The Hashemite Kingdom of the Hijaz in Arabia, played a crucial role in modern Middle Eastern history from its founding in 1916 until its demise in 1925. It was the first Arab country to gain independence from the Ottoman Empire, and it's rulers led the Arab Revolt of "Lawrence of Arabia" fame. The holy cities of Mecca and Medina flourished under its control and it was praised as a model of justice and a beacon of hope for the Muslim world. Yet for all its significance, the Kingdom has received little attention from historians.

1. Introduction -- The Hijaz in the early twentieth century -- Of tribes and chieftaincies: state formation in Ababian tribal societies -- A note on the Hashimites and the Meccan Sharifate -- 2. The Social and Political Legacy of Ottoman Rule in the Hijaz, 1840-1916 -- The Sharifian State: the 'state within the state' on the eve of the Arab Revolt -- A note on Medina on the eve of the Arab Revolt -- 3. Sharif Husayn and his Ambitions: the Background to the Arab Revolt -- The milieu: intrigue in Mecca and Istanbul -- The Young Turk Revolution and Husayn's appointment as the Sharif and its Amir -- The British and Husayn's Ambitions: Caliphate and territorial borders -- Hashimite contacts with Arab nationalists -- Husayn in the Hijaz, 1908-1916: tribes, tribal borders and local ambitions in the Arabian arena -- 4. Expanding the Chieftaincy: the Arab Revolt, 1916-1917 -- Forming alliances with tribal groups -- From Mecca to Wajh: June 1916-January 1917 -- From Wajh to 'Aqabah: January-July 1917 -- Tribal brinkmanship: confrontation at Qunfudhah -- The Saudi challenge -- Trying to reconcile the unreconcilable: Hashimite ambition vs. British and French territorial imperatives -- 5. The State's Mechanisms of Coercion: the Administration of Justice and the Armed Forces -- The administration of justice -- The armed forces -- 6. The Politics of Declining Subsidies and Revenue Extraction -- A general note on government finance -- Finance: revenue extraction -- 7. Society and State Formation in the Hashimite Kingdom of Arabia -- Facade and fealty: alienating the Hijazi elite, 1916-1924 -- Symbols, state education and social cohesion -- The abandonment of the Hashimites: the Hijazi urban and tribal elite from the fall of Ta'if to the fall of Jeddah, September 1924-December 1925 -- The failure of state capabilities on the periphery: the case of Medina -- The Saudi comparison -- 8. Pursuing Ambitions after the Revolt, 1917-1924 -- Hashimites, Kemalists, and the Ottoman Caliph: Maneuvering for the advantage -- Taking the Caliphate -- 9. Tribes and Territories: Saudi Threat, Hashimite Response, and Saudi Invasion, 1917-1925 -- The significance of Wadi Subay' -- Interlude: a note on relations with the tribal chieftaincies of Ibn Rashid of Jabal Shammar and Idrisi of 'Asir -- From Turabah to Ta'if: the eastern tribes, encroachment and invasion, 1919-1924 -- 10. Conclusions.