The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: senior princes, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. While a glut of recent books on the Middle East have addressed Western perspectives on the region, this excellent book emphasizes questions Arabs ask themselves. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iranian revolution serve as backdrops, but veteran Mideast correspondent MacFarquhar (The Sand Café) focuses primarily on Arab nations and a grab bag of Saudi teachers, Moroccan dissidents broken by their years in prison, individuals searching for political freedom and Muslims struggling to sustain their faith in the face of violence from within and without. MacFarquhar's approach is well-rounded; he includes less palatable facts (those who argue that the word [jihad] contains no implication of violence are glossing over the fact that for some zealots, jihad means only one thing) and facts often overlooked (when most Arabs talk about reform, they usually mean curbing rampant corruption). If America is to overcome Arabs' deep distrust, MacFarquhar suggests, it must abandon policies too often based on expediency and listen, not to its own domestic politics but to the concerns of the people in [Arabs'] own countries. (May)
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From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Wendell Steavenson Neil MacFarquhar is that rare and wonderful thing, a Middle East correspondent who not only speaks Arabic but also grew up in the region. This experience infuses his book -- the product of 20 years of reporting -- with the wit, insight and eye-rolling exasperation of a near-native. MacFarquhar maintains that "the constant, bloody upheaval that captures most attention has become the barrier limiting our perspective on the Middle East" and eschews the usual descriptions of violence and gore. Instead he offers a broad cultural and personal investigation into the region. The result is an intelligent and fascinating romp full of anecdotes, acid asides and conversations with everyone from dissidents to diplomats and liberal religious sheikhs, and even a Kuwaiti woman with a sex-advice column. Each chapter, set in a different country, illustrates a different facet of Middle East life: dictatorship, secret police, Islamic precept, the influence of Arabic satellite TV channels, reform, dissidence. Mercifully, the welter of facts and analysis which bogs down so many surveys of the contemporary Middle East is here kept brief and succinct. It's a testament to MacFarquhar's deep background knowledge and the lightness of his touch that complex issues like the relationship between the royal family and the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia, the Sunni-Shiite divide in Bahraini politics, the myriad ways Islam can be interpreted and the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon are distilled into clear exposition without ever being oversimplified or dumbed down. But MacFarquhar has written much more than just a very good primer to the region. His real achievement is to give the reader a window into the private debates among the intelligentsia and political classes of the Middle East. He uses the lyrics of the beloved Lebanese singer Fairuz to examine history and nostalgia from Beirut to Cairo and a bestselling cookbook as a springboard for a discussion about tradition and modernity. He addresses issues of censorship while watching a (very mildly) irreverent Saudi TV serial. Yet from Bahrain to Morocco, through Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Syria, Yemen and Egypt, the story remains depressingly the same: stymied reform and rulers governing, in essence, by proclamation without due process of law, relying on fear and their secret police. Despite the recent changes in leadership in many of the region's countries, MacFarquhar shows, the new rulers have proved only marginally less brutal than their predecessors. Despite this bleak picture, MacFarquhar, now the United Nations bureau chief at the New York Times, is a fun guide. Whether poking fun at the "gothic circus" of Libya under Moammar Gaddafi or noting the difficulties of protecting your photographer from plainclothes policemen during a demonstration, he maintains a wry affection for the region. The title, for example, is a dig at Hezbollah's attempts to spin the media by sending birthday wishes to foreign correspondents. Avoiding pronouncements, he relies instead on the people he meets to provide the bulk of the commentary. Through them, he tries to shed light on why reform in Arab countries and societies has been thwarted. "How can you be a democrat and follow a fatwa?" asks one Kuwaiti liberal politician. The king "has all the power," a former political prisoner complains to him in Morocco, "how can there be reform if it does not come from him?" MacFarquhar concludes by criticizing American foreign policy, which he says has too long propped up dictators for reasons of realpolitik and ignored the ordinary people of the Middle East: "Washington was always on the side of the rulers," he writes. Policy makers, he suggests, should put less stress on American interests and more on the injustices suffered by people who live without the protection of due process and the rule of law. He finds a glimmer of hope in a popular (though banned) Saudi novel in which a girl looks to the struggle of Martin Luther King Jr. for inspiration. Such stories are heartening, but I couldn't help thinking that ultimately the Middle East needs its own role models and its own solutions to the real problems of poverty and discrimination, instead of those borrowed from the West.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 359 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (April 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586486357
• ISBN-13: 978-1586486358
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,791 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mideast Hand, May 1, 2009

By	Peter Waldman "Mideast Hand" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Neil MacFarquhar has gone where few Americans have dared to go--to the Arab and Islamic Middle East with an open mind. Maybe it's because he grew up in Libya, the son of an American oil engineer. Maybe it's because, as the New York Times Middle East Correspondent for many years, he's professionally wired for objectivity. Maybe it's because he's just a damn good storyteller, with a keen eye for detail and nuance. Whatever, MacFarquhar has written a witty and incisive survey of life in the contemporary Middle East, with deep dives into the worlds of Kuwaiti sex therapists, Lebanese hashish farmers, survivors of Moroccan political prisons and much more. He doesn't ignore the angry radicalism, the omnipresent secret police, the draconian limits on speech and assembly he finds. In fact he describes despicable acts in grim detail, unsparing in his condemnation. But what makes this book so important is that MacFarquhar manages to uncover a wide subculture of committed reformers from Cairo to Tehran. He leaves readers with a convincing case--foreshadowing Pres. Obama's inauguration speech--that the U.S. must hold out an open hand of support for all those struggling for decency in this all-too-often indecent part of the world.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read This Book Now, June 5, 2009

By	A. E. Balcer (New York, New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Neil MacFarquhar has done something very rare here: he has given us a fresh view on the Middle East that is at once entertaining, based on long personal experience AND well-researched. That a book with "Hizbollah" in the title can make you laugh is an achievement in itself--but this book will make you reassess your views on what is going on in this key part of the world without making you feel that you are being beaten up or forced to take "sides" in a war that never ends. Rather, your eyes will be opened as to how the world is viewed from the Middle East.

The excellent reviews the book has received will tell you about the wonderful character sketches he draws from across the region. What I can tell you is that this is the book I am buying to give to my friends. After Obama's speech in Cairo, reading this book is a must...and a treat.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed this one!, June 9, 2009

By	Jill Raywood (holland, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is really good for those who want a more unbiased & in depth view into the Middle East & North Africa. The author's experience in the region is quite evident in this tome. In the USA we have been conditioned to demonize the Middle East & characterize the region as turbulent & troublesome. The author is able to dispel those erroneous ideas and put a more human face on many of the valiant & brave souls in the region who do yearn for a more open, democratic government & way of life. Neil's experience as a newspaper reporter is evident in the way the book is written. It is clear & well constructed, not obtuse or text book dull. Great read!