Can literature widden the scope of our understanding of the nations of the Middle East away from Orientalism and ISIS to include the struggle of a middle class that continues to fight for reform in the region?
A translated excerpt from a memoir describing Iraq during the Gulf War and the misery and uncertainty plaguing those living in war zones.
A personal reassessment of the exodus of Jewish Iraqis to Israel through published histories, biographies, and novels.
Who—in this shamelessly visual age—would bother to read an analysis of the Muslim world’s modern history when ISIS is swamping social media with ghastly short videos whose impact on viewers is often irrevocable? What can my apologetic writings change if the Pandora’s Box of fear has been opened and is indiscriminately spreading poison?
“Translation looks two ways.
As the underlying structures of the war in Iraq become publicly visible, its basic logics emerge: a systematic campaign of disinformation waged at home and abroad, a propaganda machine of unparalleled sophistication, and a cultivated manipulation of fear in the interests of justifying and perpetuating an increasingly questionable war on terror.
