Overview

An extraordinary and timely book that takes The God Delusion debate onto the streets of the Middle East. The bloodshed perpetrated in the name of religion in the world today is nowhere more obvious than in the Middle East. Whether we are talking about hardcore Zionist settlers still fighting ancient Biblical battles in the hills of the West Bank or Shiite death squads roaming the lawless streets of Iraq in the aftermath of Saddam; whether it's the misappropriation and martyrdom of Mickey Mouse by Gaza's Islamists, or a US president acting on God's orders, James Hider sees the hallucinatory effect of what he calls the 'crack cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' all around him. As James Hider travels around the Middle East, from Israel to Gaza, to Iraq -and then back to Jerusalem, he takes his doubts about religious beliefs to the very heart of the world's holy wars. He meets terrorists and their victims, soldiers and clerics, ordinary people and extraordinary people. The question in the back of his mind is- how can people not only believe in all this madness, but die and kill for it too? This timely book casts an unflinching yet compassionate eye on the very worst and most violent crimes committed in the name of religion and asks questions that the world needs to answer if we are to stand a chance of facing our own worst demons.

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9780552775496

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Reviews

At once a terrifying insight into the 'crack-cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' and a blackly humorous narrative of a foreign correspondent's growing sense of bafflement and alienation Hider's voice is incisive and rich in the human detail that only first-hand experience bestows. An essential work for anyone wishing to understand the swirling machinations of Iraq, its people and its war James Hider offers a new voice in the literature of the Middle East: His is delightfully fresh and very funny. It takes a brave and confident writer to take on so many taboos but Hider does it with the confidence that comes from years in the field and from a deep, authoritative historical and cultural knowledge of Israel, Iraq and the region This sort of informed but subjective account of the frontlines of conflict in the Middle East is not simply rubbernecking, it's required reading Time Out

This sort of informed but subjective account of the frontlines of conflict in the Middle East is not simply rubbernecking, it's required reading Time Out Hider's voice is incisive and rich in the human detail that only first-hand experience bestows. An essential work for anyone wishing to understand the swirling machinations of Iraq, its people and its war -- Antony Loyd, author of My War Gone By, I Miss it So At once a terrifying insight into the 'crack-cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' and a blackly humorous narrative of a foreign correspondent's growing sense of bafflement and alienation -- Chris Ayres, author of WAR REPORTING FOR COWARDS James Hider offers a new voice in the literature of the Middle East: His is delightfully fresh and very funny. It takes a brave and confident writer to take on so many taboos but Hider does it with the confidence that comes from years in the field and from a deep, authoritative historical and cultural knowledge of Israel, Iraq and the region -- Matt McAllester, author of BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS OF THE DAMNED

This sort of informed but subjective account of the frontlines of conflict in the Middle East is not simply rubbernecking, it's required reading * Time Out * Hider's voice is incisive and rich in the human detail that only first-hand experience bestows. An essential work for anyone wishing to understand the swirling machinations of Iraq, its people and its war -- Antony Loyd, author of My War Gone By, I Miss it So At once a terrifying insight into the 'crack-cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' and a blackly humorous narrative of a foreign correspondent's growing sense of bafflement and alienation -- Chris Ayres, author of WAR REPORTING FOR COWARDS James Hider offers a new voice in the literature of the Middle East: His is delightfully fresh and very funny. It takes a brave and confident writer to take on so many taboos but Hider does it with the confidence that comes from years in the field and from a deep, authoritative historical and cultural knowledge of Israel, Iraq and the region -- Matt McAllester, author of BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS OF THE DAMNED

A British journalist's firsthand account of fanaticism and bloodshed in the Middle East.In his first book, Hider, the Middle East bureau chief for the Times (London), loosely examines the ways in which radical Islam and fundamentalist Christianity have continually warped and damaged an already difficult situation. In Iraq, writes the author, there has long existed a web of ludicrous superstition and delusion, nurtured by a dictatorship that cared little for objective reality. A lack of understanding about the many facets of Islam on the part of the invading American military, as well as the fog of its own myths, has resulted in a culture clash of terrifying complexity without a foreseeable solution. An atheist, Hider encountered the warring religious agendas of the Sunni, Shia, Jews and Christians as an outsider. He was a neutral recorder of the facts, albeit one with a wealth of experience, since he developed personal and working relationships with Iraqis of all descriptions during the course of several years. He shares stories of riding out with U.S. soldiers in a tank as they laid waste to cities, but also of interviewing leaders of the insurgency or gaining access to their camps, hair-trigger encounters that were tense and unpredictable at best, and which could turn menacing in an instant. Readers will marvel at the mix of resolve, purpose and just plain lust for adventure that made Hider return to the hellish carnage and turmoil. He and his girlfriend Lulu, also a British journalist, often chose to head toward danger rather than away from it. They traveled to Karbala for the massive festival of Ashoura because they anticipated - correctly, as it turned out - that large-scale violence would erupt. The author's dense, vivid descriptions, frequently steeped in irony and humor, make for a slow but powerful read. For most of the narrative, Hider allows the nauseating, unbelievable events he witnessed and chronicled gnaw at the reader without overt analysis.Horrifying true tales intelligently told. (Kirkus Reviews)

This sort of informed but subjective account of the frontlines of conflict in the Middle East is not simply rubbernecking, it's required reading Time Out Hider's voice is incisive and rich in the human detail that only first-hand experience bestows. An essential work for anyone wishing to understand the swirling machinations of Iraq, its people and its war -- Antony Loyd, Author Of My War Gone By, I Miss It So At once a terrifying insight into the 'crack-cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' and a blackly humorous narrative of a foreign correspondent's growing sense of bafflement and alienation -- Chris Ayres, Author Of War Reporting For Cowards James Hider offers a new voice in the literature of the Middle East: His is delightfully fresh and very funny. It takes a brave and confident writer to take on so many taboos but Hider does it with the confidence that comes from years in the field and from a deep, authoritative historical and cultural knowledge of Israel, Iraq and the region -- Matt McAllester, Author Of Beyond The Mountains Of The Damned

Author Information

James Hider is The Times Middle East Bureau Chief, currently based in Jerusalem. This is his first book.

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