Wright - Rage and rebellion across the Islamic world

Praise for Rock the Casbah

2012 Winner of the Overseas Press Club award for best book on international affairs

The New York Times Book Review, Editors Pick (Sept. 18, 2011)

Chicago Tribune, Editors Choice (Sept. 10, 2011)

The Washington Post, 50 notable works of nonfiction

Foreign Policy Association: Top Five Foreign Policy Books of 2011

The Week, Book of the Week mention (August 19, 2011)

The Daily Beast, This Weeks Hot Reads (August 15, 2011)

New York Magazine s and The Huffington Post s most anticipated summer books lists

Extremely prescient... Wright writes with authority, drawing on her decades of experience... and in these pages she uses her intimate knowledge of the region to look at how much-covered recent events... are related, and to situate them within a larger historical and political context.

Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Book Review

[Wright] provides invaluable context for what she rightly terms the epic convulsion across the Islamic world by listening to voices we dont usually hear.... Anyone seeking deeper understanding of the Arab Spring needs to read Wrights formidably well-informed book.

Wrights in-depth knowledge of those [Islamic] societies cultures and histories informs every page of Rock the Casbah .

[A] richly textured portrait of ancient cultures in the throes of wrenching but liberating transformation...

Los Angeles Times

Rock the Casbah confirms Wrights status as one of our best storytellers.

Christian Science Monitor

[Wright] deftly escorts her readers around the [Muslim world]. She introduces significant, albeit lesser-known, figures... and breathes life into the stories that have made the news over the past couple of years.

The Washington Post

Her book serves as a corrective. Commentators have spent a decade bewailing the absence of tolerant, peace-loving Muslims ready to stand up and be counted. But they were there all along, struggling to be heard. Now Islams assorted bloggers, rappers, feminists, and reformers have found in Ms. Wright, a former Washington Post journalist, a worthy chronicler. They are so lively and likeable it seems churlish to suggest that she overrates their importance.

The Economist

Wright is one of the most capable observers of the Middle East.... her chronicles of counter-jihad, antimilitancy, and womens mobilization are a timely contribution.

The Huffington Post

Wrights book will be invaluable to anyone who wants to understand how reform is taking hold in parts of the Islamic world... Wright goes beyond the scope of most books about the Islamic world, describing how cultural change is taking hold... Rock the Casbah provides fascinating insights about how grassroots change comes about.

Dallas Morning News

A colourful recap of the past years news... a must-read.

Globe and Mail (Canada)

Rivetingly written... Wright is one of the most knowledgeable journalists about the Islamic world.... highly instructive.

Haaretz.com

An astute observer and no Pollyanna, Wright delivers a jolt in her conclusion...

Wright delivers the stirring news that jihadism is fading, and Arab nations are finally entering the modern world... [ Rock the Casbah ] paints a vivid portrait of dramatic changes in the Islamic world that may or may not end well.

Kirkus Reviews

Wright is an expert on the subject, and this book is an accessible and riveting account for readers looking to learn more about the post-9/11 Islamic world.

Publishers Weekly

Finally, a look to the future, from a foreign correspondent who has witnessed the rebellion of the post-9/11 Middle East and the danger of extremism in all its forms.

Chicago Tribune, 9/11 book round-up

I loved Robin Wrights new book, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World.... The book couldnt be more timely given current events. It is a smart, provocative, and compelling read, and I recommend it for anyone who is interested in what happened across the countries of the Arab Spring, and... what might happen in the future across the complex and diverse Islamic world.... Her examination of the role of culture reflecting the desire for political and social change is remarkable.... Its a book that bears reading at least once and can help all of us understand the monumental changes weve witnessed in the last year and are sure to witness in the months and years to come.

Foreign Policy Blogs Network

Wright, a well-traveled expert on the Middle East, gives much-needed context for the epic convulsion across the Islamic world. This is lively writing, portraying the inspiring rise of a vague yet determined counter-jihad, more interested in personal liberties, including for women, than in fighting infidels and foreign devils.

Creative Loafing (Charlotte), Eight Favorite Books of 2011

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For friends who have tolerated my lifelong writing deadlines, for colleagues who have generously guided me, and especially for the next generationAlexandra Hart Brown, Cameron Platter, and Nonhlanhla Robin Sithole

We are no longer afraid.

E GYPTIAN PROTESTER

T he most important story of the early twenty-first century is the epic convulsion across the Islamic world. Rage against geriatric autocrats is only one part of it. Most of the regionstretching across three continents, from Morocco on the Atlantic to Indonesia on the Pacificis also actively rebelling against radical ideologies. Muslim societies are now moving beyond jihadism, not only because of the dramatic death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011.

I sometimes feel as if Ive finally reached the climaxalthough not the endof an epic book that has taken four decades to read. Since 1973, Ive traveled most of the regions fifty-seven countries and covered its wars, military coups, revolutions, and terrorism spectaculars. I witnessed extremisms early outbursts, from Irans 1979 revolution to the 1983 suicide bombing that killed 241 American peacekeepers in Lebanon. In the 1990s, as the trend took wider root, I drove the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan during the Talibans rule. In Pakistan, I met members of the murderous Army of the Righteous at their training camp. Over four decades, Ive interviewed many militant ideologues, from Hamas leaders in Syria and Gaza to the Hezbollah chief in Lebanon and Saudi fighters who fought with bin Laden at Tora Bora.

Its been one of the most tumultuous times since Islam was founded in the seventh century. But after a decade defined largely by the 9/11 attacks, the region is moving toward a different denouement. Two dynamic twists are changing the plotline.

First, from mighty Egypt to Islamic Iran, tiny Tunisia to quirky Libya, new players are shattering the old order. Uprisings in the Middle Eastbreathtaking in scope and speed, if unnerving in their uncertain futuresrepresent the greatest wave of empowerment worldwide in the early twenty-first century.

I was one of the sleeping majority, said an excited Egyptian protester, as he made his way to Cairos Liberation Square during the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak. But now Ive woken up.