Storm from the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World and the Christian West (Modern Library Chronicles) (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: United States, World War, Sharif Hussein (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

America’s engagement with the Arab world stretches back far beyond the Iraq wars. According to Milton Viorst, the current conflict is simply the latest round in a 1,400-year struggle between Christianity and Islam, in which the United States became a participant only in the last century.

Today, the Bush Doctrine aims to free the Arab peoples from political oppression and create a democratic Iraq. So why are Arabs, and Iraqis in particular, so suspicious of our efforts? The explanation, Viorst says, is simple: “What the American leadership has miscalculated, or simply dismissed, is Arab nationalism.” In Storm from the East, Viorst offers a balanced, lucid, and vital history of America’s uneasy relationship with the Arab world and argues that brutal conflict in the region will continue until the West, with the United States taking the lead, honors the Arabs’ insistence on deciding their own destiny.

Viorst examines the long struggle of the Arab world to overthrow Western hegemony. He explores the Arab experiences with democracy and military despotism; Nasserite socialism in Egypt and Ba’athism in Syria and Iraq; tribal monarchy in Saudi Arabia and Jordan; guerrilla warfare waged by the Palestinians; and, finally, Islamic rebellion culminating in Osama bin Laden’s extremist al-Qaeda. All have the same goal: the liberation of the Arabs from foreign domination.

Storm from the East is a powerful work that, like no other, limns the political, religious, and social roots of Arab nationalism and the present-day unrest in the Middle East.


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Milton Viorst has covered the Middle East as a journalist and scholar since the 1960s. He was The New Yorker’s Middle East correspondent, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He has written six books on the Middle East and lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, the poet Judith Viorst.


From the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (April 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812974190
• ISBN-13: 978-0812974195
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #730,335 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading, January 9, 2007

By	Frank A. Orban - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Storm from the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World and the Christian West (Modern Library Chronicles) (Hardcover)

This compact well-written 177 page book is essential reading for those interested in the the Middle East and in particular Iraq. It outlines the history of Arab nationalism, fudamentalist Islam and the critical 19th and 20th century historical/political events that produced the Middle East as we find it today. If you are looking for one book to provide you with essential background, this is it. This work was first brought to my attention by individuals with life-long professional political involvement in the Middle East.

Frank A. Orban III
Executive V.P.
The Institute of World Politics
Washington, DC

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding the Arab Psyche, August 4, 2006

By	Richard D. Hill (Boston MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Storm from the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World and the Christian West (Modern Library Chronicles) (Hardcover)

This is the best and most succinct narrative I have ever read on the conflict between the West and the Arab countries. While not downplaying the religious differences it clearly shows the hostilities resulting from the political and military actions of the European(and later the American) interests over the ages and particularly since the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire. Interlaced with these fascinating narratives are clear descriptions of the Sunni and Shia believers and how they got that way. I agree with Viorst's beginning statement that its too bad President Bush didnt take advantage of scholars' knowledge of these differences as well as the long standing political hostility between the Arab world and the West. Be it resolved that every member of the White House staff and every menber of Congress read this book!

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Incoherent premises, September 10, 2006

By	Moose - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storm from the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World and the Christian West (Modern Library Chronicles) (Hardcover)

This book is a useful statement of the insuperable differences between the West and the culture of the Middle East, and a terse reminder of the offenses against the Middle East populations perpetrated by the West (almost entirely France and Britain) from the time of Napoleon through the Suez crisis of 1956. Its message, that the US effort to transform the Middle East has been doomed from the start, is hard to argue with, at least for me. However, two main premises of this book are incoherent.

1. Viorst claims that the main cultural dynamic in the Middle East is "Arab nationalism," and that "Islamic nationalism" is but an offshoot of it. He states that the geographic core of Arab nationalism is Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, and that this area "stands apart" from Egypt and the rest of north Africa, and from Arabia itself. Yet the book describes the lack of Arab nationalism during the Ottoman Empire and the lack of cohesion among Arabs after the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the advent of French and British colonialism. The very notion of Arab nationalism was invented by Bedouin Arabs during WWI. That notion is irrelevant to the animosity between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs. Viorst shortchanges the power of Islam to cross cultural boundaries and the role of Egypt in the Islamic resurgence. Both Samuel Huntington and V.S. Naipaul make a good case that Islam trumps and even obliterates culture. Which concept is more useful to an analysis of the historical coincidence of events in Iran, Afghanistan, Morocco, Algeria, the Balkans, Kashmir, and Chechnya, as well as the Middle East? The Islamic resurgence or Arab nationalism?

2. Viorst overstates his indictment of the West. The West has plenty to answer for, but it gets blamed for too much (the United States, in particular, compared to France and Britain). The power of the West to do good in the Middle East is belittled, and the power of the West to do evil is exaggerated. The West surely exploited the weakness of the Middle East, but that can't possibly be the entire explanation of Middle Eastern culture and history. Why do the West and the Middle East differ so much, and why is the latter weak in comparison to the former, to begin with? Viorst asserts that the West should leave the Middle East alone, and then he virtually defines the Middle East by reference to the West. The United States, in particular, gets blamed for doing anything whatsoever in the area, but it gets equal blame for doing nothing. Even when it does the "right" thing (Woodrow Wilson's promotion of democracy in the region, opposition to France and Britain in 1956), it gets faulted for reasons I don't pretend to understand. How is it useful, for anyone who doesn't have an axe to grind, to blame the deficiencies (to put it politely) of Nasser and his successors, Arafat, the Ba'ath Party in Syria and Iraq, and the Jordanian monarchy on the West?

Also, the polemics against Bush, even if you agree with them, don't really belong in an historical overview, and obviously call into question Viorst's bona fides. For example: "Is President Bush man enough to defer to the Arabs and allow them such a triumph in Iraq?" The clash between Islam and the West existed long before George Bush and will continue long after him.

I recommend two vastly better books: The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington and The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright.