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The Blurb On The Back:
A timely and unprecedented examination of how the modern Middle East unravelled, and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979.
“What happened to us?”
For decades, the question has haunted the Arab and Muslim world, heard across Iran and Syria, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and in the author’s home country of Lebanon. Was it always so? When did the extremism, intolerance and bloodletting of today become the norm?
In Black Wave, award-winning journalist and author Kim Ghattas argues that the turning point in the once-promising history of the Middle East can be located in the toxic confluence of three major events in 1979: the Iranian revolution; the siege of the Holy Mosque in Mecca; and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Before this year, Saudi Arabia and Iran has been working allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region - but the radical legacy of these events made mortal enemies of both, unleashing a process that transformed culture, society, religion and geopolitics across the region for decades to come.
Drawing on a sweeping cast of characters across seven countries over four decades, Ghattas demonstrates how this rivalry for religious and cultural supremacy has fed intolerance, suppressed cultural expression, encouraged sectarian violence, birthed groups like Hezbollah and ISIS and, ultimately, upended to the lives of millions. At once bold an intimate, Black Wave is a remarkable and engrossing story of the Middle East as it has never been told before.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Kim Ghattas is an Emmy Award-winning journalist born and raised in Lebanon who has spent 20 years covering the Middle East for the BBC and Financial Times. This well-researched book argues that 1979 set Saudi Arabia and Iran on a path that’s shaped the Middle East. Ghattas has a readable style and I came away feeling but there are a lot of figures in play here and despite a useful list, I sometimes found myself confused about who was who.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
“What happened to us?”
For decades, the question has haunted the Arab and Muslim world, heard across Iran and Syria, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and in the author’s home country of Lebanon. Was it always so? When did the extremism, intolerance and bloodletting of today become the norm?
In Black Wave, award-winning journalist and author Kim Ghattas argues that the turning point in the once-promising history of the Middle East can be located in the toxic confluence of three major events in 1979: the Iranian revolution; the siege of the Holy Mosque in Mecca; and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Before this year, Saudi Arabia and Iran has been working allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region - but the radical legacy of these events made mortal enemies of both, unleashing a process that transformed culture, society, religion and geopolitics across the region for decades to come.
Drawing on a sweeping cast of characters across seven countries over four decades, Ghattas demonstrates how this rivalry for religious and cultural supremacy has fed intolerance, suppressed cultural expression, encouraged sectarian violence, birthed groups like Hezbollah and ISIS and, ultimately, upended to the lives of millions. At once bold an intimate, Black Wave is a remarkable and engrossing story of the Middle East as it has never been told before.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Kim Ghattas is an Emmy Award-winning journalist born and raised in Lebanon who has spent 20 years covering the Middle East for the BBC and Financial Times. This well-researched book argues that 1979 set Saudi Arabia and Iran on a path that’s shaped the Middle East. Ghattas has a readable style and I came away feeling but there are a lot of figures in play here and despite a useful list, I sometimes found myself confused about who was who.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
