Andrew Wheatcroft

Andrew Wheatcroft in this powerful study argues that the founding father of modern Bahrain was its ruler from 1942 to 1961, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa. Analysing a wealth of new evidence, he suggests that Shaikh Salman should now be considered one of the pioneers of the modern Middle East. He rejects the accepted historiography, based on a partial reading of the evidence, that credits others with the creation of Bahrain's structure of social welfare. He shows that Shaikh Salman was instrumental in securing the economic resources that made possible the creation of the new Bahrain. Then, through his determination, Shaikh Salman ensured that the island's people benefited directly from the new oil wealth with pioneering provisions for health and welfare, the first in the Gulf and still rare in the world at large. The book also makes clear how hard Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa had to struggle to achieve those positive results, and the powerful interest groups he had to outwit in the nineteen years of his reign. This study presents the portrait of a complex and subtle character who embraced both tradition and modernity.

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