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For nearly a decade, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has led a remarkable socioeconomic transformation of Saudi Arabia. Vision 2030 has enabled the Kingdom to emerge as a pivotal regional and global actor, drawing on its exceptional national traits as the richest Arab nation, the largest Gulf state, the citadel of Islam, and the global energy leader.

Yet Western understanding of this profound shift has lagged. It remains filtered through outdated frames and Orientalist assumptions, often colored by neo-colonial liberal agendas in both policy and perception.

Karen Elliott House’s “The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia” comes as a welcome corrective. This book, by one of America’s most seasoned observers of the Kingdom, offers a vivid, up-close exploration of the crown prince: his personality, his ambitions, and the sweeping changes reshaping Saudi society.

At its heart, House’s account charts the breathtaking pace of reform since 2015. She highlights the rise of a leader whose ascent was at once unforeseen and, in hindsight, inevitable. The crown prince emerges in her telling as a figure capable of breaking through entrenched interests and barriers that long stifled Saudi development.

What gives the narrative authenticity is House’s use of firsthand encounters. She draws on meetings with the crown prince himself and conversations with a wide spectrum of Saudis — ministers, business innovators, and young men and women. This textured reporting gives the reforms a human face, illustrating changes that once seemed unimaginable.

In many respects, House has written a book less about policy papers and more about lived transformation. She describes the rollback of religious police, the rise of entertainment and culture, and, most of all, the expanded role of women. Where once Saudi women were absent from public life, they are now company leaders, astronauts, athletes, and diplomats. As House notes: “A woman’s ambition is no longer deplorable........

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