Annotated Bibliography 1

1)      Lacey, Robert. "Vox Populi, Vox Dei." Inside the Kingdom. New York: Penguin, 2009. 46-53. Print.

This chapter of Robert Lacey’s book explains the reasoning behind the religious restrictions that are practiced in Saudi Arabia. Since the government became afraid of revolutions breaking out to overthrow the monarchy in the late 1970s, it responded by taking religion to the extreme. Restrictions started to go in place such as bans on music and women dressing more conservatively. Previously, the House of Saud announced that it was considering reform in its system, however that idea slowly fizzled away. After the 1980s everything had to follow the extreme guidelines the Saudi government had outlined, which proclaimed to follow that of the will of God.

While Lacey tries to remain objective by adding the viewpoints of various locals, there is a biased tone to the text. There is the bias of the author not agreeing with the decisions of the government, since there aren’t many direct quotes from the people who might have agreed. This chapter outlined some of the restrictions placed on the country and the reasons behind them.

This aids my previous source since it adds to the extensiveness of the restrictions placed on Saudi Arabia. It also gives a little history of the reasons behind them and the way live used to be.