Dreams and Shadows, Robin Wright
Dreams and Shadows, Robin Wright
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Dreams and Shadows
The Future of the Middle East

Author: Robin Wright

Narrator: Laural Merlington

Unabridged: 17 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/15/2008


Synopsis

Robin Wright first landed in the Middle East on October 6, 1973, the day the fourth Middle East war erupted. She has covered every country and most major crises in the region since then, through to the rise of al Qaeda and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. For all the drama of the past, however, the region's most decisive traumas are unfolding today as the Middle East struggles to deal with trends that have already reshaped the rest of the world. And for all the darkness, there is also hope. Some of the emerging trends give cause for greater optimism about the future of the Middle East than at any time since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948.

Dreams and Shadows is an extraordinary tour de horizon of the new Middle East, with on-the-ground reportage of the ideas and movements driving change across the region—and the obstacles they confront. Through the powerful storytelling for which the author is famous, Dreams and Shadows ties together the players and events in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, the Gulf states, and the Palestinian territories into a coherent vision of what lies ahead.

A marvelous field report from the center of the storm, the book is animated by the characters whose stories give the region's transformation its human immediacy and urgency. It is also rich with the history that brought us to this point. It is a masterpiece of the reporter's art and a work of profound and enduring insight.

At the end, Wright offers perspective on the United States' most ambitious and costly foreign policy initiative since the rebuilding of Europe after World War II. The stakes are far greater than winning the war on terrorism, stabilizing Iraq, or achieving a lasting Arab-Israeli peace. Transforming the greater Middle East is the last great political challenge of the modern era. Yet the early burst of activity in a region long stagnant is already becoming one of the first grand surprises of the twenty-first century.

About Robin Wright

A global affairs correspondent for more than three decades, Robin Wright has reported from more than 130 countries on six continents, working for the Los Angeles Times, the Sunday Times of London, CBS News, the Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. She also has been a commentator for news programs on the major U.S. television networks and been published widely in American magazines like the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. In 2003, she became a regular panelist on the NBC program Meet the Press.

Her reporting has earned many awards, including the United Nations Gold Medal for international reporting in 2003 and the 2001 Wintal Prize for most distinguished diplomatic reporting. Her books include The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran; Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam; In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade; and Flashpoints: Promise and Peril in a New World, coauthored with Doyle McManus.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian

For decades Robin Wright has worked in the Middle East as the best kind of reporter -- a messenger who really listens to people and conveys their perspectives straight. In this book she draws on a vast network of people who trust her to convey the real experience of Middle Easterners struggling for......more

Goodreads review by Trish

This book was published in 2008, and yet it foretells the Arab Spring of 2011 clearly. In the preface, Wright quotes a human rights activist: “The despots in the Arab world are on their last gasp,” he reflected. “Just like any last-ditch battles, they will do a lot of stupid things and leave a lot o......more

Goodreads review by Pragya

I started this book two years ago, back in 2014 when the renewed hostilities between Israel and Palestine had sparked my interest in Middle-Eastern history. And then, as it so often happens, life got in the way of books and I didn’t finish it. Having found it engaging, informative and well-researche......more

Goodreads review by Ismail

Robin Wright has always been my favorite reporter on Middle East affairs. The stories and accounts she has written in The Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker have consistently been impressive in quality and effortlessly impartial. Robin has a unique ability to leverage her vast network of resources......more