As OPEC approaches its 50th anniversary, the paperback edition of NathanJ. Citino's well-received study advances a challenging, revisionist interpretationof U.S.-Saudi relations and OPEC's historical significance. Citino re-examines therelationship between President Eisenhower and King Sa' d in the context of thetransition from British imperial hegemony to an American capitalist order in theMiddle East. He shows how the political realignment that resulted in OPEC ensuredthat wealth and power subsequently remained in the hands of oil-producinggovernments. Using American and British archives, corporate records, and Arabicsources, this work reinterprets the foundations of U.S. Middle East policy, themodern Saudi state, and the global politics of oil.