Saudi Arabia influences American policy through both conventional and unconventional methods, ranging from lobbying to endowments to think tanks and policy centers, universities and workshops for teachers in kindergarten through twelfth grade, all due to the petro-dollars that have been generated from America's addiction to foreign oil. With chapters written by long-time experts in the fields of national security, foreign policy, education, and law, this book uses first-hand accounts to explore the Saudis' vast grip. It addresses how Saudi influence has eased the rise of domestic terrorism as well as a promulgation of pernicious ideas regarding American foreign policy. All this has produced a philosophy of moral equivalency, mitigating against a sense of American exceptionalism or a moral clarity of America's unique mission in the world.

Sarah N. Stern is the founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, an unabashedly pro-Israel and pro-American think tank and policy shop in Washington, DC. Prior to that she was the director of governmental and legislative affairs of the American Jewish Congress, and prior to that she was the national policy coordinator of the Zionist Organization of America. Stern and her organization have been at the helm of pro-Israel advocacy for many years. Her efforts have resulted in the establishment in the Department of Justice of an Office for Victims of Overseas Terrorism to ensure equal justice under the law for American victims of Palestinian terrorism, the passage of the Syrian Accountability Act, the passage of a resolution in defense of Israel's right to build a security fence, and the passage of a law that calls for a more balanced curriculum in Middle Eastern Studies Departments throughout America. She has written for The New Republic, InFocus, the Middle East Quarterly, the Jewish Post, and the Washington Jewish Week. She also contributed a chapter to Frank Gaffney's book War Footing and is the author of one novel, Cherished Illusions. Stern is married to Buddy, a physician, and is the mother of Bezalel, Noam, and Rachel. She and her husband reside in suburban Washington.