The History Book Club discussion

This thread is a "spoiler thread" and is a bibliography thread which identifies many of the books which were referenced or used as primary documents during the writing of House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East.

Please feel free to add properly cited books (book covers, author's photo, and author's links). Add a review or a few words why this book is important to the subject matter, etc.; but remember there is no self promotion, etc.

Any self promotion links or posts are removed.

by Anthony Shadid

Postscript: Anthony Shadid - The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs...

Legacy Of The Prophet: Despots, Democrats, And The New Politics Of Islam

by Anthony Shadid

Synopsis from Goodreads:

he World Trade Center bombing, suicide attacks in Israel, the slaughter of tourists in Egypt and innocents in Algeria.

One of the world’s great religions, Islam has become identified today with senseless bloodshed, its followers branded as irrational fanatics with a penchant for violence.

Ours is the era of the Islamic threat.” But another story remains to be told. Beyond the headlines, a transformation is under way in both the style and message of Islamic politics at the end of the twentieth century: a startling shift from militancy to democracy with vast implications for the West.

Drawing on his years of reporting in more than a dozen countries of the Muslim world, Anthony Shadid charts the striking way in which the adolescence of yesterday’s Islamic militants is yielding to the maturity of today’s activists.

Through interview and travelogue, he chronicles a new generation-in Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere-that is finding a more realistic and potentially more successful future through democratic politics.

A crucial element of this change, and of Legacy of the Prophet, is his exploration of the failure of militant Islam in countries like Sudan and Iran, defeats that ironically may help make way for an alternative, democratic future.

The transformation promises a better future for a region long ruled by soldiers and despots. For the West, it offers a compelling opportunity to find common ground with the Muslim world.

But to do so, the book argues that we must make the difficult choice of supporting the emergence of democratic Islamic movements, possibly even allowing to come to power governments that, as it stands, have no love for the West. Legacy of the Prophet promises to redefine the debate over the future of political Islam.

Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War

by Anthony Shadid

Synopsis on Goodreads:

Winner of the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize

A Washington Post Book World Top Five Nonfiction Book of the Year

A Seattle Times Top Ten Best Book of the Year

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

In 2003, The Washington Post's Anthony Shadid went to war in Iraq, but not as an embedded journalist. Born and raised in Oklahoma, of Lebanese descent, Shadid, a fluent Arabic speaker, has spent the last three years dividing his time between Washington, D.C., and Baghdad.

The only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his extraordinary coverage of Iraq, Shadid is also the only writer to describe the human story of ordinary Iraqis weathering the unexpected impact of America's invasion and occupation.

Through the moving stories of individual Iraqis, Shadid shows how Saddam's downfall paved the way not just for hopes of democracy but also for the importation of jihad and the rise of a bloody insurgency.

"A superb reporter's book," wrote Seymour Hersh; Night Draws Near is, according to Mark Danner, "essential."

Ordinary Lives

by Rania Matar

Anthony Shadid was a contributor.

Synopsis on Goodreads:

Lebanon is a country built on dichotomies. It is a blend of cultures, poised at the intersection between the Western and Arab worlds. Born in Beirut and living in the West, photographer Rania Matar is especially attuned to those dichotomies. Here she honors the lives of the women and children of Lebanon in evocative black-and-white photographs. They convey the many facets of life, acknowledging the undeniable presence of war and tragedy, yet celebrating the strength, dignity, and humanity of lives lived amid the rubble, in refugee camps, or behind the veil. These images are universal reminders of the tender bond between a mother and child, the cheerful camaraderie of friends, and the resilience of the human spirit. Accompanying these photographs are excerpts from the poetry of celebrated Palestinian-American author Lisa Majaj.

Lebanon: A House Divided

by Sandra Mackey

Synopsis
With the West’s economic and security interests increasingly at stake in the Middle East, it is impossible to ignore Lebanon—a nation in all ways divided and tormented by the interplay between the West and the Arab world. Sandra Mackey delineates the multifarious culture that is Lebanon; carefully stripping away the complex stigmas of Lebanese politics, she brings each component into focus, priming readers on the conflicts between Sunni and Shia, Maronites and Druze, Christian and Muslim, Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Lebanon and Palestine, and Syria and Lebanon.


Covering Lebanon’s history through the civil war of 1975-­89, and with a new introduction on recent developments, Mackey lays the groundwork needed to comprehend this often ill-understood country—offering insight into its role as the gateway between West and East, and bringing clarity of focus to the schisms that serve to divide and define Lebanon.

That looks like another interesting read Jill.

If only I had time to read everything that I though looked interesting.

It is a challenge when there are so many great books.