Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East
- ISBN-10
- 1250131219
- ISBN-13
- 9781250131218
- Series
- Black Wave
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 368
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-01-28
- Publisher
- Henry Holt and Company
- Author
- Kim Ghattas
Description
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 “[A] sweeping and authoritative history" (The New York Times Book Review), Black Wave is an unprecedented and ambitious examination of how the modern Middle East unraveled and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979. Kim Ghattas seamlessly weaves together history, geopolitics, and culture to deliver a gripping read of the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between between Saudi Arabia and Iran, born from the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution and fueled by American policy. With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to Iran’s fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS. Ghattas introduces us to a riveting cast of characters whose lives were upended by the geopolitical drama over four decades: from the Pakistani television anchor who defied her country’s dictator, to the Egyptian novelist thrown in jail for indecent writings all the way to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Black Wave is both an intimate and sweeping history of the region and will significantly alter perceptions of the Middle East.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2019-07-22
- 288 pages
- Paperback
- University of Chicago Press
-
- 2019-07-11
- 272 pages
- Ebook
- University of Chicago Press
Similar books
-
Black Wave
By Michelle TeaIt's 1999--and Michelle's world is ending. A dreamlike and dystopian meditation on sobriety, adulthood, and the weird obligations of storytelling.
-
Wild Savage Stars: A Sweet Black Waves Novel
By Kristina PerezInspired by the legend of Tristan and Iseult, Kristina Pérez's Wild Savage Stars is the spellbinding sequel to Sweet Black Waves.
-
Surfing the Black Wave: Brand Leadership in the Digital Age
By Daniel CobbSurfing the Black Wave: Brand Leadership in the Digital Age
-
Deep Black: Death Wave
By Stephen Coonts, William H. KeithDid she mean Mullins? Or some of the staffers and aides? Most of the people in the room were cleared for security access at least at the Top Secret level, but Wehrum had warned them early on to limit discussions to Top Secret and below.
-
In a Time of Monsters: Travels Through a Middle East in Revolt
By Emma SkyIn A Time of Monsters bears witness to the demands of young people for dignity and justice during the Arab Spring; the inability of sclerotic regimes to reform; the descent of Syria into civil war; the rise of the Islamic State; and the ...
-
Surfing the black: Yugoslav Black Wave cinema and its transgressive moments
By Gal KirnThis book is the result of a multi-disciplinary research attempting to cross over politics, philosophy, design, art, architecture, and some speculative thinking.
-
Black Life
By Dorothea LaskyInfused with dark, tumultuous, and urgent feeling--emotion recollected not in tranquility, but in intensity.
-
Dark Wave: The Dark Edges of New Wave and Post-Punk Music
By Debra KoskyDark wave began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of new wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands.
-
The Little Black Book of Design
By Adam JudgeLike an Art of War for design, this slim volume contains guidance, inspiration, and reassurance for all those who labor with the user in mind. If you work on the web, in print, or in film or video, this book can help.
-
Y They Call Me Black
By Messiahel El SevenEvery so called, Black man, woman, child wants to believe that slavery is over.The reason being for this belief is because times have changed.But thats not true, times may have change, and the institution of slavery has changed with it, in ...