'Aqoul Reviews - Books & Media

Mark Twain's "The Innocents Abroad"

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:38:28 -0500

Coincidentally, I re-picked up this 1867 humorous classic travelogue of Mark Twain's for a (re-)glance not too long after Mr. Netanyahu had threatened to (re-)use it for sundry and sordid Middle East polemics. The Israeli Prime Minister had planned to deliver a copy as a gift to Barack Obama last year.

(There's also some general literary special interest in Twain's works going on now, because 2010 is the centenary year of his death.)

The Innocents Abroad tells the tales of the legendary American writer's long trip across Europe and the Near East in the late 1860s. He wrote a series of diary-based articles based on the journey. These ultimately became the book. The travel humor is alive and well today, and not especially outdated, and relates well to the ups and downs of modern tourism. The work, however, is also oft-quoted these days by some Israel supporters, hence Netanyahu's literary excursion.

The Birth of Modern Yemen

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:18:42 -0500

You know a country must have issues when its problems stick out in a region as troubled as the Middle East. Brian Whitaker's latest book examines the tumultuous course of events in Yemen during the early 1990s.

Under the Cover of War: the Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:01:15 -0500

The Arab-Israeli conflict is central to any discussion of Middle Eastern history over the past few decades, and the fate of Palestinian refugees lies at the heart of problem. In her book, Rosemarie Esber examines the last few months of Mandate rule in the Holy Land, in order to discuss how Palestinians ended up leaving their homes. She concludes that they departed primarily as the result of a campaign of violent intimidation that could be termed ethnic cleansing, and describes this in some detail.

The Other Islam: Sufism and the Road to Global Harmony

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 02:17:14 -0500

Let's be upbeat: this book, released last month, doesn't totally stink. The author's personal politics might lead one to expect the worst, but neoconservative Stephen Schwartz does manage in his book to provide both interesting information and genuine thoughtfulness about religious faith and Sufi Islam. This is salutary because his likely readership will mostly be those who take seriously all kinds of simplistic tripe about Muslims. Or, still worse, lap up the manurish anti-Muslim bigotry that is pervasive in the general society and in certain political blogs (e.g. the sicko Little Green Footballs blog, etc.)

Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:27:23 -0500

Christopher Davidson's study of Dubai aims to evenhandedly tackle the city's history, politics, security, economics, and society. The city's rulers were so unhappy about the subjects discussed that they initially attempted to ban it. So why did I not lap it up?

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:36:34 -0500

Another in a line of American movies exposing the dark side of the War on Terror, Harold and Kumar is a stunning indictment of that so-called "war's" injustice and hypocrisy.

Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism Without Terrorizing Ourselves

Sun, 04 May 2008 23:28:59 -0500

Simply put: this is a damn good book about fighting al-Qaeda, especially when one considers it was written by a member of the US counterintelligence establishment. It has shortcomings especially if one is, as I am, disturbed by some of the author's proposed counterterrorism solutions (more "random" searches, wiretaps,etc.). Still, there is a gem of informed and corrective common sense on just about every other page. (An update to this review may address many of those.)

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:27:05 -0500

Our readers are doubtless already familiar with the allegation that the Bush Administration made an epic mess of Iraq. But what exactly did they do wrong? Rajiv Chandrasekaran explores this in his account of the year and a bit immediately after the invasion, when the country was officially occupied.

Infidel

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 08:46:55 -0500

Well, here it is. After much haranguing by Matthew and Lounsbury, everyone finally gets to hear what I think about Ayaan Hirsi Ali's memoir, Infidel. When I started the book this past summer, I forced myself to read it with an open mind (as opposed to the snarky cynicism I've applied in the past). However, this mindset was soon abandoned once it became clear that it was simply an elaborate attempt to win sympathy and establish a personal brand. For non-critical readers, such as the dimwit at NYT who called her book "brave, inspiring and beautifully written," Hirsi Ali emerges as an embattled, courageous soul who escaped the benighted world of Islam and found sanctuary in the enlightened West.

The truth is of course more mundane.

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:47:42 -0500

The bottom line, up front: Jack Shaheen's Reel Bad Arabs is a necessary resource for anyone seriously interested in the subject of negative stereotyping of Arabs in American cinema. The best supplement to this book, by the way, besides its recently released DVD companion piece, is the same author's The TV Arab. That work provides a sustained analysis and background regarding Arab stereotyping on the small screen. On the downside, however, both are a bit dated (I am using the original 2001 edition of Reel Bad Arabs) and perhaps dangerously so at times. More about that in a bit.

Birds Without Wings

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:57:58 -0500

This book was sold everywhere in Istanbul, but paying €30 for a paperback seemed ridiculous, so I bought it here. The plot isn't terribly intricate and the characters are only briefly sketched, but the story is decent. It also serves as a basic introduction to the Ottoman collapse and subsequent birth of modern Turkey (for those who find actual history icky).

Birds Without Wings juxtaposes the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with that of a tiny Lycian coast village and its inhabitants. The villagers are Christian and Muslim peasants who live side by side in relative peace, intermarry and even partake in each other's religious rituals. Eventually, global events detailed in the Atatürk chapters begin to have an impact on this idyllic village. Armenians are killed, Muslim boys go off to war (and are subsequently traumatized), Christians are deported and bandits overrun the countryside. The main love story, involving a Muslim boy and a Christian girl who have been besotted with each other since birth, obviously ends in tragedy.

Banker to the Poor

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:43:33 -0500

This book is a good layperson introduction to the concept of microcredit and its Nobel Prize-winning champion, Muhammad Yunus. Unfortunately for me, it didn't get into the nuts and bolts of the Grameen microcredit model and why it produces inconsistent results when applied to different regions. However, that level of detail is probably not interesting to most readers, which is why Banker to the Poor is a little bit saccharine at times. Most of the chapters are anecdotes about saintly bank workers, poor but plucky Bangladeshi peasants and above all, Yunus's tireless networking and wasta-mongering with senior government officials.

Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:59:38 -0500

Interesting examination of Khomeini's very populist and usually pragmatic style of politics. Khomeini in this analysis comes off as a surprisngly flexible thinker, more than willing to alter his theology in practice (if not always openly in theory) to work the crowds. Well worth reading as a counter to the common popular view of Khomeini as an entirely inflexible dogmatist (or a fundamentalist, a descriptor Arahamian disputes on semantic grounds).

Islam, Politics and Pluralism: Theory and Practice in Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia and Algeria

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:57:16 -0500

Very well done almost pamphlet-sized volume that very concisely describes the rise of Islamism in MENA in general, the trajectory of Islamist movements in the countries listed, and their interplay with notions of electoral politics and movement towards representative democracy in the same. Ultimately she makes a compelling (if not airtight) argument that perhaps the best way to moderate Islamist movements (and the only way to move forwards towards true democracy in the region) is to include them within the democratic framework, as Turkey has successively done.

Faith At War

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:56:12 -0500

Well over a year after the book's first release, one paragraph alone validates the continuing worth of Yaroslav Trofimov's Faith At War. Although buried in chapter 12, among seemingly more telling fare, had a few planners in high positions in several countries took it seriously last year, a lot of embarrassing reckless victory promises and glibly proclaimed regional "pangs" would not have issued forth:

True to is reputation, Hezbollah proved the most efficient organization I have come across in the Middle East...[Each] interview would happen exactly as planned. In my dealings with the U.S. military, I never saw such precision.