Rosie Bsheer

Harvard University

2021 Nikki Keddie Book Award Honorable Mention

Archive Wars: The Politics of History in Saudi Arabia
Stanford University Press

This book substantially reworks existing knowledge of Saudi Arabia--the making of the state, the legitimization of its power, and the centrality of diverse history-making projects in these projects. Drawing on rich ethnographic and archival work, the author convincingly argues that the ruling regime has been engaged in a project of re-writing Saudi history since the 1990s. Central to these history-making projects has been the “archive wars” and efforts to centralize archival sources, as well as re-making the built environment through urban planning and development. Sophisticated and engaging and politically bold.

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