Customer Reviews

Men in Black Dresses: A Quest for the Future Among Wisdom-Makers of the Middle East

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I ordered this book, based on the glowing New York Times Book Review article and the reviews here. I'd expected to read an informative, insightful, and well-written book. That is not at all what I found.

First, the writing style. The breezy, casual style she slings about would be well-suited to a book about rock music or a character in an Evanovitch mystery, but hardly suited to a fairly serious topic by a supposedly credentialed scholar. It was a style out of sync with the subject material. -I wasn't necessarily looking to read a scholarly book, but I did expect this to be an intelligent book (which it wasn't.) I also found it difficult to like Dr. Seng, who comes across as a self-promoter, trying very hard to appear "cool".

Second, -the substance of this book. Everything is black and white -- no nuances, no complicated characters. All the religious leaders she meets are magical, wonderful demi-gods. The questions asked in her interviews with them were at a grade-school level -- totally uninformative. I found it difficult to believe a well-educated person could write such a superficial and one-dimensional account.

I managed to get through the book, through sheer stubbornness and the hope that it might improve at some point. (It never did.) One of those books where you're relieved to get it over with so that you can move on to something better. I'm in perplexed total disagreement with the positive reviews here.

"Men in Black Dresses: A Quest for the Future Among Wisdom Makers of the Middle East" I am reading a wonderful book. It's one of those gems that every time you pick it up, it instantly carries you into an exotic, space of anticipation. I find myself leaning forward emotionally, eager to see what I am going to learn - what I am going to see differently, with new clarity.

It's kind of interesting, because I forget about how great it is after we land or I fall asleep. I've been carrying it around in my bag now for a week now and each time I look at it - "Men in Black Dresses" - I remember the basic premise: author Yvonne Seng working her way through interviews with Egyptian Muslim sheihks leaders and discovering insights about Islam, and it sits there, kind of flat and academic.

But each time I get finally get settled into my Boeing seat, and before we reach 10,000 feet where I can get out my laptop, I open up the black dress book and within two sentences I'm in Egypt - in a bazaar, or somewhere contemplating some deep truth or paradox. . . . experiencing, through her extraordinary prose, Dr. Seng's odysseys and forays in search of truth and meaning.

This woman can really write. It's like a great novel - about real experiences, but focused on a search for truth. Most nonfiction books are not really "literature". They're not great stories, capturing you and moving you into sights, sounds, and smells of some other interesting place and introducing you to people you can really see in your mind. So, it's really rather extraordinary to find a book of big, great ideas that is also a really interesting story as well.

You should buy Yvonne's book. You'll learn a lot about Egypt, Islam, the Coptic Orthodox Church, Syria, yourself . . . and you'll like it.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the title seemed a little too marketing seductive. That aside, I liked the breezy Ozzie style and the vast store of information she had to share.

The most faithful-looking men I see on TV wear dark robes and carry automatic weapons. I simultaneously admire their faith and fear their wrath. I wish I could turn down the volume and sit quietly with these men; I yearn to hear whatever it is they are literally dying to say.

Men in Black Dresses provides such an opportunity. Author Yvonne Seng trekked to monasteries, mosques and religious enclaves in order to listen. She sat with leaders ranging from The Grand Sheikh of Islam, spiritual leader to the world¹s billion Sunnis, to His Holiness Pope Zakka, head of the world¹s second oldest Christian church.

"Throughout history, dogma has been mistaken for knowledge," a leading orthodox archbishop told her, "social division and problems can be traced to the entanglement of dogma in our modern life ­ social problems are also theological problems."

A professor of peace and Middle Eastern studies, Seng discovered surprising agreements among the Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders who spoke to her. They agreed that modern spiritual life has become distracted, that East and West alike have forsaken the heart for the ego, and that as our leaders confuse true power with material gain, the world is becoming a very dangerous place.

-- Monte Paulsen, The Dragonfly Review of Books

While on an Egyptian train Yvonne Seng met the revered black dressed Catholic Bishop of Asyout. He received a promise that she was to return one day especially if she wants to "see the future". Though confused by the bishop's pronouncement, Dr. Seng never followed up on her reluctant vow until fifteen years later in her DC home a vision propelled the cultural historian that it was time for her to complete her pledge she made to the holy man. Dr. Seng returned to the Middle East to interview the Bishop of Asyout and other holy "men in black dresses" to learn their perspective on the future of humanity in a shrinking but more hostile world.

MEN IN BLACK DRESSES: A QUEST FOR THE FUTURE AMONG WISDOM-MAKERS OF THE MIDDLE EAST is the author's pilgrimage of misadventures and encounters with several of the leading religious thinkers of the area. Some never give interviews yet most provided Dr. Seng with their beliefs and pain as each one wants a world of peace with consideration of all others. Though clearly a personal and spiritual journey, this is an easy to read uplifting book that shows that at least the "Men in Black Dresses" believe in more than tolerance as each one wants a spiritual renewal in which everyone is revered. This is a strong inspirational account that will make readers reassess their attitudes.

Harriet Klausner

"...totally riveting. Yvonne Seng is a natural born storyteller... fearless and witty style. Charging ahead solo where most of us would fear to tread, Yvonne interviewed a fascinating array of spiritual leaders, mystics and holy men and women to seek spiritual guidance for our time. Their answers were surprising and profoundly important."
-- Connexion Magazine

I read a review of this book in the FUTUREdition newsletter from the Arlington Institute. It sparked an interest to read it and I am glad I did.

It is a fascinating book. It reads like a novel. It is well written with as much personal information about the experience of the writer during her journey, Yvonne Seng, as it reveals about the men in black dresses.

I gave it to a friend who read it overnight. I have since interviewed the author, who was changed and challenged by the experience.

What was the experience like for her. "It was like sitting on the front porch," she told me. The wisdom makers are very thoughtful, practical and liberal in thier thinking and responses to Seng's questions.

I was surprised at their openmindedness. It challenges the dogma that seperates us.

Read it! You will not be disappointed

Nigel Alston
www.motivationalmoments.com

Ms. Seng took me places that I've always wanted to go. She answered so many of the questions that I had about Middle Eastern mysticism. MEN IN BLACK DRESSES is a fast paced beautifully written adventure story. I highly recommend this moving book to everyone.

Well I suppose the smart ass title should have been a tipoff. This book manages to both flatten and drain all the depth out of people whom have cultivated depth their whole lives. The author has adopted the style of interviewing where the interviewer spends 3/4 of the time telling you about themselves and their reactions to what the person they are interviewing says. It is a distracting and in this case disappointing technique whereby the author manages to reduce holy men to trivial quotes with all the spiritual depth of the Celestine Prophecies. Because of this artifice the book distorts more than it illuminates and should be avoided by anyone looking to encounter contemporary articulations of authentic Christian desert wisdom. Look at Matta al Maskin (Orthodox Prayer) himself rather than this pablum about his brethren.