Book Reviews

84 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXIX, No.4, Summer 2016 Book Reviews Edited by Nadia Barsoum Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa THE SUNNI TRAGEDY IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Northern Lebanon from al-Qaeda to Isis, by Bernard Rougier. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015. 259 pages. Rougier aims to explain how and why jihadism wove its way into a Sunni social fabric in the throes of a leadership crisis. He sheds new light on the methods and actions of the Jihadists, their internal debates, and their evolving political agenda over the past decade. This book reveals the difficulty—but not the impossibility —of building a liberal Sunni constituency in this part of the Levant. A LAND OF ACHING HEARTS, by Leila Tarazi Fawaz. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2014. 384 pages. Fawas examines the transformation of the Middle East after the Great War, bringing to an end four hundred years of Ottoman rule in Arab lands while giving rise to the Middle East as we know it today. This book traverses ethnic, class, and national borders to recover the personal stories of the civilians and soldiers who endured the cataclysmic event. But the local populations were not passive victims Fawaz chronicles the initiative and resilience of civilian villagers, and townsmen determined to survive the war as best they could. DEFEATING JIHAD: The Winnable War, by Dr. Sebastian Gorka. Washington DC: Regnery Publishing, 2016. 244 pages. Gorka examines the Jihadi war which become clearer if we remove our ideological blinders and apply basic strategic principles. That means accurately naming the enemy, understanding his plan, and drawing up a strategy to defeat him. Our enemy is not “terror’ or “violent extremism”. Our enemy is the global Jihadi movement, a modern totalitarian ideology rooted in the doctrines and martial history of Islam. 85 IN THE NAME OF IDENTITY: Violence and the Need to Belong, by Amin Maalouf translated by Barbara Bray. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2012. 164 pages. In this work, Maalouf discusses the identity crisis which Arabs have experienced since the establishment of continuous relationships with the west, adding his personal dimension as a Christian Arab. The book is intended for both Arabs and Westerners (as well as for people with mixed heritage). This work is divided into five major chapters, “Identity and Belonging,” “When Modernity Comes From the Other,” “The Era of Cosmic Tribals,” “Taming the Shrew” and a glossary. He begins with universal values of identity, which he dissects, describes the extremes, then applies them to the Levant. He tries to describe how the average modern Arab feels, along a wide spectrum of ideologies in practice throughout the Arab world…from religious beliefs and traditional practices to total secularism. The book also sheds light on recent events in the Arab world, from civil wars to relations with the west. SHADES OF SULH, by Rasha Diab. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press, 2016. 248 pages. Diab Sulh is a centuries-old Arab-Islamic peacemaking process. In Shades of Sulh, Rasha Diab explores the possibilities of the rhetoric of sulh, as it is used to resolve intrapersonal, interpersonal, communal, national, and international conflicts, and provides cases that illustrate each of these domains. Diab demonstrates the adaptability and range of sulh as a ritual and practice that travels across spheres of activity (juridical, extra-juridical, political, diplomatic), through time (medieval, modern, contemporary), and over geopolitical borders (Cairo, Galilee, and Medina). Together, the cases prove the flexibility of sulh in the discourse of peacemaking—and that sulh has remarkable rhetorical longevity, versatility, and richness. Shades of Sulh sheds new light on rhetorics of reconciliation , human rights discourse, and Arab-Islamic rhetorics. THE SHIAS OF PAKISTAN: An Assertive and Beleaguered Minority, by Andreas Rieck. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. 540 pages. Andreas Rieck examines the Shias of Pakistan are the world’s second largest Shia community after that of Iran, but who comprise only 10-15 per cent of Pakistan's population. In recent decades Sunni extremists have increasingly targeted them with hate propaganda and terrorism, yet paradoxically Shias have always been fully integrated into all sections of political, professional and social life without suffering any discrimination. In mainstream politics, the Shia...