During the thirty years that award-winning journalist Robert
Fisk has been reporting on the Middle East, he has covered every major event in
the region, from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution, from the
American hostage crisis in Beirut (as one of only two Western journalists in the
city at the time) to the Iran-Iraq War, from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan
to Israel’s invasions of Lebanon, from the Gulf War to the invasion and ongoing
war in Iraq. Now he brings his knowledge, his firsthand experience and his
intimate understanding of the Middle East to a book that addresses the full
complexity of its political history and its current state of
affairs.
Passionate in his concerns about the region and relentless in his pursuit
of the truth, Fisk has been able to enter the world of the Middle East and the
lives of its people as few other journalists have. The result is a work of
stunning reportage. His unblinking eyewitness testimony to the horrors of war
places him squarely in the tradition of the great frontline reporters of the
Second World War. His searing descriptions of lives mangled in the chaos of
battle and of the battles themselves are at once dreadful and heartrending.
This is also a book of lucid, incisive analysis. Reaching back into the
long history of invasion, occupation and colonization in the region, Fisk sets
forth this information in a way that makes clear how a history of injustice “has
condemned the Middle East to war.” He lays open the role of the West in the
seemingly endless strife and warfare in the region, traces the growth of the
West’s involvement and influence there over the past one hundred years, and
outlines the West’s record of support for some of the most ruthless leaders in
the Middle East. He chronicles the ever-more-powerful military presence of the
United States and tracks the consequent, increasingly virulent anti-Western–and
particularly anti-American–sentiment among the region’s Muslim populations.
Fisk interweaves this history with his own vividly rendered experiences
in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Algeria, Israel, Palestine and Lebanon–on the front
lines; behind the scenes; in the streets of cities and villages; and inside
military headquarters, the hideouts of guerrillas, the homes of ordinary
citizens. Here, too, are indelible portraits of Osama bin Laden, Ayatollah
Khomeini and Yassir Arafat, among others–all of whom he has met
face-to-face–revelatory in their apprehension of the individuals and the
ideologies they represent.
Finally, The Great War for Civilisation
is the story of journalists in war: of their attempts to report the first,
impartial drafts of history, to monitor the centers of power, to challenge
authority (“especially . . . when governments and politicians take us to war”)
and to battle an increasingly partisan worldwide media in their determination to
report the truth.
Unflinching, provocative, brilliantly written–a work
of major importance for today’s world.
About the
author
Best-selling author and journalist Robert Fisk, based in
Beirut as Middle East Correspondent of The Independent, has lived in the
Middle East for almost three decades and holds more British and international
journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent. His last book, Pity
the Nation, a history of the Lebanon war, was published to great critical
acclaim.
Awards
NOMINEE - National Book Critics Circle
Awards
... Payvand News - 5/26/06 ... --
