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Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid has written what may prove to be the definitive study of the Taliban. How could a group of radical Islamic fundamentalist students come to power, why have they remained, and what have they tried to do? What effect have they had on the region? We should remember that what happens today comes from what happened yesterday; the Taliban have filled the vacuum left in Afghanistan when Soviet troops withdrew, and the rest of the world, including the US, turned its back. Growing up in refugee camps during the war against the Soviets, feeling betrayed by the rest of the world, the Taliban turned to their interpretation of Islam. Who, what and how are questions we are all asking. Here are the beginnings of some answers.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Prior to the horrific events of the WTC demise, Peter Bergen held sway as a premier investigative journalist on terrorism. For four years, Bergen journeyed to the Middle East to interview the insiders closest to the mastermind of the American attack - Taliban members, CIA agents, even Osama Bin Laden’s own family. He traveled extensively to those areas where the infamous Jihadist network established their encampments. Here is Osama bin Laden, a man whom thousands revere as a holy “sheik,” and to whom they look to fulfill their radical ideology. This chilling book profiles the pernicious hate that is the foundation for bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorists, their subsequent plots and evil scheming, and offers a disturbing, yet penetrating look at the man, the network, and possible future events.

Reviewed by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch

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From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman, is an excellent history of the Middle East and a good reference to understand the "whys" of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Reviewed by Peter R., Publisher, The Charlotte Observer

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Sandra Mackey has covered the Middle East as a journalist for many years. Her understanding of the region serves her and her readers well in this book that does much to explain Iraq and Saddam Hussein to her Western audience. In well thought out and clear prose, Mackey recounts the history of Iraq from ancient times to the present. Modern Iraq is a patchwork of very different groups sewn together by the British from their colonial holdings in the area, and now held together in the fist of Hussein. Mackey does a great job of presenting a historical overview, and introducing those of us unfamiliar with them to the diverse peoples of Iraq.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Persepolis succeeds both as a memoir and as a graphic novel. Marjane Satrapi tells the story of her girlhood in Iran in the years before and after the 1979 revolution. Her family experiences persecution first from the Shah’s government and then from the Islamic revolutionary regime. She feels greatest loyalty to her parents and relatives – Marxists all – and resists Islamist indoctrination at school. Satrapi depicts the personal and political drama of her youth with flat, black and white images. Despite or because of its simplicity the artwork engages the reader’s emotions. Knowledge of the historical background of the Iranian revolution is not required to appreciate this book.

Reviewed by Tom C., Main Library

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Marjane Satrapi’s story continues in this sequel to her graphic novel/memoir Persepolis. Using the same minimal black and white art style as the first book, she first tells of her new life as an Iranian expatriate in Vienna. Facing the trials of adolescence far from family and friends proves difficult: after four years she manages to graduate, but is homesick and returns to Iran. Re-adjusting to life at home is nearly as difficult as life abroad had been. She finds friends and begins a new life, but by the end of the narrative she has again decided she must leave Iran. Like the first book, Persepolis 2 is an honest depiction of the struggles of growing up, full of rich observations about society. Since there is no introduction or summary of past events, it would be best to read Persepolis first.

Reviewed by Mark S., University City Regional

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Asne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist, was in Baghdad from January to April of 2003. This book deals with her experiences as a journalist covering the events leading up to, during, and immediately following the US-led invasion of the Iraqi capital. Dealing with the control imposed on journalists by the Baathist regime was maddening but makes for revealing reading. The most poignant, central, parts of the book, however, are those that discuss the lives of the Iraqi people and how they dealt with tyranny, the constant threat of war and then war’s realities. This is a wonderful book, beautifully written, that takes the reader behind the headlines for a look at life in Baghdad during a time of sheer chaos.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Yasmina Khadra paints a disturbingly realistic portrait of life in Kabul, Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. In a tale that weaves together the lives of two couples – one trying hard to steer clear of the religious madness, the other in which the husband works as a jailer – life in the midst of chaos and decay, the result of endless warfare and zealotry is made painfully real. The plight of women – the swallows of the titles – who are ghostly images hidden underneath their burkhas, the starving children roaming the streets, the violence of forced religious orthodoxy, the barbarity of public executions are all made plain for a purpose. This short novel, written by an Algerian in language beautiful in its poetry, packs a very powerful punch.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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The Kite Runner begins when Amir is a twelve-year-old boy in Afghanistan. Chronicling his life, his relationship with his larger than life father, his friendship with the boy he considers a servant, his activities and kite fighting takes the first half of the book. Amir is a quiet bookish boy, not very brave and not always kind. Amir and his father eventually come to live in the United States and Amir continues his education and he marries an Afghani woman. Then comes a phone call from an old friend asking him to come back to visit. He meets his old friend in Pakistan but must make the decision he had hoped to never have to make--to return to Kabul. The book is surprisingly easy to read, well written and touching.

Reviewed by Karen M., Morrison Regional

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The Bookseller of Kabul is not so much about one man’s dedication to preserving Afghanistan’s literature and culture across political regimes, as it is about those orbiting Sultan Khan, book merchant and clan patriarch. Sultan’s whims are law. His motivations are not the well-being of relatives, but only furthering his empire. Brothers and sons work long days in his bookstalls, receiving only food and clothing. Women live only to serve, but even they have their own vicious pecking order. Unmarried women are the lowest slaves, while wives with sons are more highly esteemed. Told by Asne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist who lived with this family in 2002, the reader can examine not only Islamic norms and customs, but also the ways of an ancient tribal society, lying in stark contrast to modern sensibilities.

Reviewed by Lydia T., Main Library

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To be a jarhead is to be one of the elite and proud Marines. Author Anthony Swofford was eighteen years old when he enlisted, and as a teenager was shipped off to the Gulf War. This insider's look at the world of war is not for the faint of heart. Not only does Swofford document his time during his enlistment, but also his life before and how his life was affected after the war. Swofford is a patriot and loyal to his fellow Marines, yet he is honest about his time served overseas. His narration is tainted by his love/hate relationship with the military. However, Swofford is a gifted narrator and his perspective of the grisly nature of war is a difficult, yet powerful read.

Reviewed by Angela C., ImaginOn

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It is in the belly of the green bird, according to Islamic legend, that martyrs are flown to heaven. There are plenty of martyrs in Iraq these days. Sunni fights Shia, Baathists fight to regain power lost when Saddam fell, and Shia struggles with Shia over the interpretation of Islam. They all fight Americans because occupation, any Muslim will tell you, is not liberation. Rosen, at considerable risk to his own life, has gone among these armed and extremely dangerous factions and reported back in detail and with candor hardly available anywhere in American media today. His exciting and beautifully articulated book, a non-fiction cliff-hanger if ever there was one, is essential to understanding what is happening in - and to - Iraq.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Long after the end of the Cold War, America has continued an unnecessary and anachronistic world strategy designed to win that war. The result has been blowback, a term minted by the CIA when it overthrew the legal government of Iran to install the Shah. The subsequent revolution and hostage crisis are the first of many examples of blowback, others include results of the original empowerment of the likes of Osama bin Laden and the arrogant disregard for local laws and customs that define US military installations around the world. Most unfortunate of all, perhaps, is the fact that most Americans know little to nothing about any of it – which explains the shock and dismay caused by events such as 9/11.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Surreal is one way to describe the Green Zone occupation government centered in Saddam’s former Baghdad palace following the American blitz that put the dictator on the run. Bremer’s Bubble would be another. This, according to Chandrasekaran, was where the neoconservative dream of a democratic Iraq was to be realized. The problem, as Chandrasekaran sees it, was that the great plan was to be implemented by inept political hacks – people who qualified by, among other things, having applied at the Heritage Foundation or having given the “right” answer to the question of Roe v. Wade. Bush loyalists to a man, with few frustrated exceptions, they made one bad move after another, and their stunning insensitivity to the ancient community surrounding them proved the profound arrogance that ignorance breeds. They also inadvertently insured, according to Chandrasekaran, that the Iraq mission truly was not -- and would not ever be -- accomplished.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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