The late historian’s memoir, an unstinting portrait of the unhappy collision of tradition and modernity in Lebanon in the years following World War II, is one of the best of our time.
What if there is no solution?
After two decades, Fouad Ajami’s words ring true.
It’s no better in English than in Arabic.
The Lebanese-born scholar knew more about the Jewish state than any Arab intellectual of his generation.
Nobody could match him as an interpreter of the Arab Middle East—or as a deft and witty scourge of his academic opponents.
On a barren piece of land, the Zionists built a flourishing modern state. The Arabs could have learned from this experiment, but they drew back in horror. (2008.)