From the Bookshelf of DC Public Library…

These conditions bred a people suspicious of each other and especially of strangers, a culture largely devoid of art or enjoyment of beauty. Even today Saudis are a people locked in their own cocoons, focused on their own survival--and that of family--and largely uncaring of others.

Why, we might ask, are most Saudis so docile?...Why are modern-day descendants of this fierce culture so willing to play the role of powerless pawns, resigned to the frustration of their everyday lives and to the uncertain future of a society over which they have so little influence? After all, they are increasingly well-educated and well informed. Why don't they simply take more initiative, more freedom of action, for themselves? The answer is that both tradition and religion have made most Saudis accustomed to dependence, to being reactive, not proactive; to accepting, not questioning; to being obedient, not challenging; to being provided for rather than being responsible for their own futures."

If America is a messy melting pot of nationalities, races, genders, and sexual orientations all mingling with perhaps too few guardrails, Saudi Arabia is precisely the opposite: a society of deep divisions and high walls.