Synopses & Reviews
A decade after the 9/11 attacks, this groundbreaking book takes readers deep into rebellions against both autocrats and extremists that are redefining politics, culture, and security threats across the Islamic world. The awakening involves hundreds of millions of people. And the political transformations— and tectonic changes—are only beginning. Robin Wright, an acclaimed foreign correspondent and television commentator, has covered the region for four decades. She witnessed the full cycle, from extremisms angry birth and globalization to the rise of new movements transforming the last bloc of countries to hold out against democracy. Now, in Rock the Casbah, she chronicles the new order being shaped by youthinspired revolts toppling leaders, clerics repudiating al Qaeda, playwrights and poets crafting messages of a counter-jihad, comedians ridiculing militancy, hip-hop rapping against guns and bombs, and women mobilizing for their own rights.
This new counter-jihad has many goals. For some, its about reforming the faith. For others, its about reforming political systems. For most, its about achieving basic rights. The common denominator is the rejection of venomous ideologies and suicide bombs, plane hijackings, hostage-takings, and mass violence to achieve those ends.
Wright captures a stunning moment in history, one of the regions four key junctures—along with Irans revolution, Israels creation, and the Ottoman Empires collapse—in a century. The notion of a clash of civilizations is increasingly being replaced by a commonality of civilizations in the twenty-first century. But she candidly details both the possibilities and pitfalls ahead. The new counter-jihad is imaginative and defiant, but Muslim societies are also politically inexperienced and economically challenged.
Review
Praise for Rock the Casbah
“[Wright] provides invaluable context for what she rightly terms ‘the epic convulsion across the Islamic world’ by listening to voices we don't usually hear....Anyone seeking deeper understanding of the Arab Spring needs to read Wright's formidably well-informed book ….Wright's richly textured portrait of ancient cultures in the throes of wrenching but liberating transformation makes it quite clear that Muslims themselves will decide their future.”
— Los Angeles Times
Review
“…Wright is an expert on the subject and this book is an accessible and riveting account for readers looking to learn more about the post-9/11 Islamic world.”
—Publishers Weekly
Review
“…Wright is one of the most capable observers of the Middle East….her chronicles of counter-jihad, anti-militancy, and women's mobilization are a timely contribution.”
—Huffington Post
Review
Praise for Robin Wright’s
Dreams and Shadows
“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.”
--The New York Times Book Review
Review
“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.”
--Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State
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
Review
“Robin Wright is well aware of the complexities, paradoxes and the seemingly insurmountable dilemmas facing the Middle East today. She reminds us that in facing these challenges we need not resort to military force and violence or resign ourselves to compromise with extremism and tyranny.” -- Azar Nafisi, author Reading Lolita in Tehran
Review
“The best of all possible worlds: An old hand guides us through the changes in the post-9/11 Middle East, and is able to sort out in a sober, smart way what is really going on.”
--Thomas Ricks, author Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
Synopsis
A decade after the 9/11 attacks, this groundbreaking and brilliantly received book takes readers deep into rebellions against both autocrats and extremists that are redefining politics, culture, and security across the Islamic world and beyond.
Synopsis
A decade after the 9/11 attacks, Robin Wright’s Rock the Casbah took readers deep into rebellions against both autocrats and extremists that were redefining politics, culture, and security across the Islamic world. A year after the Arab Spring, she went back to Egypt and Tunisia where it had all started for an epilogue, The Morning After, describing the new reality—that creating a new order is as hard as ousting the old one. In this brilliant follow-up report, Wright describes the hopes and the turmoil of the region through the words of those who are living it.
Synopsis
A decade after the 9/11 attacks, Robin Wright’s Rock the Casbah took readers deep into rebellions against both autocrats and extremists that were redefining politics, culture, and security across the Islamic world. A year after the Arab Spring, she went back to Egypt and Tunisia where it had all started for an epilogue, The Morning After, describing the new reality—that creating a new order is as hard as ousting the old one. In this brilliant follow-up report, Wright describes the hopes and the turmoil of the region through the words of those who are living it.
About the Author
Robin Wright has reported from more than a 140 countries on six continents for
The Washington Post,
The Los Angeles Times,
The New Yorker,
The New York Times Magazine,
TIME magazine,
The Sunday Times of London,
The Atlantic Monthly,
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Policy, the
International Herald Tribune and others. Her foreign tours include the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and
Asia.
Wright has been a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Yale, Duke, Stanford, University of California at Santa Barbara, and University of Southern California.
Among many awards, she won the U.N. Correspondents Association Gold Medal for coverage of foreign affairs, the National Magazine Award, and the Overseas Press Club Award for "best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initiative." The American Academy of Diplomacy selected her as the journalist of the year in 2004. She is also the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. Foundation grant.
Her books include Rock the Casbah, Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran, Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam, Flashpoints: Promise and Peril in a New World, and In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade.
She is a frequent television commentator on foreign affairs. She has appeared on Meet the Press, This Week, Face the Nation, Charlie Rose, Larry King, all the major morning and evening newscasts on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, CNN and MSNBC.