May, 2011: I think that anyone, especially in the US government, who believes that the uprisings of common people in the Middle East that we've seen spring 2011 are about democracy should be ousted from office, and smarter, better informed people should be elected. The Middle East is not the US or Europe. They are as committed to their religion as Christians are to theirs, and that's a gulf that will never be crossed or bridged. I would hope that anyone reading this book would understand that from the reading of it. pbs member
One reviewer at amazon wrote:
Any book attempting to handle such an enourmous subject as this is going to have a large mountain to climb. There is so much to describe and many different ways of describing it. I admit I was a bit skeptical at first, I didn't think someone with a background in journalism was going to be able to cover this topic in a meaningful way. Thankfully I was wrong. This is not a scholarly book and Lamb states this upfront. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as he is an excellent writer and the type of training he lacks as a political scientist is overcome by how approachable he makes the subject seem.
One of the biggest problems I have with books like these is that they tend to gloss over some of the more important details about U.S. actions in the region. Lamb does not fall into this trap and didn't sugarcoat the unsavory things that the U.S. and Israel have done. At the same time, he also makes no apologies for how most Arab rulers have used the Palestinian issue to benefit themselves while never really helping the Palestinians. This book is refreshing in that it doesn't seem to favor any one particular group or country over another.
There were only a few minor complaints I had with this book. This is an updated book and I felt that the newer sections Lamb added on were rushed and not much thought was put into them. There's a noticable difference between the quality of these additions and the bulk of the book that was originally published. Also, when Lamb ventures into analytical territory, like the section on terrorism for example, it becomes clear that this isn't the type of subject matter a journalist should really be writing on. After reading quite a bit of more scholarly literature on terrorism, Lamb's contributions aren't really that helpful. You'd do well to read authors like Graham Fuller for this material.
I think if you have an interest in the Middle East, but it isn't something you're going to devote a significant amount of time to, I would recommend this book. The author presents a nice mixture of material that would be very helpful for someone that is new to the topic. I've read quite a bit about the Middle East, and I still found this book to be a very enjoyable read.
One reviewer at amazon wrote:
Any book attempting to handle such an enourmous subject as this is going to have a large mountain to climb. There is so much to describe and many different ways of describing it. I admit I was a bit skeptical at first, I didn't think someone with a background in journalism was going to be able to cover this topic in a meaningful way. Thankfully I was wrong. This is not a scholarly book and Lamb states this upfront. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as he is an excellent writer and the type of training he lacks as a political scientist is overcome by how approachable he makes the subject seem.
One of the biggest problems I have with books like these is that they tend to gloss over some of the more important details about U.S. actions in the region. Lamb does not fall into this trap and didn't sugarcoat the unsavory things that the U.S. and Israel have done. At the same time, he also makes no apologies for how most Arab rulers have used the Palestinian issue to benefit themselves while never really helping the Palestinians. This book is refreshing in that it doesn't seem to favor any one particular group or country over another.
There were only a few minor complaints I had with this book. This is an updated book and I felt that the newer sections Lamb added on were rushed and not much thought was put into them. There's a noticable difference between the quality of these additions and the bulk of the book that was originally published. Also, when Lamb ventures into analytical territory, like the section on terrorism for example, it becomes clear that this isn't the type of subject matter a journalist should really be writing on. After reading quite a bit of more scholarly literature on terrorism, Lamb's contributions aren't really that helpful. You'd do well to read authors like Graham Fuller for this material.
I think if you have an interest in the Middle East, but it isn't something you're going to devote a significant amount of time to, I would recommend this book. The author presents a nice mixture of material that would be very helpful for someone that is new to the topic. I've read quite a bit about the Middle East, and I still found this book to be a very enjoyable read.
