In this multi part documentary film, author Robert Lacey returns to Saudi Arabia after 25 years to explore the desert Kingdom in the wake of 9/11. He argues that to understand those events and their repercussions, we need to understand this tribal, secretive, and bafflingly wealthy Arabian kingdom; and how its conflicted path to modernity - a path that lead to 9/11 - has had a direct impact on our current reality. Lacey first lived in Saudi Arabia 25 years ago, researching and writing The Kingdom, his acclaimed history of Arabia and the House of Saud, which was subsequently banned by the Saudi authorities. Now, he has returned to Saudi Arabia to write a new book, to be published by Penguin in 2009, which picks up the story from 1979, and leads us through and beyond the fateful moment in 2001 when the results of Saudi Arabia's internal growing pains exploded onto the world stage. The story of 9/11 has been told from many perspectives; yet never from actual Saudis and with the unique access Lacey brings. How did the Kingdom's hopes and mistakes make it the primary player in 9/11? Who are these Saudis, and can we ever trust them again? And how, in the wake of that event, is Saudi Arabia now learning to deal with the mistakes that led to 9/11? And he will argue that, just possibly, the problem can become part of the solution. Visit www.insidethekingdom.net for more on Lacey's new book.

 

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