Banned in Saudi Arabia

" If Olaya Street Could Talk - Saudi Arabia: The Heartland of Oil and Islam" was written primarily for an American, and to a larger extent, a Western audience. However, I was quite pleased by the positive response the book received from individual Saudis, as well as the Arab media. Therefore I decided to undertake the official process of requesting that the book be approved by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information so that the book could be available within the Kingdom. Furthermore, I had received a request from Jarrir bookstores to purchase 300 copies.

Here is the official request that was FedEx to the Minister on November 15, 2007, along with a follow-up request dated April 22, 2008. In addition, I called the Minister on April 28, 2008, he was "unavailable," and did not return the call as requested.

Although much of the Saudi media is now much more open, and willing to address the problems of their society in an honest and frank manner, it was problematic if the Minister would approve a realistic book on the Kingdom, written by a foreigner. The attitude is still the "safest thing" to do is to say NO. One avoids criticism in some corners, but on the other hand, the action continues to re-enforce the negative stereotypes of the country.

Background for a simple message:

If you are a Saudi national who does not believe Mr. Madani should tell you what you can read, or not, and if you want to formulate your own opinion as to whether or not I was fair, then purchase the book while you are outside the country - it is always readily available from Amazon.com. And even if you are in the country, purchases from Amazon are usually not interfered with. If the Minister himself had not received a free copy, he would probably purchase the book that way anyhow.