Dining with alQaeda, Hugh Pope
Dining with alQaeda, Hugh Pope
List: $22.99 | Sale: $16.09
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Dining with al-Qaeda
Three Decades Exploring the Many Worlds of the Middle East

Author: Hugh Pope

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Unabridged: 16 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/31/2010


Synopsis

An Oxford-educated scholar of the Middle East and a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Hugh Pope lived and worked in two dozen countries throughout the region. Following in the footsteps of Sir Richard Burton and Lawrence of Arabia, Hugh Pope's explorations of the people, politics, religion, and culture of Islamic nations shows there is no such thing as a monolithic "Muslim World." His probing and often perilous journeys—at one point he is forced to quote Koranic verse to argue against his being murdered by a top al-Qaeda leader—provide an eye-opening look at diverse societies often misportrayed by superficial reporting and "why they hate us" politics.

With U.S. foreign policy under President Obama aiming to engage more constructively with Muslim nations, this lyrical and often poetic voyage is one of the truly important books of our times.

About Hugh Pope

Hugh Pope, currently based in Istanbul, serves as the Turkey/Cyprus project director for the International Crisis Group, a conflict-prevention organization. Previously, he was a foreign correspondent for twenty-five years, the last ten years of which he spent covering the broader Middle East for the Wall Street Journal. He has lectured widely on the Turkic world, including at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Pope is the author of Sons of the Conquerors, one of the Economist's Best Books of the Year, and Turkey Unveiled, a New York Times Notable Book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Saz

This book, written by Hugh Pope, is essentially a story/stories about his journey through much of the Middle East as a journalist. I kept that in mind when I checked the book out. Many times, my problem with books similar to this genre is that they tend to be very eurocentric but given the author's......more

Goodreads review by Vera

In Dining with Al Quaeda,Hugh Pope provides a must-read journalist’s memoir of 30 years of travel through many of the countries still on the front pages today. Much of what he writes seems incredibly timely today. Dining with Al-Qaeda came my way during the reporting of the death of Osama bin Laden.......more

Goodreads review by Nathan

I must admit that the more I read about this book the more unlikeable I found the author and his perspective.  The fact that the author could find it easy to be friendly with Arabs, including those involved in promoting terror, but had a hard time hanging around Catholic missionaries in South Sudan......more

Goodreads review by Peter

My Amazon review December 7, 2015: Lucky to survive Al-Qaeda..but ISIS? This book is a little dated having been written in 2010 but it is well worth the time and effort. It is slightly disjointed and more like a series of essays but this is a treasure trove of anecdotes, insight and first-hand analys......more

Goodreads review by Jenny

Comprehensive review of al-Qaeda and related issues, perfect for people who want an overview. If you are interested, I suggest reading this and then newer/more specialised books. Also, the book came with some interesting new insights. For example, it cast new light on a freedom fighter/human rights......more