Reviews (28)

A thought-provoking description of Arab societies
The Arab world today has some problems.Well, that's nothing new.All societies have had problems in the past and will in the future.But that ought not stop us or them from trying to learn lessons from mistakes.

Pryce-Jones starts by showing that Arabs have been showing surprising mercilessness to each other as well as to external enemies in recent years.And we see a reversion "to basic tribal and kinship structures" rather than a Westernization of Arab culture.

There is an interesting discussion of the "shame and honor" mentality with some startling anecdotes that illustrate how such attitudes make progress and reform far more difficult.And there's an explanation of how the underprivileged status of women contributes to making Arab society as a whole more backward.

The author describes the extent of Arab support for the Germans in World War Two.And from there he shows how the shame-honor attitudes have affected Arab relations with Israel.Obviously, many Arabs are well aware of the fact that Israel is just one more small nation.But Israel is omitted from most Arab maps and reference books, Arabs often avoid appearing with Israelis on public platforms, there are Arab boycotts of Israel and Israeli products, and Arab media saturate the region with antisemitic propaganda.While this is harmful to Israel, it doesn't help Arabs; it merely gets Arab behavior to be less than rational.Were Arafat's cronies to defeat Israel, that would help no one.There would be a slaughter of Jews, and Arabs would keep fighting Western "foes" afterwards, convinced that their victory against the Jews was a victory over the entire Western world.This surely would not help Arabs.

Pryce-Jones concludes that the Arab world still has no institutions that are evolved by common consent for common purposes, therefore "there is nothing that can be agreed as the general good."And that the world is thus deprived of much of what the Arab people could otherwise contribute.Islam is seen by the author as irrelevant to all this: it is not monolithic, but simply follows the prevailing culture.And the West, especially when it supports the worst elements of Arab society, is not helping.

This book does not leave one feeling optimistic.I for one doubt that the Arabs will ever make a big apology to Israel for all the hostility they have shown it.And that is, in my opinion, part of an overall problem: if Arab society continues to be dysfunctional, Arab nations will become ever more uncompetitive and hostile.And that is a very bad combination when one has a large and rich Empire to defend.

I highly recommend this book.I think it explains why Arab society is not improving the lives of most Arabs, and why the advice of other nations has made matters worse.

seminal, yet definitive
I live and work in the Middle East; I regularly, therefore, find myself either reading about or having to discuss many of the issues addressed herein.Among my colleagues are numbered many widely-traveled and well-read specialists in Middle Eastern affairs, and we have all read this book and know it well.

Though there has been an avalanche of well-meaning books about this part of the world since September 11th, the majority of them, it seems to me, are scuttled by either slipshod research or sheer vapidity.

Yet this innocuous-looking volume by David Pryce-Jones is regarded universally (even by those with widely divergent opinions) with a kind of hushed awe.The only other book that can even approach it, in our estimation, is Raphael Patai's "The Arab Mind," a fitting peer and complement to Pryce-Jones.(I note happily that, at least at the time of writing, Amazon was offering both together [v.s.] for a bargain price.)

In fact, every time a "new guy" comes out here and evinces an interest in or need to understand the culture or values of either Muslims or Arabs, he is invariably directed to Pryce and Patai."And if you still have questions," he will be told, "read them again!"As a result, dog-eared, spine-cracked copies of these books eagerly circulate from reader to reader, as pieces of the true cross were said to among early Christians.

Reviews (130)

Book explanatory and in Depth as Resource in Report
For a school project in which I chose the topic of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, my teacher recommended to me this book; she is a Thomas Friedman fan.Although I am not, I decided to give the book a try, and was glad I did.

First of all, Friedman did an excelent job of presenting the ins and outs of the Middle Eastern conflict, and furthermore made it somewhat interesting to those who don't know much about the subject.Friedman's insight into the hearts and minds of the average citizen of Lebanon, Israel, and the occupied territories, provided a solid base for my report and sparked my ineterest in a subject I never thought about before.

On the other hand, Friedman seemed to be trying to appeal to too many audiances.The book often runs on and on about very small details, which, although are interesting, seem to provide no support for the overall style of his work.

Other than that, I was impressed that, as a high school student, I was able to comprehend and appreciate Friedman's novel.The experiences Freidman shared were a great resource for my report and overall could be an interesting read for anyone who is interested in a quick look at the last century of the conflicts in the Middle East.

A good memoir
Friedman gives his stigma from the very beginning: he is a Jew, his fascination with the Middle East led him to study Middle Eastern politics and history, he is a correspondent for the New York Times and he cites Bernard Lewis. All the above would render anyone who's read more than one book on the subject at least suspicious.

Oddly enough, Friedman manages to strike a relative balance and preserve some form of neutrality in his arguments.

Sure enough, there are some outrageous comments and inaccuracies to be found in this book. Take for example "the liberating quality of news from Israel has particular appeal for Europeans who carry guilt over the Holocaust" (as if the Holocaust was a joint European effort), or that in the Western news media's coverage of the '87 Intifada "the extensive focus on Israeli soldiers beating, arresting, or shooting Palestinians was so obviously out of proportion...", or "Arafat apparently thought he could continue forever not making the real...preparations for war that would have satisfied the Palestinian hard-liners" (maybe the fact that Palestinians did not have an army as such played a role in that), or "Allah Akhbar" instead of Allahu Akbar etc.

However, there are certain things that work very well for this book: one is that Friedman cannot escape his journalistic background, so to speak, a fact which greatly enhances this book's readability. It's fast-paced and concise, and although nearly 600 pages, it's one of those books that could be read in just one sitting. Two, a fact which also has to do with Friedman's work as a journalist and pertains to all the interviews conducted with heads of states, leaders of organizations, religious communities, militia as well as the common people, that have found their way into this book either whole or excerpts thereof. They are revealing, enlightening and provide insight into the various sides' views, the reasons and forces that drive them and the rationale behind their actions.

Where Friedman dissappoints me is at the finishing chapter of the book's first edition: upon his return to the US and looking back on his whole experience in the Middle East, he resorts to parrotting the usual narrative regarding overall impressions as well as the usual rhetoric regarding American involvement. Friedman is one of the hundreds who had read about the Middle East (Orient), studied it, dreamt about it, fantacised about it, was fascinated by it, only to visit a part of it and find out that it wasn't really what he had expected it to be and he didn't really like it after all (those who've read E.Said's "Orientalism" know what I mean). And then comes America's role as the savior, as it has a lot to offer to help this region, which, finally, Friedman refuses to pronounce as hopeless (he does admit, to his credit, that America would be doing so not for the sake of the region, but rather to protect and further its own interests).

In his more recent afterword (included in the latest edition), Friedman gets more practical and particular and focuses on the difficulties in solving the Arab-Israeli conflict. Although his views may seem one-sided, they do have validity as they're based on the only thing that (unfortunately and regretfully) really matters: power.

All in all, this is a personal account, a memoir, and if read as such, it's a good book. Don't fall into the trap of reading it like it's a history book expecting a detailed and chronologically ordered account of events. More importantly, don't fall into the trap of reading it like it's a sociology or anthropology book, providing an analysis on the psyche of the Lebanese, the Palestinians, the Syrians and exposing their philosophy, values, characteristics, rules of conduct etc. If for no other reason than that this book focuses exclusively on just one aspect of their reality: the conflict.

And that's why I have to wholeheartedly disagree with Seymour Hersch (whose acclaim for "Beirut to Jerusalem" appears with that of other journalists and critics on the book's first page): "If you are going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it." What an injustice to and contempt towards a whole people! For there is a lot more to the "Middle East" than just the Lebanese war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Reviews (3)

detailed history from an old house's walls
Lebanon has always been a beehive of different religions and their many different sects. Times haven't changed the people much since 1840 when this book was written. I would recommend it for a variety of reasons: 1) to understand that life is the same there, socially and religiously; 2) to understand how society in Lebanon still functions after all this time - no change; 3)to gheta glimpse of how people deal psychologically with loss, defamation and themselves in such a society.
It is a good read anyway, as a story, and along the way you'll learn some history as well.

Five stars, minus one for its brevity
This is a fantastic book about the challenges of modernity and westernization in traditional culture. The main character is a judge of Islamic law in modern-day Lebanon, who becomes fascinated by the red shoes of his foreign benefactor's wife. They share a kind of marriage that the judge finds both fascinating and outrageous--she feels free to greet him in private when her husband is not home, an act that no self-respecting Muslim woman would do, and she seems almost the equal of her husband. This makes the judge suddenly disappointed in his own long, very proper marriage.

And this happens against the backdrop of social and political turmoil in Lebanon. Young people become more mobile, marry without consent, and reject traditional ways; the entire culture seems doomed. Eventually the judge resigns himself to the uncertain modern world, but he must give up something very precious in order to do so.

The torment of the Muslim soul, facing the challenges of modernity with its attendant liberalism and materialism, is a subject rarely treated in the English language.

Reviews (51)

Dostoevsky of the middle East


"She woke at midnight. She always woke up then without having to rely on an alarm clock. A wish that had taken root in her awoke her with great accuracy."

N. Mahfouz Palace Walk

It is hard to read this book and not think that you know some of these people already. This is a rare opportunity to glance into the often secret Arab Psyche but in a past time. Mahfouz has been hailed as the Dostoevsky of the Arab world and I think this if quite fair. If you can really dig Brother's Karamazov then you should dig this book. During the hit that was on Salman Rushdie, Mahfouz was one of the prominent artists to come forward at great personal risk. This is truly deserving of the Nobel but is shamefully not as widely read as it should be. In the midst of the psychology and strange alleys and odd distortions this is simply a most beautiful story that will resonate in your mind for years.

Best,

N

Metaphorical Literalism
It started off a bit slow.In fact, it took a few weeks for me to read through the first six chapters.I'd heard he was the best of 20th century Arab authors.I did not find this to be the case.

Mahfouz is one of the best authors I've ever read.Mahfouz lays the groundwork for character development in the beginning, and we finally get to "one day"- the point in the story where things start to move.And things move so well, so beautifully, that it more than makes up for the slow start.There is rich description of Cairo life in the early 20th century, especially that of women in harem seclusion, and the resulting gulf of understanding between men and women.I have never read an author who so intimately merges the use of metaphorical description with direct telling of character emotions.We get to peer into the lives of characters, and into their minds, and see them as they truly are, and as they see themselves.It reminds me of myself, and real people around me, how we are, how we think we are- for Mahfouz writes people, not characters.We see the building up of identity, and how it can come crashing down- even when the character doesn't realize it.

After reading this book, finishing the last three pages, I was filled with a simple and unutterable "Wow."

Reviews (13)

Another Great Mahfouz
Like the first in the trilogy, this was excellent writing, alternating between telling and describing, but with the most vivid description, and somehow the telling is the most desirous writing as well.Yes, Kamal's long-winded poetic idealistic love gets...long-winded at times.But it builds to the a very appropriate conclusion in his life.It is amazing to watch a family crumble- but not at all unexpected.You see the seeds of destruction from the first pages of Palace Walk.Al-Sayyhid Ahmad Abd Al-Jawad desires to have such strong control over his family, he ends up building it's destruction.He wants to live a double life- and those live half as long.He sees no hypocrisy in his actions, for he lives the unexamined life.And he reaps his harvest.This is the message interwoven throughout both the first two books.

I keep on feeling that Naguib Mahfouz is the Dickens of his culture.Characters are consistent with themselves, yet constantly changing, evolving, to become something greater, or worse, and unexpected, yet somehow we always knew it had to be that way.He writes with such realism of the lives of people, and the changing lives over generations of the people of the large city.It is dirty, intimate, and full of pathos.It is life.

Second part of "The Cairo Trilogy"
In the second volume of "The Cairo Trilogy", we follow the progress of Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad's family after the death of Fahmy in a riot against the British. After more than one year, Al-Sayyid Ahmad resumes his visits to Jalila and Zubayda. The later is to become his private mistress on a houseboat on the Nile and later Yasin's wife! Kamal is now seventeen and to Al-Sayyid Ahmad's disappointment he intends to enrol at the Teachers College. His father would wish him to become a civil servant or an engineer but Kamal is more interested in literature and philosophy. He is indeed becoming an adult and his relation with his mother Amina is changing. He feels that he has nothing much to tell her except "meaningless chatter". Another disappointment for Kamal is his love for Aïda who never quite reciprocates his feelings for her.
What makes the second volume interesting is the evolution of the Egyptian society, the rules of which begin to relax as the country inexorably adopts more Western values. These values are difficult to accept for conservative people like those of Al-Sayyid Ahmad's generation. It appears that the family values suffer most from such a modernisation and in this respect Yasin is a good example with his three marriages. Like in the first volume, the reader can expect the highest literary standards in "Palace Of Desire" by one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

Reviews (12)

Third part of "The Cairo Trilogy"
In the third part of "The Cairo Trilogy", life of the Abd al-Jawad family goes on. Amina's body now withered, her hair white, ill health and grief having altered her considerably. Her diligence and her capacity for running the household are now gone. She no longer pays attention to her home except for the services to her husband al-Sayyid Ahmad, once a vigorous man in full swing. He now suffers from high blood pressure and he had to give up many of the pleasures of life - drinks, women and good food. In fact, many months before dying, he is completely bedridden, a particularly humiliating situation for a man with such a strong ego.
Here Mr Mahfouz casts a compassionate glance at the irony of life which makes elderly people become utterly dependant on others, as they used to be when they were infants. For Kamal, now thirty-six, it is sad to see his family age, all the more since he refuses to get married and thus spends a lot of time aloof and lonely. Aiming at becoming a true intellectual, Kamal often collides with doubt and struggles with instincts and passions and is becoming "an emotionally crippled recluse". He often broods about his youth, his love for Aïda and the eternal loss of the enchanting past.
But there are also reasons to rejoice as the younger generation takes over and ascends in society. Marriages take place, careers are planned. Mr Mahfouz splendidly portrays this cycle of life in which the old generation gives way to the boisterous and cheerful young one. This is shown in the moving final scene when Kamal and his brother Yasin enter a store where the former buys several items for his daughter's baby while the latter buys a black necktie he will need when the mournful day of his mother's death arrives...

Recommended
The conclusion and final disintegration of the formerly powerful patriarchal family.Brings one through the third generation of tradegy, loss, and spiritual transformation and leaves almost every individual in misery.I enjoyed the first and final books in this trilogy and feel I came away with a better understanding of the conflicting forces at work in Egypt as well as the impact of culture and morality on individual actions and spirituality.

The Saga Continues
This is the third book in the Cairo Trilogy Series.By all means, do NOT try to read this book without having read Palace Walk or Palace of Desire FIRST--it would be like tuning in to a movie in the last half hour.

This book opens with the father and his wife in old age, in their 60's, their children in middle age, and the younger (third) generation entering their 20's.It continues the interesting saga.The book finishes shortly after both the father and his wife eventually die of old age.

Reviews (25)

I have the hardcover edition of this book.
it is indispensable!!!

I purchased this book while studying Modern Standard Arabic abroad at the American University in Cairo Egypt. This dictionary helped make it possible for me to write poetry after about three months. This is an "Arabic to English" dictionary, so you must be able to read Arabic to use it. You should be able to use it once you have learned the alphabet. It is far better and more accurate than an "English to Arabic" one of which I have many and find utterly useless. My instructor Miriam recommended Hans Wehr, and it is the best tool I have invested in to date. I have not seen this version before, but I would agree that in this case bigger print is better, so if it is possible to do so - go ahead and invest in the hardcover edition.

NOT an English-Arabic dictionary
An impressive dictionary, but... one of the reviews calls this an English-Arabic dictionary.It is really Arabic to English only.When I bought it, I thought it would have both Arabic-English and English-Arabic.

Reviews (47)

The TRUTH about the crusades
Attacked by Mongols - the Tartars - in the east and by Franj the Europeans - in the west, the Muslims had never been in such a critical position. God alone could still rescue them.

The book takes you back in time repeating these events from the arab point of view - the slaughters they witnessed, the destruction and uprooting of their lands, etc.

A great read for anyone and everyone no matter whether you're into history or not.

Fantastic, and actually quite fun, read
Like many other reviewers, I picked up this book fearing it might be another "white devil screwed us over, thanks a lot Europe" kind of narrative. On the contrary, the reader will find no such thing. For one, Amin Maalouf is never afraid to explain the faults of the Arab leaders both militarily and personally - in fact, halfway through the book you'll wonder when the Muslims are gonna get their act together! An interesting part is at the very end when Maalouf points out that it WASN'T the West's fault the Arab world declined after the Crusades. From pages 261-264 he discusses how the Arab governments were poorly designed to handle transition of power - resulting in many civil wars and internal strife - while the European form of government was much more organized, hence why the Christians continually held their Middle Eastern provinces intact while the Muslims fought each other just for leadership positions. Maalouf also points out that while the Crusaders took what was good about Muslim society and made it their own (thereby improving their own way of life) the Muslim world did the exact opposite: closing their doors from what was good about Western life and even becoming much more isolated, defensive, and sterile and "even today we can observe a lurching alienation between phases of forced Westernization and phases of extremist, strongly xenophobic traditionalism." (page 265)

The book itself is a great read for any one interested in the Crusades, even if you've already read a good bit on the subject. Starting with the failed Crusade of Peter the Hermit, it goes on to the much larger effort to capture Jerusalem, the scuffles along the border between the "Occidentals" and the Muslim rulers, all the way to Saladin finally unifying the region and taking Jerusalem back for Islam, and even stretches on into the Mongol invasions. Maalouf's narrative often switches from purely facts to getting into the personality and character of the individual leaders and historians, and does so quite well. As a result I found myself reading this like I would any great action/fantasy adventure. From the charismatic Shirkuh to the determined Shams al-Dawla to Saladin himself, the history of the Arabs in the Crusades is a cast of character almost worthy of its own mini-series!

As pointed out by other reviewers, this book is pretty much entirely from the Arab point of view, and almost exclusively from Arab historians. To explain the latter first, it is true that many personal accounts and historical text are taken from Arab sources, but to compare it to Al-Jazeera is a bit extreme. At the end of the book in "Notes and Sources" Maalouf explains who these people were, what they did, and whether or not they were right or wrong or if other sources agree with them. It should also be noted he looks to many western/European scholars for Crusade facts and interpretation, such as the claim of cannibalism done by Crusaders (he quotes on page 39 a direct letter to the Pope from Christian officers, and cites Chrsitian scholars who have written the incident). But of course, who better to use as the eyes to see the Crusades through than the ones who saw it and are indeed Arab? This brings me to my next point, which is why this book is almost exclusively from the Arab point of view. I believe part of this was the point of the book - it is called "The Crusades through Arab Eyes." I've very rarely come across anything this detailed about the Crusades that exclusively deals with the Muslim side. More often than not, the Muslims are merely stated on equal with the Christians and more emphasis is put into events, or the account is taken entirely from the Christian point of view. The latter is all too real when one learns about the Crusades in history class - just as Maalouf presents the Christians as some mighty army that erupted from Europe and moved into the Middle East, so too did we learn about the Muslims in school merely as that culture that was in the way in the conquest of the Holy Land.

It is true that I would have liked to have learned more about certain topics, including the battles with the Mongols and the clashes between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, (the section on Richard is nearly brushed over) what we have here is good enough even for a one-time read. I would heartily suggest this book for any one interested in either military history, the Crusades, or Muslim history. It's well worth it.

Reviews (2)

He knows the score
Bellow came to Jerusalem as celebrated novelist . Every door was open to him , and he met with Israelis from all walks of life. He writes an essentially sympathetic and understanding account of Israel and its special situation. He knows the score in terms of the Jewish past, the great sufferings many of the survivors living in Israel have gone through. He understands the constant threat from their Arab neighbors under which Israel lives. But he tries to see the situation too with sympathy for the Arab side. His basic line politically is of the left, and he clearly favors political compromise.
The book does provide a pretty fair picture of Israeli society. But it is possible to quarrel with Bellow's basic orientation which is that of a Diaspora Jew who does not feel any call to Aliyah to Israel, and does not have much understanding or sympathy for a good share of its population, the religious.
All in all though this is an insightful look into Israeli society by a commentator of great intelligence and literary skill.

An amazing book about an amazing land
How can one describe this classic book on Israel?At one level it is a personal account of one American writer's journey to Israel and England and back but scratch beneath the surface and you see the incredible panoply of faces and voices that is Israel.Here is A.B. Yehoshoua who writes "that because our spiritual life ... cannot revolve around anything but [political questions], you cannot spare yourself, spiritually, for other things."Here is a bomb going off in London just as it recently did in Israel.And here is Saul Bellow mourning the "six young [British] people" who were murdered while simultaneously noting that "the difference is that when a bomb goes off in a West End restaurant the fundamental right of England to exist is not in dispute."

Here is Abu Zuluf, editor of El Kuds whose automobile terrorists have blown up because he is trying to follow what Saul Bellow feels is a "line of conciliation and peace."

Here is the Greek quarter in Jerusalem covered in grapevine; there is the Jewish quarter where the principal relic is the ben-Zakkai synagogue, blown up by the Jordanians when they took over in 1948 and as Saul Bellow walks toward it he hears, somewhere, as Arab boys are racing their donkeys down a hill.

Here is a Yemenite synagogue; there a Souk, the public market.And everywhere there is a profusion of communities: Arabs, Jews from Arab lands, Asian lands, Europe, Africa, Christians, Kurds, Hindus.... Everywhere a cacophony of voices; everywhere people mingling, arguing, making peace, making war, while philosophers philosophize and writers write.

And he sits down to dinner with families who have lost children and as he passes dishes (Sephardic dishes, Indian dishes, Arab dishes, European dishes all mixed together) "on the Jaffa Road, because of another bomb, six adolescents-two on a break from school-stopping at a coffee shop to eat buns, have just died."

Reviews (24)

Great book
I really loved this book. She travelled as a new bride with her anthropologist husband to Iraq in the 1950's or '60's, I believe. She had so much to learn and go through adapting to a new culture. It's great that she's there because her husband would never have been allowed to talk to the women. They were very segregated, so Ms. Fernea learned all about the half of the society that male anthropologists usually can't even learn about due to lack of access. She made friends, had to relearn how to cook rice (different water amount), and you really get a personal look at the culture. She kept in touch with many of her friends from that time. I can't wait to read her other books.

How different, yet how similar we all are
I highly enjoyed this book, both as a modern American woman, and as a convert to Islam.I learned many things that I didn't know about Shia Islam, and also a bit about the history of Iraq.This book really points out how differently the American culture vs. the Iraqi/Arab Islamic culture views the same things.I plan on reading it again, and mailing it to a girlfriend who also is a convert to Islam.

Reviews (7)

Everyone should read this
By far the best scholarly and historical work amidst the increasing number of books on this topic.Particularly interesting is the discussion of how Muslim caliphs adopted the Persian custom of having huge imperial harems.Of course, this is one of the aspects of "Muslim" culture that really tantalized the early Orientalists, as discussed by Edward Said in his book on the subject.

Good history book
This is a good book for anyone to read who doesn't know much about Islam.The author gives several chapters of in-depth history of the rise of Islam.It is interesting to read--not dry and boring like a lot of other detailed history books.

Editorial Review

Reviews (41)

Eternal Truth, Universal Religion
This is a wonderful translation of the Quran. The only way to get closer to the original meening is to learn Arabic. I have read several translations, including Yusef Ali (which I love and recommend in addition to this one for a simmilar but more traditional view.) The articles in the begining of the book give a good amount of information to readers, and the glossary is full of Islamic concepts and worth reading through alone. This is also the only translation which to my understanding has been done by a woman. I have the beautiful leather cover with gold letters on the front. It is compact enough to carry with you. Mine has travled with me quite extisevly and has held up better than most of my other books. (I like to read them over and over.)

The meanings are beautifuly written and not abstract, but very specific. The translator chooses logical, well choosen and down to earth words which leave the reader with a good grasp of the philosophy. The index is very complete and provides a good quick referance to anyone wishing to use this text as a comparison for other concepts. If you are a student of Islam, world religion, philosophy, culture, or just interested in what Quran says, this is definately worth having.

Extremely helpful
I really enjoyed this translation. The Book is easy to read and to follow. I especially enjoyed the brief articles about current issues and how they relate to Islam and especially the world's misconception about the TRUE Islamic views and not cultural or feudalistic Arab views. As a Lebanese Muslim, I have been exposed to 17 other religious confessions in Lebanon, 11 Christian sects alone. This book reinstates the TRUE message of Islam; peace and love. I highly reccommend this translation to all Muslims and people who would like to learn more about Islam.

Reviews (1)

Not your father's Iran anymore
I like it when an author takes a broad, difficult subject and 1.) gives a good generalization, with some proof 2.)penetrates very deep into a very few specific examples. Adelkhah does that quite well.

First, he touches on the broad view of an emerging civil culture in Iran, without which Iran cannot become a "modern" republic and certainly not a democratic one. He tells of the amazing changes to the city of Teheran as mayor Kharabashi challenged everyone to bring their (formerly private and exclusive) gardens out to the front of the street. If you have toured the traditional Middle East, you will have doubtless noticed that houses are built much like fortresses in the city-- emblematic of a culture that displays a seemingly congenital xenophobia.

Editorial Review

There is probably no person better suited to write this book on Iran's cultural and political transformation than Robin Wright. She has traveled to Iran as a reporter since 1973, when the country was "one of the few comfortable places for foreigners"--including women--to live and work, a place where "short skirts were acceptable" and women "wore bikinis on the beach." But the revolution in 1979 changed all that: "For anyone who'd been to Iran before, the new Islamic Republic of Iran seemed almost like a different country."There was the revival of religious fundamentalism, the hostage crisis, a costly war with Iraq, the sponsorship of terrorism, and Iran-Contra. Iran became one of the most perplexing and vital beats in all of journalism, a touchstone for Middle Eastern politics and an emerging presence on the world stage--and Wright has been there for more of it than any other foreigner.

Isbn: 188305883X
Sales Rank: 618064
Subjects:  1. Islam - General    2. Religion - World Religions   

Reviews (27)

Superbly researched, massively comprehensive
Mustafa Kemal, known to the world as Ataturk, the "father of the Turks", is one of the more important figures in 20th-century history overall and an essential figure in an appreciation of the Middle East. While scholarship on the Ottoman Empire, into which he was born, and the Republic of Turkey, which he helped create, are both quite advanced, this is one of the very few biographies about the man himself. Fortunately, Andrew Mango has written a comprehensive and thorough book.

While other reviewers have complained about certain aspects of Mango's work, these criticisms are largely unfounded. The abundance of Turkish (and Ottoman) terms with translations is obviously necessary to understand the life and times of a man who ascended to lead that country, and the cast of supporting characters who fought alongside and against the subject are also necessary to understand the history of the events in question. While many of the names are confusing to the casual reader, this is an unavoidable fact of the history of that part of the world. As for the criticism that Mango shifts topics within paragraphs, this is simply laughable in its evident lack of familiarity with the book in question.

In writing this biography of Ataturk, Mango has had to tread a very fine path. In Turkey even today, he is revered as a great leader who almost single-handedly saved the nation from oblivion. Thankfully, Mango corrects some of this glowing hagiography by demonstrating that comments attributed to Ataturk date from many years after the events in question and were in fact made to serve a particular agenda.
Mango does not, however, over-correct and paint an unsympathetic picture of the man. What emerges, rather, is an enigmatic man with unquestionable talent and vision as well as an unwavering self-belief. Speaking as a historian, I don't envy Mango his task of painting such a complex character.

Admittedly there are omissions and a rather fond characterisation of the Ottoman Empire in its decay. For the latter, it is probably safe to say that this was at least the impression of the late Empire which would have been held by Ataturk and some of his contemporaries (at least before the First World War). For the former, the scholarship of the rest of Ataturk's life outweighs much of these omissions.

As mentioned above, this is heavy-going as a casual read. The sheer volume of locations, battles, military positions and contemporaries of Ataturk will confuse many readers. Likewise, the scholarly rigour with which Mango addresses himself to the task is perhaps less suited to a non-specialist reader. However, for both the specialist and the non-specialist who is prepared toread a considerable amount of detail (remembering that this is a biography of both a military leader and a man who had unquestioned political power, and who developed a political ideology over his long career), it comes highly recommended.

REVIEW OF RICHARD MANGO'S ATATURK BY JOHN CHUCKMAN
This is a disappointing book. The main points of Atatürk's career - hero of his country's war for independence and founder of the modern secular state of Turkey, a man with some remarkably modern views for his place and time - make him one of more attractive hero-figures of the twentieth century.

But somehow Mango does not succeed in giving us the living, breathing man. Indeed, Mango manages to make some of the genuinely exciting events of Atatürk's career read like rather dull broadsheet accounts.

Mango is certainly a scholar. That comes right through, but there is a somewhat lifeless quality that characterizes much of what should be a smashing yarn of great wars, declining empire, and dashing figures. The great number of Turkish place names and people do not make reading any easier, although Mango does offer a guide to pronunciation at the front.

Interestingly, this appraisal is quite at odds with cover quotes from reviews. One gets expert reviewers' ambiguities like "Takes its place at the top," or "...a higher level of biography than any previous account." Book reviewing in major publications has always been something of game, full of backscratching, favors, and artful ambiguities. The gap here between reviewers' words and Mango's actual work is rather notable.

Still this is a biography of an important figure, one about whom there is limited material in English. It is definitely worth reading.

A Man, A Vision, A Country
Andrew Mango first gives his readers an excellent introduction to the declining Ottoman Empire so that they better understand where Mustapha Kemal Atatürk was coming from.The Ottoman Realm, though modernizing slowly, no longer had the means to live up to its ambitions and was shrinking fast under pressure of competing empires and nascent states at the end of the nineteenth century.Furthermore, the Ottoman State was undermined internally by increasingly restive minorities that no longer accepted their subservient condition, as well as, by part of the elite that was dissatisfied with the perceived backwardness and incompetence of the Ottoman ruling class.Born in Salonica in today's Greece around 1880 in a Muslim, Turkish-speaking and middle-class family, Atatürk early on made up his mind to join the westernizing army and thereby discard the external signs of oriental life.

Mango narrates with mastery the steady progress that Atatürk, a successful and popular student, made during his military education.Work was all that mattered to Atatürk.Atatürk became a politically savvy professional soldier while studying hard during his years of military education in Istanbul, the imperial capital.After his admission to the prestigious Staff College at 21, Atatürk kept in touch with his military friends who were assigned elsewhere, a circle that would reveal its greatest usefulness in the accession of Atatürk to the highest post of Modern Turkey two decades later.Because of his subversive political activities, Atatürk was assigned not to Europe but to the Near East after finishing his studies in 1904.Mango does a great job in giving background information, which helps readers understand the environment in which Atatürk was bound to as a soldier while he actively remained involved in politics through his connections in the empire before, during and after WWI.In 1908, the Society of Union and Progress, of which Atatürk became a member, served as the launching path for the Young Turks in their successful military coup.Atatürk understood very fast that the Young Turks, even with the help of Germany later on, were not up to the task to save the empire from its ultimate downfall after the end of WWI.Atatürk was still too junior to play a key role in the new administration.As usual, Atatürk was critical of the new ones on top because he alone deserved to be leader.

From 1911, Atatürk, still an obscure officer, progressively rose to preeminence.Atatürk first tried to quell rebellions in the disintegrating empire before WWI.Atatürk then illustrated his military superiority when he decisively helped ruin the allied venture at Gallipoli in 1915.After a new promotion in 1916, Atatürk, very resentful of the Germans for continuously meddling into military operations from the beginning, spent two agitated years in the Near East where he did what he could to slow down the advance of the allies until the end of WWI.Officers who ultimately played a key role in the War of Independence were placed under his command during these two years.After the armistice in 1918, Atatürk proved to be the most effective of all Ottoman officers who refused the diktats of the victorious allies and thwarted their efforts to carve up the territory of Modern Turkey into pieces.Mango clearly explained how with the help of other nationalist officers, Atatürk turned Anatolia into a redoubt of resistance while accommodating the decadent rule of the sultan in the short term.Atatürk also progressively centralized all military and political levers of power in his hands through shrewd maneuvering.Mango is brutally honest about the enlightened despotism of Atatürk.Modern Turkey needed a strong regime to impose its legitimacy both internally and externally.

It took Atatürk and his army several grueling years before they could finally defeat the Greeks militarily and thereby commanding the grudging respect of the remaining divided allies.The signature of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 was a personal triumph for Atatürk by making the humiliating Treaty of Sevres of 1920 associated with the discredited old regime almost totally obsolete.As George Curzon, a British imperial statesman, noted at the end of the conference: "Hitherto we have dictated our peace treaties.Now we are negotiating one with an enemy who has an army while we have none, an unheard of position." The Treaty of Lausanne, still in existence, has been the most successful and the most lasting of all the post-war treaties.Atatürk was 42 years old when he became the first president of Modern Turkey.He assumed this position until his premature death in 1938.Mango never bores his audience when he overviews the successful and not-so-successful revolutionary reforms that Atatürk enacted during the successive terms of his presidency.Unsurprisingly, Modern Turks still revere Atatürk for westernizing and modernizing at high speed their country at its creation in 1923.