From

Reviewed with Colleen Madonna Flood Williams' Yasir Arafat.

Gr. 5-8. These two titles in the Major World Leaders series examine rulers in the Islamic world. Arafat focuses on the role of the PLO chief as a symbol for his people. "Mr. Palestine" is portrayed as a confident, able leader with a tragic flaw: unwillingness to alienate his constituents has made him a party to terror and brought corruption to the Palestinian government. The inclusion of a 13-page chunk of Arafat's historic 1994 address to the UN will fatigue even perseverant readers, but otherwise, Williams provides a good introduction to the controversies surrounding the man. The Saudi Royal Family follows the rise of the Saud family and its radical Wahabist interpretation of Islam in the early-twentieth century and then introduces the various kings who have followed. There are a few typos and one inexcusably stereotypical comment ("Being a Muslim, he did not care for Jews"), but the book is admirably balanced, even as it explores the paradoxes inherent within the ostentatious and indulgent royal family's puritanical religious beliefs. Both books are illustrated with color and sepia-tone photographs. Extensive chronologies and bibliographies further the text. John Green
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