Being Arab

By Kassir, Samir & Ali, Tariq & Hobson, Will

Publishers Summary:
A passionate meditation on contemporary Arab identity.Being Arab is a brilliant exploration on what Samir Kassir describes as the "Arab malaise," the political and intellectual stagnation of the Arab world. In searching to understand how the region arrived at this point Kassir turns to the past, revisiting the Arab "golden age," the extraordinary nineteenth-century flowering of cultural expression that continued into the twentieth as, from Cairo to Baghdad and from Beirut to Casablanca, painters, poets, musicians, playwrights and novelists came together to create a new, living Arab culture. Investigating the huge impact of modernity on the region, and the accompanying shockwaves that turned society upside-down, Kassir suggests that the current crisis in Arab identity lies in the failure to come to terms with modernity, instead embracing false solutions such as pan-Arabism and Islamism. Being Arab is a clarion call, urging Arabs to confront their own history, to reject Western double standards and Islamism alike, and to take the future of the region into their own hands.

 Not Rated. Be the first to rate this product!

ISBN
978-1-84467-099-4
Publisher
Verso


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on November 1, 2006

Until his untimely death by a car bomb in Beirut on June 2, 2005, Kassir was one of Lebanon's best-known journalists and political commentators. His columns in the Lebanese dailyAn-Nahar were especially irksome to the Syrian authorities, who were the target of Kassir's trenchant commentaries on the state of affairs in Syrian-influenced Lebanon. This book is a long introspective essay that offers a devastating criticism of what t...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Become a Pro


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Add To My List

cover
by

This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Export


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Save List Search Query


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Follow Lists


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.