03723cam a2200445L 4500 78058 BJBSDDR 20240619194431.0 ta 091214s2007 cau 000 u eng d 0804754462 9780804754460 DKDLA 37308296 (OCoLC)ocn488465289 (OCoLC)488465289 DKDLA eng DKDLA eng HD 9576 V837a 2007 Vitalis, Robert, 1955- 36708 America's Kingdom : Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier / Robert Vitalis Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, 2007. xxvii, 353 pages, 7 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm. Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures Includes bibliographical references and index. Foreword -- 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. "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. Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) 36709 Compañía Petrolera Arabe Americana 36710 Historia Saudi Aramco 36711 Historia Petroleum industry and trade Saudi Arabia History. Industria y comercio del petróleo Arabia Saudita Historia 15294 United States Foreign relations Saudi Arabia. Estados Unidos Relaciones exteriores Arabia Saudita 36712 Saudi Arabia Foreign relations United States. Arabia Saudita Relaciones exteriores Estados Unidos 36713 Arabian American Oil Company. Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures 36707 lcc BK lh 33558 33558 0 0 lcc 0 0 CS BJB BJB CS 2023-04-10 0 HD 9576 V837a 2007 00000070891 2018-10-23 00:00:00 1 2018-10-23 BK