Customer Reviews

Encounters with the Middle East: True Stories of People and Culture that Help You Understand the Region (Travelers' Tales Guides)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked up this book prior to a business trip to Morocco for some insights into the culture and people. I got that and more. It is a delightful collection of vignettes by travellers who continue to be surprised and enchanted by their experiences in the Middle East. It gave me the chance to see beyond the tourist sites to the real people. It also includes a wonderful bibliography, including films, which has encouraged me to delve deeper into the subject.

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE MIDDLE EAST: TRUE STORIES OF PEOPLE AND CULTURE THAT HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE REGION focuses on the encounters and stories of ordinary people, surveying interactions with 30 writers who go beyond a social report to consider how life is lived in the region. Their experiences bring to life the daily trials and promises of the Middle East and makes for a strong survey for any collection strong in contemporary Middle East culture and issues, from high school and college libraries to the general-interest lending collection.

In times of war, it is nice to see a collection that shows human beings instead of enemies. The book gives us a new parameter to re-visit some western perceptions.

Great for Classroom use!

Having never traveled to the Middle East, my only awareness of the complexity of the region comes through media outlets (PBS and internet sources primarily), and an assortment of friends who regularly travel to or grew up in the region. The most engaging aspect of this collection of stories is that it consistently immerses the reader into the humanity of a culture that westerners only hear about through staccato news reports of violence and civil unrest. As with any situation, there are always more than two sides, and this collection brings to light the often-ignored humanity, generosity and history of this region with consistent and narrative beauty.

Having never traveled to the Middle East, but knowing several folks who grew up there and generally loving to travel, I so enjoyed this book. It was revealing, funny, poignant and sometimes painful. The stories are tantalizing glimpses into other people's travel experiences that both made me desperately want to leap out of my chair and get on a plane to join them and to turn the page to find out what happened next. They all left me wanting more, but I suppose that is the point.

Never in my 65 years have I thrown a book away, but I did this one after only two chapters. I have traveled the world, which is something the authors of the chapters I read obviously have not done. I have a feeling the five reviews which were given for this book (5 stars) are relatives of the author or just like reading negative things about other cultures. One chapter was written about Dubai. Specifically a night in Dubai going to bars. The author went into a rest room only to be "shocked to find myself greeted and ushered into the men's room by a four-foot-high, overfriendly (his spelling not mine) Indian man in a tight white suit", who gleefully guided him toward the urinal but the author "quickly darted into a cubical and bolted the door". So this so called world traveler who said he had lived and worked in the Middle East for the previous eight years has never seen a restroom attendant! "Dancing At The Blood Festival" is the wonderful story of another idiot author who while in Aqaba wants to experience the "Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice". He meets up with three teenage boys who drink beer and listen to music. The author in great detail demonstrates how inexperienced and basically dumb the boys are. He never leaves them to find the culture he is looking for, but I suppose that is irrelevant. I did start a third story but when the author boards a cargo ship on the Red Sea he describes it as a "plague ship with no seats or benches" I gave up. While I hesitate to be trite, people experiencing other cultures are supposed to experience them...not be "shocked" at the differences that culture exhibits nor only look for the negative. I don't know why the editors are in the book business.