"Dreams and Shadows" by Robin Wright

"On a warm spring day in April 1983, I stood across from what had been the United States Embassy in Beirut and watched as rescuers picked through tons of mangled steel and concrete littered with glass shards. Tenderly, emergency crews put salvaged bits of bodies in small blue plastic bags. Forensic experts later matched up the pieces so they could be buried together. More than sixty Americans were killed in that lunchtime bombing. Some of the dead had been my friends."

In this opening paragraph of her book, Wright makes her credentials clear. She has done her time as a field reporter in the turbulent Middle East, covering dozens of wars, interviewing political leaders and outlaws, and producing some of the most important stories on the region. Her book is largely a collection of interviews and stories that she has collected over the last three decades as a field reporter, with a smattering of analysis on the people, movements, and ideologies which are shaping the region. Wright divides the book by countries, allotting a chapter to the Palestinians, Morocco, Iraq and the United States, and two chapters to Iran, Egypt and Lebanon. In each chapter, she provides brief to thorough backgrounds on the history of the country, the current political state, and personal interviews with activists and revolutionaries who are pushing for political and social change.

As a student of Middle East history, I didn't learn many political facts from this book; but I received an education nonetheless. Wright's anecdotes and interviews with notorious revolutionaries, wily politicians and brave dissidents are gripping; and shed light on the political dynamics and division which currently rule the Middle East.

Her anecdotes and on Mahmoud Ahmedinejad reveal a country bumpkin thrust into the corridors of power. Her cold analysis of his half-witted domestic policies--terrifying to pragmatic Iranian clerics and American politicians alike--make you realize that this guy is more of a Dubya than he is Cheney, more of a clueless marionette than a malicious manipulator.

Her interviews with Hassan Nasrallah reveal a a practical politician, who may use fiery rhetoric to whip up popular support, but ultimately possesses an even temper, sharp intellect, and the willingness to strike a deal when the stakes are high enough.

If understanding politics is understanding people, than Wright's book is a must-read for both the laymen reader and the Middle East scholar. While I caught a few historical blips (referring to Iran and Israel as the two pillars of U.S. Foreign Policy, it was actually Iran and Saudi Arabia) I would have to say that Wright hit her mark, producing a fine primer on Middle Eastern politics defined by persistent authoritarians and determined dissenters.

For an alternative review of "Dreams and Shadows" check out this New York Times Review