabia over the past 150 years together with lectures held at the Saudi Arabian embassy in London in 2004 and fascinating essays by three British personalities. The book’s editor, Eid Al Yahya, aims to inform the readers about the history of Arabia and its early contacts with Britain in visual terms. He presents an absorbing story of adventurous travel, of hospitality and hardship, and of political intrigue, as Britain and other western powers sought alliances within this isolated region that was destined soon to emerge as a crucial player on the international stage.

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PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA
by Lady Evelyn Cobbold
Republished by Arabian Publishing Ltd (29 April 2008)

Product description from Amazon website:

As the first British woman convert to Islam on record and having made the pilgrimage to Makkah and the visit to the Prophet's Tomb at Madinah, Lady Evelyn Cobbold (1867–1963) cuts a unique figure in the annals of the Muslim Hajj. Lady Evelyn was in her mid–sixties when she decided to go on the Hajj. Daughter of the distinguished Scottish explorer Lord Dunmore, granddaughter of the Earl of Leicester, and great–niece of the notorious romantic Lady Jane Digby el-Mezrab, the young Evelyn Murray had spent childhood winters in North Africa. Before and after the First World War she travelled widely in Egypt, Syria and Transjordan. While strongly drawn to the Arab world, she maintained a conventional place in society at home, marrying the wealthy John Cobbold in 1891 and devoting herself to her Suffolk house and Scottish estate, her gardens, and especially deer-stalking in the Highlands, of which she was a renowned exponent. When her husband, by then High Sheriff of Suffolk, died in 1929, Lady Evelyn decided to perform the pilgrimage. She had to overcome the considerable suspicion surrounding foreign 'converts' who, Muslims felt, made the pilgrimage and then wrote about it as a dangerous and sensational adventure. PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA is as much an account of an interior journey of faith as a conventional travelogue. It takes the form of a day–by–day journal, interspersed with digressions on the history and merits of Islam. Her book was published in 1934 to favourable reviews but has never until now been reprinted. This new edition, with a biographical introduction by William Facey and Lady Evelyn's great–great–niece Miranda Taylor, serves to rescue this unique and intriguing Anglo–Muslim from the neglect that has since befallen her.

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