Three decades after writing The Kingdom, the famed historian and bestselling author returns to Saudi Arabia. Based on hundreds of personal interviews with princes and paupers while living there, Inside the Kingdom explores the previous turbulent three decades of Saudi experience. While Lacey believes the Kingdom is becoming more tolerant, he documents the paradoxical nature of a state in which the House of Saud attempts to supress violent fundamentalists while its legitimacy relies on a religious structure that tends towards extremism.