Awards

• Winner of T.R. Fyvel Book Award 2007
• Winner of T.R. Fyvel Book Award 2007.

Overview

"Being Arab is a brilliant exploration of the current political and intellectual stagnation of the Arab world, by one of its most prominent journalists. In explaining how the region arrived at this point, Kassir turns to the past, revisiting the Arab ""golden age,"" the extraordinary nineteenth-century flowering of cultural expression that continued into the twentieth as, from Cairo to Baghdad and from Beirut to Casablanca, painters, poets, musicians, playwrights and novelists came together to create a new, living Arab culture. Considering the huge impact of modernity on the region, and the accompanying shockwaves that turned society upside-down, Kassir states that the current crisis in Arab identity lies in the failure to come to terms with modernity, turning instead to false solutions such as pan-Arabism and Islamism. Being Arab is a clarion call, urging Arabs to embrace their own history, to reject Western double standards and Islamism alike, and to take the future of the region into their own hands."

Full Product Details

9781844670994

Table of Contents

Reviews

One of the leading progressives in the Middle East, and one of its bravest voices: an unflagging advocate of democracy, an opponent of Arab dictatorships and of Western double standards, a champion of Palestinian rights who was also a scathing critic of anti-Semitism. - Adam Shatz, The Nation One of Lebanon's most prominent journalists and one of the most vociferous and bravest critics of the Syrian regime. - Robert Fisk, Independent

Author Information

Samir Kassir (1960-2005) was a columnist for the daily newspaper An-Nahar, wrote regularly for Le Monde Diplomatique, and published a number of important works in French as well as Arabic. He was killed by a car bomb in Beirut on June 2, 2005.

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