03566cam a2200397L  450000100060000000300080000600500170001400700030003100800410003402000150007502000180009003500240010803500210013204000220015304100080017505000240018310000300020724500830023726000540032030000850037449000740045950400510053350504350058452015630101961000420258261000550262461000290267965000570270865000680276565100520283365100610288565100520294665100610299865300340305983000750309378058BJBSDDR20240619194431.0ta091214s2007    cau           000 u eng d  a0804754462  a9780804754460  a(OCoLC)ocn488465289  a(OCoLC)488465289  aDKDLAbengcDKDLA  aeng14aHD 9576bV837a 20071 aVitalis, Robert, d1955- 10aAmerica's Kingdom : bMythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier / cRobert Vitalis   aStanford, CA :bStanford University Press,c2007.  axxvii, 353 pages, 7 unnumbered pages of plates : billustrations, map ; c24 cm.1 aStanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures  aIncludes bibliographical references and index.0 aForeword -- Cast of characters -- Captive narratives: a brief and unexceptional introduction to the history of firms and states -- Part 1. The nearest faraway place -- Arabian frontiers -- American camp -- The wizards of Dhahran -- Part 2. Desire's empty quarter -- Ayyam al-Kadalak (days of the Cadillac) -- Eye of the desert -- El jefe rojo -- America's kingdom -- Afterword -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.8 a"America's Kingdom" debunks the many myths that now surround the United States's "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia, or what is less reverently known as "the deal": oil for security. Taking aim at the long-held belief that the Arabian American Oil Company, ARAMCO, made miracles happen in the desert, Robert Vitalis shows that nothing could be further from the truth. What is true is that oil led the U.S. government to follow the company to the kingdom. Eisenhower agreed to train Ibn Sa'ud's army, Kennedy sent jets to defend the kingdom, and Lyndon Johnson sold it missiles. Oil and ARAMCO quickly became America's largest single overseas private enterprise. Beginning with the establishment of a Jim Crow system in the Dhahran oil camps in the 1930s, the book goes on to examine the period of unrest in the 1950s and 1960s when workers challenged the racial hierarchy of the ARAMCO camps while a small cadre of progressive Saudis challenged the hierarchy of the international oil market. The defeat of these groups led to the consolidation of America's Kingdom under the House of Fahd, the royal faction that still rules today.  This is a gripping story that covers more than seventy years, three continents, and an engrossing cast of characters. Informed by first hand accounts from ARAMCO employees and top U.S. government officials, this book offers the true story of the events on the Saudi oil fields. After America's Kingdom, mythmakers will have to work harder on their tales about ARAMCO being magical, honorable, selfless, and enlightened.20aArabian American Oil Company (Aramco)24aCompañía Petrolera Arabe Americana xHistoria 24aSaudi Aramco xHistoria  4aPetroleum industry and tradezSaudi ArabiaxHistory. 4aIndustria y comercio del petróleozArabia Saudita xHistoria  4zUnited StatesaForeign relationszSaudi Arabia. 4aEstados Unidos xRelaciones exteriores zArabia Saudita  4zSaudi ArabiaaForeign relationszUnited States. 4aArabia Saudita xRelaciones exteriores zEstados Unidos   aArabian American Oil Company. 0aStanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures