I read about the politics Middle East, but all too often I find myself distracted or confused. This book, by an American journalist with 20 years’ experience reporting in the region and a childhood spent on an oil company compound in Libya, is the most readable and informative non-fiction account I’ve found so far. MacFarquhar makes points about US policy in the middle east, Islamic fundamentalism, Arab identity, and more using examples from his personal experience. Stories like his one about Fawzia Dorai, the Kuwaiti woman who uses her master’s degree in psychology and sex education from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma to inform her TV talk show, The Biography of Love, illustrate the complexity of Middle Eastern culture as well as his fascination with it. I found his observations fresh, pithy, and often funny: “Libya came across less ‘Axis of Evil’ than Axis of Wackiness,’ although Qadhafi was clearly more wily than nuts” (p. 35); “fatwas can be devoted to any topic, large or small, and the devout seek them out constantly like grease that smoothes all manner of daily decisions” (p. 123).
MacFarquhar stands out: a tall, blond American, but he navigates the many cultures (including that of the Western journalists) with honesty and curiosity. I was enlightened and entertained by his experience cooking a Thanksgiving turkey in a communal oven in Cyprus, his description of majlis, “ a kind of male clubhouse included in every Saudi home… where any Saudi man can have his friend over… without risk of them mingling with the women of the household,” and his initial, mistaken impression that pilgrims to Mecca were maybe men coming back from the hotel spa. I flagged passage after passage to think about further.
Despite the levity, MacFarquhar gets his hands dirty. Banned from combat zones after being run down by a bus in NYC, MacFarquhar still gets into plenty of dangerous and uncomfortable situations. As in his journalism, MacFarquhar writes boldly, making statements that will offend some Americans and some people of the Middle East. But his deep respect and lifelong interest in the cultures he sometimes criticizes are very clear, and he remains hopeful for positive change. This is a provocative and fascinating book. ~Tegan