Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey
by Fouad Ajami
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Book Summary Information
Author: Fouad AjamiEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999-06-29
ISBN: 0375704744
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey
Book Review: The Writer's Gift
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr. Ajami offers readers his erudition and wisdom, a rare combination. His observations on the Middle East and on the social psychology of modern Arab letters should be required reading for every correspondent sent to the region. Dr. Ajmai's compassion and humanity stands in stark contrast to much of the writing about the Arab states.
Somewhat controversial among experts teaching in his field, Dr. Ajami's work is not overtly hostile to other views, as are, for example, the writings of the late Edward Said, a scholar this reviewer also admires. Dr. Ajami's emotions are evident in his writing, but he does not lose control of them. He remains thoughtful, not polemical.
I would pay him to teach writing, as well as Middle Eastern Studies...whereas most social scientists of my experience should be made to take more writing instruction. Dr. Ajami is a delight to read.
Summary of Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey
From Fouad Ajami, an acclaimed author and chronicler of Arab politics, comes a compelling account of how a generation of Arab intellectuals tried to introduce cultural renewals in their homelands through the forces of modernity and secularism. Ultimately, they came to face disappointment, exile, and, on occasion, death. Brilliantly weaving together the strands of a tumultuous century in Arab political thought, history, and poetry, Ajami takes us from the ruins of Beirut's once glittering metropolis to the land of Egypt, where struggle rages between a modernist impulse and an Islamist insurgency, from Nasser's pan-Arab nationalist ambitions to the emergence of an uneasy Pax Americana in Arab lands, from the triumphalism of the Gulf War to the continuing anguished debate over the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.For anyone who seeks to understand the Middle East, here is an insider's unflinching analysis of the collision between intellectual life and political realities in the Arab world today.
The Arab world, writes Palestinian scholar Fouad Ajami, has been beset for years by divisions: religious, social, economic, and political. Many of these divisions came to the fore during the time of the Persian Gulf War, a "foreigners' rescue" in response to Saddam Hussein's attempt to seize Kuwait, which was, Ajami hints, in part a reaction against Iranian designs on the Gulf. Even those Arab intellectuals who supported Allied intervention at the time are now questioning whether it was the best solution to what they believe was a local problem. Ajami writes of the role of some of these intellectuals in shaping the culture of the region, among them the Lebanese writer Khalil Hawi, who committed suicide in the wake of Israel's invasion of his country in 1982. He also examines the terror that religious fundamentalists have been visiting on secular states such as Egypt, "a country with a remarkable record of political stability" that, Ajami believes, will be able to ride out the present storm. Ajami's essays will be most revealing for students of contemporary politics and Arabic history.
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