Dreams And Shadows: The Future of the Middle East - Hardcover

Wright, Robin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594201110 ISBN 13: 9781594201110

Publisher: Penguin Pr, 2008

Synopsis

A field report by a renowned regional specialist documents the major crises that have overshadowed the Middle East throughout the past thirty years, offering insight into the decisive events that are unfolding in today's world. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

"Fascinating reading for anyone who likes true human drama. Only Wright could have written "Dreams and Shadows" because only Wright has traveled so widely, interviewed such diverse leaders, and brought so much wisdom to analyzing the region's many-sided puzzles. This volume, full of mesmerizing detail and large truths, sets a new standard for scholarship on the modern Middle East." -Secretary Madeleine Albright "Robin Wright brings her enormous knowledge of the Middle East, gained over years of reporting, to narrate how the region is undergoing enormous social change brought on by technology and globalization, and why, despite Iraq, democracy remains on the region's agenda." -- Francis Fukuyama, Johns Hopkins University Professor of International Political Economy and author of "America at the Crossroads" "In "Dreams and Shadows," Robin Wright offers a compelling account of the political contours that are defining the modern Middle East. Drawing upon her decades of travel and reporting from the region, Wright reveals the undercurrents of the latest fundamental searching in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon, as well as the labyrinthine politics of Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Iran, and others. With her impressive access to the region's political and opinion leaders, Wright brings us to the ideological battle lines of the new Middle East, including promising openings and awakenings too often followed by disappointment and repression. She describes autocrats, democrats, and theocrats skirmishing in increasingly unpredictable ways." -- U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), Republican Leader of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ""Dreams and Shadows" is a lucid and comprehensive look at tumultuousevents that have shaped the Middle East and will continue to chart its future. Relying on thirty five years of reporting Robin Wright provides a rich tapestry of information and insight that is enjoyable to read and will also go a long way in providing understanding of the Middle East and the challenges that it presents U.S. foreign policy." --Vali Nasr, author of "The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future" "This is the best of all possible worlds: An old hand guides us through the changes in post-9/11 Middle East, and is able to sort out in a sober, smart way what is really going on." -Thomas E. Ricks, author of "FIASCO: The American Military Adventure in Iraq"

aFew Middle East observers have a keener eye for the region than Wright, and she is a talented trend spotter. Two decades ago her Sacred Rage foreshadowed the appeal of militant Islam and the challenge it posed. With Dreams and Shadows she illuminates, in riveting fashion, the hopeful political personalities and developments in what many mistakenly see as the uninterrupted bleakness of the Middle East. Her insightsadrawn from vast experience, a remarkable array of Middle Eastern contacts, and an unblinking sense of realismaare cause for cautious optimism.a
aRepresentative Tom Lantos, Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
a"Dreams and Shadows" offers a panoramic perspective on the prospects of change in the Middle East. Wright brings to life an array of forces, voices, and ideasaboth inspiring and troublingain an engaging political travelogue. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the regionas rich past, a sense of its current stirrings, and a view into what may lie ahead.a
aFormer National Security Adviser Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft
aA compelling account of a turbulent region whose future is inescapably bound to our own. Anyone who wants to understand the seismic forces at work would be well advised to read Dreams and Shadows.a
aSenator Joseph Biden, Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
aVery rarely is our world so faithfully captured. The Middle East in recent decades has only become more complex. Wrightas insights and analyses are critical for any sensible understanding of what is happening. Her greatest contribution is to grasp the deep currents of hope, humanity, and dignity that anchor the often turbulent societiesof the region. This book is essential reading.a
aRami G. Khouri, syndicated columnist, Beirutas Daily Star
aWritten in the best style of a veteran traveler and expert, Dreams and Shadows tells the story of the worldas most volatile area, going through its most profound changes after decades of stagnation. Wrightas journey among reformers and reactionaries, clerics and democracy advocates is a necessary reference to anyone interested in understanding the Middle Eastas undercurrentsaand it taught me quite a lot about our neighborhood.a
aAluf Benn, diplomatic editor of the Israeli daily Haaretz
aInsightful and passionate. Wright is well aware of the dilemmas facing the Middle East. But she also reminds us that we need not resort to military force and violence or resign ourselves to compromise with extremism and tyranny. Since tyranny and extremism as well as democracy and freedom are not defined by geographical, national, religious, or ethnic boundaries, hope lies in the aspirations of those (our true allies) in the region who against all odds are fighting for pluralism, openness, and human rights.a
aAzar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran
"Fascinating reading for anyone who likes true human drama. Only Wright could have written "Dreams and Shadows" because only Wright has traveled so widely, interviewed such diverse leaders, and brought so much wisdom to analyzing the region's many-sided puzzles. This volume, full of mesmerizing detail and large truths, sets a new standard for scholarship on the modern Middle East." -Secretary Madeleine Albright "Robin Wright brings her enormous knowledge of the Middle East, gained over years of reporting, to narrate howthe region is undergoing enormous social change brought on by technology and globalization, and why, despite Iraq, democracy remains on the region's agenda." -- Francis Fukuyama, Johns Hopkins University Professor of International Political Economy and author of "America at the Crossroads" "In "Dreams and Shadows," Robin Wright offers a compelling account of the political contours that are defining the modern Middle East. Drawing upon her decades of travel and reporting from the region, Wright reveals the undercurrents of the latest fundamental searching in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon, as well as the labyrinthine politics of Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Iran, and others. With her impressive access to the region's political and opinion leaders, Wright brings us to the ideological battle lines of the new Middle East, including promising openings and awakenings too often followed by disappointment and repression. She describes autocrats, democrats, and theocrats skirmishing in increasingly unpredictable ways." -- U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), Republican Leader of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ""Dreams and Shadows" is a lucid and comprehensive look at tumultuous events that have shaped the Middle East and will continue to chart its future. Relying on thirty five years of reporting Robin Wright provides a rich tapestry of information and insight that is enjoyable to read and will also go a long way in providing understanding of the Middle East and the challenges that it presents U.S. foreign policy." --Vali Nasr, author of "The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future" "This is the best of all possible worlds: An old hand guides us through the changes inpost-9/11 Middle East, and is able to sort out in a sober, smart way what is really going on." -Thomas E. Ricks, author of "FIASCO: The American Military Adventure in Iraq"

aWright has long been one of the best-informed American journalists covering the Middle East, and her reputation is born out here....Her book will be essential reading for anybody who wants to know where it is heading.aaNew York Times Book Review.a
a"The New York Times Book Review"
aIf there is such a thing as a pinnacle in the landscape of international journalism, Robin Wright surely stands atop it.a
a"The New York Review of Books"
aA thought-provoking and eminently readable look at the current and future generation of leaders in that important, politically troubled region. . . . Wrightas skills at old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting are very much in evidence.a
aThe Boston Globe

"Wright has long been one of the best-informed American journalists covering the Middle East, and her reputation is born out here....Her book will be essential reading for anybody who wants to know where it is heading."-New York Times Book Review."
-The New York Times Book Review
"If there is such a thing as a pinnacle in the landscape of international journalism, Robin Wright surely stands atop it."
-The New York Review of Books
"A thought-provoking and eminently readable look at the current and future generation of leaders in that important, politically troubled region. . . . Wright's skills at old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting are very much in evidence."
-The Boston Globe

About the Author:

Robin Wright covers U.S. foreign policy for The Washington Post. She has reported from more than 140 countries on six continents as a foreign correspondent. Her articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, and The International Herald-Tribune. The recipient of many awards from international journalism, diplomacy, and political organizations and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grant, Wright is the author of several books on the Middle East, including, most recently, The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran. She has been a visiting fellow at Yale, Stanford, and Duke, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Brookings Institution's Saban Center.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Pr
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1594201110
• ISBN 13: 9781594201110
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400