Dreaming of Damascus: Arab Voices from a Region in Turmoil - Hardcover

Glain, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719555434 ISBN 13: 9780719555435

Publisher: John Murray, 2003

Synopsis

A thousand years ago, a vast Arab empire stretched from the Asian steppe across the Mediterranean to Spain, pioneering new technologies, sciences, art and culture. Arab traders and Arab currencies dominated the global economy the way Western multinationals and the dollar do today. A thousand years later, Arab states are in decay. Official corruption and ineptitude have eroded state authority and created a vacuum that militant Islam - with its schools, hospitals and other civil services - has rushed to fill. In Dreaming of Damascus, Stephen Glain distils his experience as the Wall Street Journal's Middle East correspondent into a poignant and intimate account of how the Arab world - once the spearhead of what we call globalization - may collapse in the absence of badly needed reform. Glain takes us on a journey through the heart of what were once the great Islamic caliphates, the countries now known as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, to illustrate how a once-prosperous and enlightened civilization finds itself at a crossroad between Dark Age and New Dawn. As late as the 1900s, what we call the Levant was a prosperous trading bloc. By carving the region into proxy states and emirates after the World War I, the Western powers Balkanized and undermined the Levantine economy. That in turn prepared the ground for a regional autocracy that rejected economic openness and religious tolerance, qualities that had made the old Islamic caliphates great. Today the Arab world has opted out of the global economy, with tragic consequences. It is up to the new generation of leaders - and the Western governments that created the modern Middle East - to reverse the sclerosis and revive the region.

About this title

Review:

Steve Glain has written a wonderful book about the Middle East, beautifully written and well reported, which fills in a very important gap in our understanding of the volatile region. (Peter Bergen - author of the bestselling HOLY WAR)

Ground-breaking ... There are a few books and/or literature around on Middle-Eastern economics at a macro level but nothing at the grass roots level of which Stephen Glain writes and so reader friendly ... I also very much enjoyed the humour which is rare in literature about the region. ... It should be required reading, Really good stuff. (Norvell B. DeAtkine - retired Army colonel and dir)

Combining his skills as a reporter and economist, Stephen Glain's timely book, Dreaming of Damascus, provides keen insights and contributes to a much-needed deeper understanding of the complex challenges and constraints facing the Arab world ... His masterly narrative, moving from country to country, peopled with an extraordinary cast drawn from all ranks of society, takes a close look at the interplay between economic transformation and political change ... Lucid and well written for the experienced as well as the novice, the book should be read by everyone who wants to understand the fundamentals needed to help the region progress ... Fascinating to read, crammed not only with factual information, but also insight into what motives the people, Stephen Glain's book should have a very beneficial impact at a decisive point in the region's history. (Joe Saba, The World Bank)

Insightful ... a valuable guide (Observer)

Brilliant, timely account (Eastern Daily Press)

I can't think of a more poignant or timely book to see us through this self inflicted purgatory or post war trauma. Blair and Bush should be forced to consume this enlightened, truthful and imperative insight into the state of the Middle East. The author understands the vagaries and subtleties of interarctions and transactions and explains them in humourous and unmincing detail ... Seminal and essential reading. This year's must read (Indobrit Magazine)

Book Description:

Stephen Glain distils his experience as the Wall Street Journal's Middle East correspondent into a poignant and intimate account of how the Arab world - once the spearhead of what we call globalization - may collapse in the absence of badly needed reform.

About this edition

• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0719555434
• ISBN 13: 9780719555435
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320