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In 2003, Rachel Aspden arrived in Egypt as a 23-year-old trainee journalist. She found a country on the brink of change. Of Egypt's 80 million citizens, two-thirds were under 30. The new generation were stifled, broken and frustrated – caught between a dictatorship with nothing to offer them and autocratic parents still clinging to tradition and obedience after a lifetime of fear. In January 2011, the young people’s patience ran out. They thought the revolution that followed would change everything for them. But as violence escalated, the economy collapsed and as the united front against Mubarak shattered into sectarianism, many found themselves wavering, hesitant to discard the old ways...
What happens when a revolution unravels? Why is a generation raised on Hollywood movies and global brand names turning to religion? How do you choose between sex and tradition, consumerism and faith? Why would people who once chanted for freedom support a military state? And where will the next generation take the Middle East? In 2003, Rachel Aspden arrived in Egypt as a 23-year-old trainee journalist. She found a country on the brink of change. The two-thirds of Egyptâe(tm)s 80 million citizens under the age of 30 were stifled, broke and frustrated, caught between a dictatorship that had nothing to offer them âe" and their autocratic parentsâe(tm) generation, left clinging to tradition a...
Cultural disorientation has become pandemic. Children act like adults and adults act like children. Mother Earth is worshiped but motherhood is despised. Free speech may get you free room and board in jail. Life is denied and death is affirmed. Dictators are treasured but duly elected leaders are treated with contempt. Honest men are smeared while thugs are celebrated. Our nation suffers from an epidemic of "upside-down thinking" and we are poorer and weaker for it. That is the central premise of this new book by Rod Parsley. With a tone that is mildly satirical, Parsley uses humor and good-natured mockery liberally to poke fun at the absurdity of the twisted positions held by so many cultural elites. Good and evil, right and wrong, tragic and heroic--these were at one time well-defined terms in our cultural lexicon. Yet what was then obvious has now become obscure, and it requires an unashamedly bold and independent observer to point out just how upside down we have become. Rod Parsley not only describes a culture that has lost its way but also provides a way forward upright and facing true north.
This book explores whether the post-9/11 novels of Rushdie, Hamid, Aslam and Shamsie can be read as part of an attempt to revise modern ‘knowledge’ of the Islamic world, using globally-distributed English-language literature to reframe Muslims’ potential to connect with others. Focussing on novels including Shalimar the Clown, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Wasted Vigil, and Burnt Shadows, the author combines aesthetic, historical, political and spiritual considerations with analyses of the popular discourses and critical discussions surrounding the novels; and scrutinises how the writers have been appropriated as authentic spokespeople by dominant political and cultural forces. Finally, she explores how, as writers of Indian and Pakistani origin, Rushdie, Hamid, Aslam and Shamsie negotiate their identities, and the tensions of being seen to act as Muslim representatives, in relation to the complex international and geopolitical context in which they write.
Now with a new chapter! “Everywhere militants were blowing up Christians, their churches, their shops. They threatened them with kidnapping. They promised to take their children. The message to these ‘infidels’: You have no place in Iraq. Pay a penalty to stay, leave, or be killed.” Sweeping from Syria into Iraq, Islamic State fighters (ISIS) have been brutalizing and annihilating Christians. How? Why? Where did the terrorists come from, and what can be done to stop them? For more than a decade, journalist Mindy Belz has reported on the ground from the Middle East, giving her unparalleled access to the story no one wants to believe. In They Say We Are Infidels, she brings the stark r...
Seventeen essays by scholars examining the links between anti-Semitism and attitudes toward Israel in the current political climate. How and why have anti-Zionism and antisemitism become so radical and widespread? This timely and important volume argues convincingly that today’s inflamed rhetoric exceeds the boundaries of legitimate criticism of the policies and actions of the state of Israel and conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The contributors give the dynamics of this process full theoretical, political, legal, and educational treatment and demonstrate how these forces operate in formal and informal political spheres as well as domestic and transnational spaces. They offer significant historical and global perspectives of the problem, including how Holocaust memory and meaning have been reconfigured and how a singular and distinct project of delegitimization of the Jewish state and its people has solidified. This intensive but extraordinarily rich contribution to the study of antisemitism stands out for its comprehensive overview of an issue that is both historical and strikingly timely.
The management of social, religious and ethnic diversity is a key social policy concern in Britain, and Muslims in particular have become a focus of attention in recent years. This timely and topical volume examines the position of Muslims in Britain and how they are changing and making social, political and religious space. With contributions from world renowned scholars on British Muslims and from policy makers writing on issues of concern to Muslims and others alike, the book explores how British Muslims are changing social and religious spaces such as mosques and the role of women, engaging in politics, creating media and other resources, and thus developing new perspectives on Islam and...
Examines the Arab Spring, seen as a series counter-revolutions, rather than failed revolutions, in six Arab countries.
Collection of new critical essays on Bret Easton Ellis, focusing on his later novels: American Psycho (1991), Glamorama (1999), and Lunar Park (2005).
In Empire of Terror Mark D. Silinsky argues that Iran is one of the United States’ deadliest enemies. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the Guards, bring Iran’s sway over much of the greater Middle East and pose a growing existential threat to Western security. Providing insights gained from his thirty-eight years as an analyst in the U.S. defense intelligence community, Silinsky argues that Iran’s political leaders and Guards are animated by aggressive, unforgiving, and totalitarian principles. He draws historical parallels to the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany to compare the intelligence and security services of states with totalitarian aspirations and to illustrate ideo...