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comment by tacocat
tacocat  ·  2499 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: May 25th, 2017 was a day meant for a book thread.

Reading Fractured Lands about the implosion of the Arab world after the Iraq invasion and Arab Spring. I looked really hard for the New York Times Magazine with the original article in it. Not knowing that New York Times Magazine is a Sunday insert in the paper. I was pretty pleased that the author expanded the article into a book.





goobster  ·  2499 days ago  ·  link  ·  

If you enjoyed that, I think you would really enjoy City of Oranges written by my friend Adam.

In it, he goes to the city of Jaffa, and speaks to Christian, Jewish, and Muslim families that have lived in Jaffa since before Israel became a state.

He then represents each of their perspectives, perfectly even-handedly, and lets the people speak for themselves of the city and community they remember, and how it has changed.

Better than anything else, it shows the deep divisions that separate these people, but - at the same time - how close they are, as well. The whole of the Middle East, summed up by three families in one small town...

kleinbl00  ·  2499 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Goddamn it, now I gotta read that, too. Lemme know what you think.

tacocat  ·  2499 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think I've read enough to have a valid opinion and see where it's going unless the author had a stroke and it becomes a YA novel about dystopian iRaq all of a sudden.

Mostly it's the story of individuals, I can't remember how many (6?), and how they have been affected by the events in the region. He mentions some history and facts like Sykes Picot and the immolation of the merchant in Tunisia that set off the Arab Spring but it's not his goal to offer his opinion on anything.

I love hearing stories of people who have different experiences than me in general and, as someone who was optimistic about the Arab Spring as it happened and opposed to the Iraq War to the point that I believe it was an illegal, impeachable action, it's a great book.

Here's the entire original article:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/11/magazine/isis-middle-east-arab-spring-fractured-lands.html?_r=0

I just wanted a hard copy because I didn't want to read that much on a screen.