Blood and Oil

Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power: 'The Explosive New Book'

Preview

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to Wish List failed.

Please try again later

Remove from Wish List failed.

Please try again later

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

Try Standard free

Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.

Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Blood and Oil

By: Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

Longlisted for the 2020 Financial Times / McKinsey Business Book of the Year

"Blood and Oil is the fascinating and highly entertaining tale of Mohammed bin Salman's rise to power. With fly-on-the-wall reporting and palace intrigue worthy of Machiavelli, it will keep you turning the pages at a fast clip until its tragic denouement. And more importantly, it will leave you with a deep and nuanced understanding of the Crown Prince's thinking and its implications for Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East." - John Carreyrou, author of Bad Blood

Thirty-five-year-old Mohammed bin Salman's sudden rise stunned the world. Political and business leaders such as former Prime Minister Tony Blair and WME Chairman Ari Emanuel flew out to meet with the Crown Prince and came away convinced that his desire to reform the kingdom was sincere. He spoke passionately about bringing women into the workforce and toning down Saudi Arabia's restrictive Islamic law. He lifted the ban on women driving and explored investments in Silicon Valley.

But 'MBS' began to betray an erratic interior beneath the polish laid on by scores of consultants and public relations experts like McKinsey & Company. The allegations of excess and about the brutality of his regime began to slip out. Then there was the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While stamping out dissent in the Saudi royal family by holding three hundred members in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for months, he continued to exhibit his extreme wealth, including the purchase of a $70 million chateau in Europe and one of the world's most expensive yachts. It seemed that he did not understand nor care about how the outside world would react to his flexing of autocratic muscle.

"This is as close to the truth, to the real story of the corruption, vulgarities, horrors, and lies of the Kingdom and its current despot as we are likely to get. It also can be read as a Shakespearean story of utter greed." - Seymour Hersh, author of Chain of Command

(P) 2020 Hachette Audio©2020 Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck

Middle East

Religious Studies

Iran

Royalty

Saudi Arabia

Africa

Imperialism

War

Critic Reviews

Hope & Scheck confront us with the conundrum of a young man who is doing good by his Kingdom - brilliantly describing how the enigmatic Crown Prince is bringing progress to Arabia as we would see it in the West - while operating with a ruthlessness and absolutism that make the stomach curl. Blood and Oil is compelling reading. We are challenged and enthralled on every page.

Blood and Oil is the best book I've read about the Middle East. It gets deep into the most opaque place on earth, without a false note anywhere. Not to mention the book is a wonderfully readable page-turner, and indispensable if you want a glimpse of the future of Saudi Arabia and the world.

It will leave you with a deep and nuanced understanding of the Crown Prince's thinking and its implications for Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East

This is as close to the truth, to the real story of the corruption, vulgarities, horrors, and lies of the Kingdom and its current despot as we are likely to get. It also can be read as a Shakespearean story of utter greed.

Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck chronicle the truly incredible story of MBS's rise in the deep, multidimensional way that only experienced Wall Street Journal reporters can do. The book reads like a novel, but it also plays the critically important role of illuminating a real person who is going to shape our world in ways we would all be better for understanding.

Blood and Oil is a revelatory book that resonates with a stranger-than-fiction quality as the authors' analysis of the Crown Prince's brutishness, outlandishness, and reformer's mentality is as riveting as it is profound.

A gossipy account of the rise to power of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, offering detailed insights into his ascent and his business, family and political relationships

It is lively and well written, and it draws a sharp portrait of the man at its heart

If you've ever wondered what would happen if limitless money met limitless power, wonder no longer, it's all here. This book is by turns terrifying, disturbing and ghastly, but written with a light touch that forces you to keep reading

Blood and Oil really is a riveting page-turner, a descent into a nest of vipers, a chilling profile of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known by his initials MBS (Lara Marlowe)

Most relevant

This is the salacious biography of MBS. It appears very well researched. Great insights into MBS but only very cursory coverage of broader Middle East politics. The narration was a bit droll.