Objective Look at The Future of The Middle East
My review on Amazon
Robin Wright has always been my favorite reporter on Middle East affairs. The stories and accounts she has written in The Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker have consistently been impressive in quality and effortlessly impartial. Robin has a unique ability to leverage her vast network of resources to tap into the most intimate thoughts and feelings of that region and relay them uncensored to her audience. So needless to say, I was pretty excited to read this book to learn from her what future my people have and how they might get a shot at it.
I was very impressed, and now like the author, hopeful.
Robin takes on the most volatile players in the Middle East (Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Morocco and Iraq to be exact) and paints with words the most descriptive portrait for each. Having grown up in the region, I know how revealing those portraits are for those who dare peruse them. Her intimate knowledge of Egyptian politics, culture, modern history and collective psyche is astounding. It's evident that her superb soft skills have allowed her to penetrate these cultures and gain the trust of the people who told their story and to whom she listened.
The book is written for a Western audience, who might find the information provided in it completely conflicting with what they thought they knew about the Middle East. The accounts and stories presented in the book aren't clouded with opinions, agendas or spins. The facts are stated and the quotes are relayed. It's pure and simple journalism.
I also believe that another audience might benefit greatly from reading this book--the very people this book is about. Middle Easterners will find in this book a candid reflection of their current affairs. It's imperative for people to know how they are perceived in order to complete their perception of who they really are. We give this feedback to friends and family daily, but nations and cultures don't do that with each other frequently. Here is a chance that I hope doesn't get wasted.
The book in general voices optimism in the future of the Middle East, despite the war in Iraq and despite the rise in Islamic fundamentalism. Painful stories from across the region about fledgling dreams trying to make it and desperate youth fighting to dream are recounted so vividly by the author, who uses her magic to point out the silver lining in each of these stories and in turn keeping our hopes alive for a better tomorrow in the region.
It was definitely an entertaining, informative and thought-provoking read. I highly recommend it.
This does indeed sound like a very interesting and eye opening read and one i willbe keeping my eyes peeled for. I am trying to slowly but surely read more non-fiction but am not very good at finding it and this looks like it could be just what I would like.
Posted by: Simon (Savidge Reads) | November 22, 2009 at 02:06 AM