''Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil'' is a non-fiction book written by
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winning American author
Wallace Stegner
Wallace Earle Stegner (February 18, 1909 – April 13, 1993) was an American novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and historian, often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book ...
.
Written by Stegner in the late 1950s the book was originally serialized in fourteen parts in the magazine
Saudi Aramco World
''Aramco World'' (formerly ''Saudi Aramco World'') is a bi-monthly magazine published by Aramco Services Company, a US-based subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The first issue of the magazine a ...
in 1970–71 and later published in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
in 1971 in a limited press run. In 2005, Selwa Press asked
Aramco
Saudi Aramco ( ar, أرامكو السعودية '), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company) or simply Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. , it is one of ...
for permission to license this work and present it as an illustrated, fully annotated edition that was released in hardcover in September 2007, the first time it was published in the US.
In late 2007, Selwa's right to publish the book under Stegner's name was questioned by the author's former agent, as well as by Stegner's son and by a biographer.
The book outlines the history of
Aramco
Saudi Aramco ( ar, أرامكو السعودية '), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company) or simply Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. , it is one of ...
and the story of the first discoveries of
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
region and
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. Stegner wrote a detailed history of the first contacts between representatives from the American oil company Casoc (or Socal) and King
Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud
Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن آل سعود, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbd ar Raḥman Āl Suʿūd; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted ...
of Saudi Arabia and his concessions to the company to search for oil in the kingdom in the 1930s.
Book Summary
The book outlines the beginnings of the discovery of oil in the Persian Gulf during the 1930s by oil companies from around the world. The exploration for oil took place during the depression of the 1930s and companies in the US and other countries were hesitant to spend resources looking for oil. During the 1930s the Persian Gulf, aside from Saudi Arabia, was primarily controlled by the British military and British companies operating in public interest.
The 1930s Kingdom of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud was a conservative country skeptical of outsiders and the homeland of Islam's main pilgrimage sites and holy cities of
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
and
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
.
The King was also interested in oil exploration though and made concessions to several companies, allowing them to explore for oil in the Kingdom. Discovery! outlines how American oil officials agreed to share profits with the King, train employees, build roads and towns, and eventually turn Aramco into a Saudi run and owned company in return for revenue and exclusive oil rights.
Following several negotiations outlined in Stegner's book and especially with the help of ex-English intelligence officer and Muslim convert
St. John Philby
Harry St John Bridger Philby, CIE (3 April 1885 – 30 September 1960), also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah ( ar, الشيخ عبدالله), was a British Arabist, adviser, explorer, writer, and Colonial Office intelligence officer.
...
the American company and the Saudi King agreed to partner.
Stegner's book details the lives of some of the American families who were part of this oil exploration and the unique set of circumstances that they faced living in Saudi Arabia as well as the effect that these families and employees had on the native population of Saudi Arabia.
He also outlines the beginnings of a relationship between US business and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the 1930s through the end of World War II.
History of the Book
The first manuscript was written by Stegner in 1956 and was submitted to Aramco shortly thereafter. According to Discovery!'s new introduction officials at the company were hesitant to publish the manuscript due to the political situation in the Middle East with the nationalization of the
Suez canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
and the
pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism ( ar, الوحدة العربية or ) is an ideology that espouses the unification of the countries of North Africa and Western Asia from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea, which is referred to as the Arab world. It is closely c ...
of
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. The manuscript remained unpublished until a company editor found it in 1967.
Stegner and Aramco compromised on the contents of the book and it began being published in serial form in Saudi Aramco World magazine in 1970. Stegner's hesitations on writing a public relations campaign for a company were included in the book as well as some of his critiques.
The book was released worldwide in September 2007 with additional annotations, a bibliography, an introduction by author and journalist
Thomas Lippman
Thomas W. Lippman is a journalist and author, specializing in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia–United States relations.
Life
Lippman attended Regis High School (New York City), Regis High School in Manhattan and earned his Bachelor of Arts ...
and unreleased photographs.
Controversy
Questions have arisen over Selwa Press' legal right to publish the book with Stegner's name attached. The dispute centers over whether a 1958 contract between the author and Aramco required Stegner's approval before his name could be used. Publisher Tim Barger said that Stegner had given that approval when the book was serialized in an Aramco magazine in the 1960s. The author also approved an Aramco-published book in 1971. But the author's former agent, Carl Brandt, who represents Stegner's estate, called the book "a bowdlerized version of what Wally wrote," and Stegner's son Page said that material critical of Aramco or considered offensive to the company's Saudi partners was removed. Stegner biographer
Philip Fradkin said that Stegner was paid for his work and had accordingly permitted an Aramco-published version but did not want that version published as a trade book.
Stegner's original draft now resides at the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
. Barger said that Aramco would never agree to the publication of Stegner's original draft.
External links
AP story: "Dispute Over Long-Buried Stegner Book" Dec 2007Serialized in Saudi Aramco World magazine 1968 (Original edited version)
*
ttp://www.kpbs.org/news/2007/sep/27/undiscovered-saudi-arabia-oil-manuscript/ KPBS-FM article and radio interview of Publisher Tim Barger, September 2007br>
Selwa Press
References
{{reflist
1971 non-fiction books
History of the Middle East
History of Saudi Arabia
2007 non-fiction books
American non-fiction books
Books about petroleum