Karen Elliott House was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for her coverage of the Middle East. Arguably, she knows more about the region, and Saudi Arabia in particular, than any other active journalist or author.
For her latest book, Why Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Matters to the World, Karen conducted more than half a dozen in-depth interviews with the 40-year-old Saudi Crown Prince, known universally as “MBS.”
For global business owners and executives, the dramatic Saudi transformation over the past decade, spearheaded by MBS, presents both promise and peril: vast opportunities for investment and growth but also political and legal risks that demand careful navigation.
The pace of change under MBS has astonished even veteran observers like Karen, who has traveled to the kingdom more than 45 times since the late 1970s.
Today, Saudi women can drive, hold jobs across industries, and participate openly in public life. Entertainment venues — from concerts to theme parks — are thriving. Restaurants that once erected wooden partitions to shield women from the public now bustle with mixed crowds.
Karen compares his confidence and determination to that of Jack Welch at General Electric or Lee Kuan Yew, a founding father of modern Singapore. Like them, MBS is willing to make unpopular decisions in pursuit of national transformation. Whether his reforms endure, she cautions, depends on two factors: keeping the economy growing and avoiding foreign policy missteps that could unite his enemies.
With a half-century potentially ahead of him as the next Saudi King, Mohammed bin Salman will be an unavoidable force in global politics and business. As Karen puts it, Americans must move beyond old stereotypes and reckon with the kingdom as it is — complex, evolving, and essential.
Purchase Your Copies of Karen’s Insightful Books on Saudi Arabia:
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The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia
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On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines - and Future
Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.
Photo: Karen Elliott House
Posted: September 22, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 57:20
Episode: 14.16
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