Coming July 2025
The Man Who Would Be King
Based on exclusive interviews, an eye-opening biography of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), head of the House of Saud, the calculating ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and a central Middle East power broker.
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former Wall Street Journal publisher, Karen House has gained unprecedented insights into Saudi Arabia and its controversial leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman through her more than forty years of experience covering the Arab kingdom.
House reveals a leader who, like Peter the Great, is a reformer determined to modernize his kingdom but also an autocrat who jails political opponents and rival princes to to assure his grip on power. Drawing on extensive interviews with the Crown Prince, his royal relatives, and his inner ring of advisors, The Man Who Would Be King explains in full what shaped the man who is reshaping Saudi Arabia.
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Drawing on fresh, headline-making reporting, House balances both sides of this complex ruler. We are introduced to MBS the visionary, who has ushed in reforms for women to participate more equitably, opened the closed kingdom to tourism, and placed long term bets on green energy and trillion-dollar giga-projects like The Line, a hundred-mile-long enclosed futuristic city in the dessert that will be run by AI. And we meet MBS the Machiavellian prince, widely accused of having Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi murdered, and of sports washing the kingdom’s reputation by investing billions in teams globally, from Premiere League soccer to the LIV (liv) golf tour to the World Cup which the Kingdom will host in 2034.
The Man Who Would Be King reveals MBS in all his complexities, from his rise to power and his vision for the future of his Kingdom. Where previous Saudi rulers worked behind the scenes, MBS boldly seeks a major role on the world stage, alongside the U.S., China, and Russia. A shrewd broker, he also seeks to bring peace to Gaza to enable Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and to keep world oil prices high to fund his many giga-projects. It is an unprecedent and much needed in-depth portrait of the leader who, at only 39, could be a major player on the world stage for the next half century.
What People Are Saying
“An insider's insights into a transformative leader who may turn out to be the next Lee Kuan Yew—or the next Gorbachev?”
— Graham T. Allison, author of Destined for War
“Karen House understands the history, culture, and society of Saudi Arabia the way few outsiders can. Based on a lifetime of travels and reporting inside the Kingdom, The Man Who Would Be King chronicles the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his singular quest to turn Saudi Arabia into a global powerhouse. Any American who wants to preserve and strengthen our 80-year partnership with Saudi Arabia should read this book.”
— Senator Tom Cotton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seven Things You Can't Say About China
“Karen House has combined decades of experience in Saudi Arabia with rare access to its current leadership in order to provide us with an unmatched analysis of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and where he is taking his country.”
— David H. Rundell, author of Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads
“Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Karen Elliott House provides fascinating insights into the actions and vision of Mohammed Bin Salman, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, and a major player in the Middle East. Her book, The Man Who Would Be King, covers the spectrum from the crown prince’s climb to absolute power to the murder of journalist Khashoggi to MBS’s Vision 2030 plan for transforming his country, particularly the role of women. This in-depth analysis is a 'must read' for all who want to better understand Saudi Arabia and its dynamic young leader.”
— Senator Susan Collins, member of the Senate Intelligence Committee
“Karen Elliott House brings her decades of experience and deep personal relationships within Saudi Arabia to offer her reader a compelling, balanced view of where the Kingdom stands today. Offering a portrait of the Crown Prince that few could paint, Elliott House captures both the immense ambition driving Mohammed bin Salman’s vision for Saudi Arabia and the significant challenges facing its realization. A compelling read for those interested in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, the evolution of religion and society in the Arab world, the global energy transition, and the exercise of geopolitical power in a turbulent age.”
— Meghan O'Sullivan, Former Deputy National Security Adviser on Iraq and Afghanistan
Additional Books
On Saudi Arabia
Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines–and Future
With over thirty years of experience writing about Saudi Arabia, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former publisher of The Wall Street Journal Karen Elliott House has an unprecedented knowledge of life inside this shrouded kingdom. Through anecdotes, observation, analysis, and extensive interviews, she navigates the maze in which Saudi citizens find themselves trapped and reveals the sometimes contradictory nature of the nation that is simultaneously a final bulwark against revolution in the Middle East and a wellspring of Islamic terrorists.
Saudi Arabia finds itself threatened by fissures and forces on all sides, and On Saudi Arabia explores in depth what this portends for the country’s future—and our own.
Karen Elliott House
Karen Elliott House is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist with nearly five decades of experience covering Saudi Arabia. Her deep expertise informs her latest book, The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia, which draws on more than half a dozen in-depth interviews with the Crown Prince himself. House spent over 30 years at The Wall Street Journal, serving as a reporter, editor, and ultimately publisher. She is also the author of On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines—and Future. She resides in Princeton, New Jersey.
