The Spiders of Allah: Travels of an Unbeliever on the Frontline of Holy War [Paperback]

James Hider (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2009

In his fascinating, terrifying and often very funny book, James Hider takes his doubts about religious beliefs straight into the dark heart of the world’s holy wars—from Israel to Gaza to Iraq—the birthplace that spawned so many faiths—and then back to Jerusalem. From hardcore Zionist settlers still fighting ancient Biblical battles in the hills of the West Bank to 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, Hider sees the hallucinatory effect of what he calls the 'crack cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' all around him. As he meets terrorists, suicide bombers, soldiers, ayatollahs, clerics, and ordinary and extraordinary people alike, the question that sparked his journey continues to plague his thoughts: how can people not only believe in this madness, but die and kill for it too? This extraordinary and timely book takes the God Delusion debate onto the streets of the Middle East. It casts an unflinching yet compassionate eye on the very worst and most violent crimes committed in the name of religion, and then sharply asks the questions the world needs to answer if we are ever to stand a chance of facing our own worst demons.  

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Thank God (although after reading this book you might stop believing in a higher power) for James Hider.  After working as a reporter on all the major frontlines of the War on Terror, he has produced a masterpiece that strips away the propaganda and prejudice that blights analysis of the first global conflict of the 21st Century.  It is a work of great authority written with wit and wisdom.”  - Tim Butcher, author of Blood River

“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

“Studded with a fascinating set of characters in a human landscape both barbarous and beautiful journalist James hider has written an absorbing account of his exciting excursions into the Arab world.”—Jean Sasson, author of Princess and Mayada, Daughter of Iraq

With wry humor, the choicest human anecdotes and the vivid descritptive skills of a high-class jouranlis, James Hider succeeds brilliantly in bringing those jaded stories – Iraq and the Middle East – to life.”—Martin Fletcher, author of Almost Heaven

“Hider’s voice is incisive and rich in the human detailt hat only first-hand experience bestows.  An  essential work for anyone wishing to understand the swirling machinations of Iraq, its people and its war.”—Anthony Loyd, My War Gone By, I Miss It So

About the Author

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Original edition (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312565852
• ISBN-13: 978-0312565855
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,224,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Facinating Account of a Journalist in the Middle East in the 21st Century, May 21, 2009

By 

Lynn Ellingwood "The ESOL Teacher" (Webster, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spiders of Allah: Travels of an Unbeliever on the Frontline of Holy War (Paperback)

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James Hider has written a terrific book about the Middle East and the the Iraq War currently being fought. It is a ironic and sometimes very funny. Being an outsider can be a very interesting way of living a life and experiencing a situation. James begins with the Jewish settlements and the settles beliefs and motivations. He travels back in history at times to provide background and muse on the present. The experiences in the Iraq War is well documented. Hider is British so he feels himself to be an outsider to the Americans fighting the war also. The culture of Iraq and the aftermath of Saddam is covered as well as the day to day life in a war zone. At the end, he provides a provacative thesis on who the Palestinians really are. I loved every minute of this book and would highly recommend it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shattering Illusions, Dealing with Uncontrolled Demons, July 25, 2009

By 

Erika Borsos "pepper flower" (Gulf Coast of FL, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spiders of Allah: Travels of an Unbeliever on the Frontline of Holy War (Paperback)

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James Hider provides an unusually candid and vividly detailed memoir while working as a war correspondent for the London Times in Iraq from 2003 to 2006. There he witnessed personally and up close this surreal lawless country which has runamok. The political drama of clashing religious factions, the tragedy of suicide bombers and the aftermath, and the confusing mess with which the American, British and Australian troops dealt with is all presented to the reader. The author is an avowed athiest and being also British, his viewpoint provides some dark humor and occasional amusement even during times when his own life was at risk. He so clearly points out, even Hollywood could not have invented some of the bizarre circumstances which arose and that he witnessed while covering crucial aspects of this war. The pain and sorrow of the families whose loved ones lives were lost due to senseless bombings and street fighting is palpable and real. Families suffered tremendously while they struggled to survive against all odds. The author gives an insider view of how ordinairy people coped. He provides insights into the views of various religious factions and Iraqi rebels who fought for control over their own neighborhoods after Saddam Hussein fell from power and was executed for the crimes he committed against his own people. Both the Shia and Sunnis fought to the death for power and control. The author provides unique insights into how war correspondents and newspaper reporters obtained their leads and found material for their stories.

James Hider also writes about the Palestinian and Israeli conflicts when he was stationed in Israel and where he happened to be on September 11, 2001. He interviewed Palestinian fighters and saw how young boys belonged to a group similar to boy scouts the only major difference was they eventually trained to become suicide bombers. The author quotes a Brooklynite Jewish Israeli resident who stated on that fateful day sentiment to the effect that he was glad the USA got attacked because now they understood better what Israel faced on a regular basis. Suffice to say, this book provides a variety of viewpoints from both sides of each conflict. The author writes in a stream of consciousness style which is appropriate for the subject. His writing style is erudite, detailed and descriptive. Just a warning for the faint of heart: the author does not hold back on the blood and gore, so be prepared for this reality. This book is most highly recommended. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, but Sometimes Interesting, June 13, 2009

By 

Kevin Barrack (San Mateo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spiders of Allah: Travels of an Unbeliever on the Frontline of Holy War (Paperback)

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This book is not what is spelled out in the product description. That description had me believing, and looking forward to reading, a book that tied together the struggles in Israel, Palestine and the rest of the Middle East. In fact, the description even says that the book takes a tour of these places and that it then circles back to Jerusalem. In reality this book is 90% about living in Iraq during the aftermath of the war. Yes, there is a stint in Israel and Palestine at the beginning -- an extremely cursory overview of the conflict there -- and he does go back to Jerusalem at the end of the book for a full 15-page interview with one man with an interesting theory about the relationship between the Palestinians and Israelis (which is irrelevant to the current conflict). But mostly this is disjointed war stories.

And the rich humor that is lauded in the description and professional reviews? There are a handful of ironic observations and some notes about curious customs, but hardly any of it reads like intentional humor. Any humor is very, very dark. In the whole book only one part made me chuckle.

The book begins with Mr. Hider living in Israel and recounts some observations of various Jewish religious sects. He then manages to get an interview with a leader of a suicide bombing group in Palestine. He visits an illegal Jewish settlement and reports on the fanaticism of the inhabitants. These are two equally disturbing perspectives. He gives a lot of history, which is told in a jumbled way with some present day anecdotes thrown in, but the connection to modern day issues often seems strained. Mr. Hider focuses on the fanatics and the negative. I would have liked a more balanced story that more explicitly elucidated the merits of the opinions on each side of the issue. For example, sure, certain Palestinians are homicidal extremists, but they've got some valid arguments against Israeli policies, some of which are equally as harsh. He focusses on the effects rather than paying attention to the causes, and connections are implied at best.

Moving on to Iraq, there is a lot of time dedicated to discussing the American military and political involvement. During this part there really is very little discussion of religion. It is all about how Iraqis are surviving in the post war anarchy. He talks about traffic jams, food shortages, looting, demolished palaces and people struggling to come to terms with the torture and murder of Saddam's regime. The stories are randomly assorted with little rhyme or reason to why they are grouped together. They read like a travelogue, with no clear point in their telling, just taking us along for the journey.

Most of his time in Iraq reads like this: one day after another of unrelated events which do not combine to form any particular thesis. Some of these events and situations are very interesting to read about, simply because they are so foreign and unimaginable. Many give a richer perspective than the home front news stories of the war, and some of the stories are different than anything I'd ever heard told: stories of how people survive amid anarchy, how they cope with random violence all around them and how they pick sides to avoid being killed (not necessarily because of ideology). So some of this writing about Iraq is genuinely interesting but it doesn't support any larger premise about religion or conflict.

Sometimes Mr. Hider's objectivity is compromised. Sometimes this is due to his unwavering atheistic viewpoint, while other times it just seems to be cultural insensitivity. For instance, at one point he acquires guard dogs for his house in Iraq, but problematically the Moslem guards that he employs are vehemently against allowing dogs in the house, thinking them unclean. His solution is a brutish order to allow the dogs in the house. Given the gravity of the situation perhaps that was the only sensible thing to do. However, I guess I would expect there to have been some acknowledgement in the text of differing beliefs and the need to compromise them.

Judgmental quips about religion being nonsensical foolishness for the feeble minded are about the only sort of dialog on the topic. He never comes right out and says "You're stupid if you believe in God," but he makes some strong implications. I looked forward to reading this book partly because the author is an atheist, which I assumed erroneously would grant him an unbiased vantage point to observe the varying religions in action. Unfortunately, his staunch anti-religious beliefs don't allow him to engage in a meaningful discussion about the merits and liabilities of specific religions and their implications for cultural interactions. I expected him to be skeptical, that is, to act more as an impartial observer instead of bludgeoning the reader with vapid anti-religious sentiments. It gets a little old after a while.

Another minor, but recurring, point to make is that he will often use idiomatic terminology or foreign words without any explanation as to what they mean. For example, he states, "In his plain white dishdasheh and matching yeshmak, he loomed..." but never bothers to explain what a dishdasheh or a yeshmak are. If they are important then explain them, otherwise omit them. Another time he says "...it was a place frequented by foreigners, it sold booze and it was what was known as a 'soft target'." I guess I haven't watched enough late night CNN, but I don't know what a soft target is. There is no further context to give any clues either. Another empty statement.

This book does not live up to it's promise to evaluate the situations in the Middle East through the lens of religion. To be fair, that is a tall order that most books would struggle to live up to. What this book is, is a travelogue of a journalist visiting places that people concerned with their personal safety have sense enough to avoid. For this reason there is some interest to the stories told in the book. They are fantastical at times. It is amazing how violence can become mundane. But the disjointed nature of the tales is distracting. In a single chapter the story will jump from 2003 to 2005 and then the next chapter will start back in 2003. The discourse on religion is minimal and not very insightful. The biggest problem with the book is that it is not about the Middle East -- it is about Iraq. There is hardly any content about Israel or Palestine and nothing more than a mention of other key middle eastern countries. This book provides some details of Iraqi life from the unusual perspective of a foreign journalist who actively seeks out the most dangerous areas to report from. If you want a deeper or more spiritual viewpoint then you should look elsewhere.