Black wave : Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the forty-year rivalry that unraveled culture, religion, and collective memory in the Middle East / Kim Ghattas.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2020Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First editionDescription: xvii, 377 pages : map ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781250131201
- 1250131200
- 9781250257666
- 1250257662
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 955.053 G411 | Available | 33111009586484 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020
"[A] sweeping and authoritative history" ( The New York Times Book Review ), Black Wave is an unprecedented and ambitious examination of how the modern Middle East unraveled and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979.
Kim Ghattas seamlessly weaves together history, geopolitics, and culture to deliver a gripping read of the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between between Saudi Arabia and Iran, born from the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution and fueled by American policy.
With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to Iran's fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS.
Ghattas introduces us to a riveting cast of characters whose lives were upended by the geopolitical drama over four decades: from the Pakistani television anchor who defied her country's dictator, to the Egyptian novelist thrown in jail for indecent writings all the way to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Black Wave is both an intimate and sweeping history of the region and will significantly alter perceptions of the Middle East.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
PART I. REVOLUTION -- Cassette Revolution -- Today Tehran, Tomorrow Jerusalem -- Bleeding Heart -- Darkness. PART II. COMPETITION -- I Killed the Pharaoh -- No Dupatta -- Kerbala in Beirut -- Shia Kafir -- Mecca is Mine -- Détente -- Black Wave -- Generation 9-11. Part III. WAR -- Cain and Abel -- Fracture -- Surrender -- Counter-Revolution -- Between ISIS and IRGC -- Achilles' Heel -- Murder on the Bosporus.
"The bestselling author of The Secretary tells the gripping story of the real roots of the Sunni-Shia conflict in Middle East in the 1979 Iran Revolution that changed the region forever"-- Provided by publisher.
Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. Ghattas weaves together history, geopolitics, and culture to show how the 1979 Iranian revolution-- fueled by American policy-- fed intolerance, suppressed cultural expression, and encouraged sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, leading to the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS. -- adapted from jacket