Dreams and Shadows
Dreams and Shadows: The future of the Middle East by Robin Wright

New York Times Book Review
Patrick Cockburn
March 3, 2008

It is one of the chief values of Dreams and Shadows, Robin Wright’s fluent and intelligent book about the future of the Middle East, that it is not solely concerned with the war in Iraq and its consequences. In describing the struggles of
people from Morocco to Iran to reform or replace existing regimes she draws on three decades of experience in covering the region for The Washington Post and
other newspapers....

Wright has long been one of the best-informed American journalists covering the Middle East, and her reputation is
borne out here. She is refreshingly skeptical of conventional wisdom about what is happening in the region, and her book will be essential reading for anybody who wants to know where it is heading. (Pdf of the review 214k)

New York Review of Books
Max Rodenbeck
May 15, 2008

If there is such a thing as a pinnacle in the landscape of international journalism, Robin Wright surely stands atop it. The Washington Post's chief diplomatic correspondent has braved thirty-five years of wars, crises, and famines, not to mention bureaucratic sniping in Washington, to illuminate the world's darker interstices. She has scored many scoops, captured a stack of awards, authored a half-dozen books, and accumulated a star-studded Rolodex that must be the envy of every hack within the Beltway...And when she sets her sights on a topic as weighty as the future of the Middle East, that most tiresomely troubling corner of the globe, it should be time for armchair analysts to take cover and policymakers to listen.

Wright's latest book, Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East delivers plenty of what one would expect from so experienced an observer. Roaming through Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Palestine, she recounts her impressions with wisdom, clarity, and a sharp critical eye.

Publishers Weekly
3/17/2008

Despite having lost several of her friends in the 1983 US Embassy bombing in Beirut, Wright (The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran) is guardedly optimistic for the Middle East's future: "a generation [after the Beirut bombing], Islamic extremism is no longer the most important, interesting, or dynamic force in the Middle East." Her observations, of a "budding culture of change"-even, perhaps, a "renaissance"-are bolstered by platinum credentials; for more than 30 years, Wright has been covering the region for major American publications including The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly and Foreign Affairs. She illuminates her assessment with stories of the new "voices in the region" pushing for a more open, democratic society: activists, reformers, political leaders and ordinary citizens (like an Egyptian "middle-aged soccer mom" so outraged to learn of female government agents beating female demonstrators that she became an activist). Wright also tackles the big targets; though a staunch supporter of Israel, Wright sees the potential for reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, in an effort to maintain democracy in Palestine, as a positive harbinger of change for the entire region. Further interviews, anecdotes, a crystalline sense of the area's multifarious history and a clear message-practical, progressive change requires "sorting out the past or at least trying to move beyond it"-make this a vital, compelling and surprisingly uplifting piece of reporting.

Boston Globe
Claude Marx
February 28, 2008

Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, is a thought-provoking and eminently readable look at the current and future generation of leaders in that important, politically troubled region… Wright's skills at old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting are very much in evidence as she mostly lets her sources speak for themselves… This kind of reporting-based analysis makes "Dreams and Shadows" a valuable addition to the bookshelf of those who want to get their arms around the political and religious conflicts that roil the Middle East. (Read the whole review.)

The Washington Post
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
March 16, 2008

Absorbing...A compelling narrative... Robin Wright's book ought to teach our rulers a thing or two, but they often seem quite unteachable. (Read the whole review.)

The New York Times
Ethan Bronner
February 28, 2008

Few American journalists are as familiar with the Middle East as Robin Wright. Having first visited Iran in 1973, lived in Beirut in the 1980s and chronicled the region on repeated trips since then, she has a deep mix of on-the-ground knowledge, awareness of the historical background and step-back policy perspective.... Having interviewed and befriended some enormously brave people there who have been pushing for liberty and democracy, Ms. Wright decided a few years ago that enough signs of progress were emerging to merit a deeper look at the phenomenon…There is much to be gained from joining her on her trip. (Read the whole review.)

The New York Sun
Claire Berlinski
March 21, 2008

This is a remarkable collection of subjects, notable particularly for their extraordinary physical courage. Ms. Wright inadvertently conveys an admirable (or perhaps insane) sangfroid in her account of traipsing alone through the slums of Beirut to see what the Hezbollah gunmen have to say for themselves. (Read the whole review.)

Christian Science Monitor
Carol Huang
February 26, 2008

Wright's journalistic skills are on full display in these 400-plus pages. Absorbing accounts of brave activists are interwoven with relevant context and history in clear, vivid language. These elements make the book an engaging read, and a useful one for people who want to better understand this important part of the world. The region's energetic reformists won't necessarily succeed, Wright warns. "A trend struggling for decades to take root has finally begun - and, I stress, only begun - to have impact.... When I started out on this latest journey, the region was full of dreams. As I finished it, serious shadows loomed in many places." These shadows are what usually dominate Western headlines: insurgents killing civilians in Iraq, Egypt's leaders manipulating election laws to stay in power, the Syrian regime jailing dissidents indefinitely. By drawing attention instead to the people who no longer want these forces to dominate their country, Wright provides a refreshingly different account of the region - even though hers is a cautious optimism at best. (Read the whole review here.)

Booklist
Vanessa Bush

Readers interested in a broader perspective on conflict in the Middle East will appreciate Wright's absorbing, insightful book.

Kirkus Reviews
December 15, 2007

An astute assessment of the state of the Middle East, by a longtime reporter and observer of the scene.

Washington Post foreign-policy correspondent Wright brings some good tidings from the region: “In the early twenty-first century,” she writes, “a budding culture of change is...imaginatively challenging the status quo—and even the extremists.” Some members of this culture—they've been called the “pyjamahedeen”—blog, write letters to the editor, protest on the street; others exercise subtle resistance, as with the Iranian women who wear their headscarves “precariously at the crown of the head to expose as much of a beautifully coifed hairdo as possible without falling off.” Whatever their form of protest, these men and women face much danger as ignorers of fatwas and potential heretics. Wright travels widely across the region to seek out these agents of change, though her profiles often concern those whom they are fighting. One militant, for instance, set the tone of decrying the supposed licentiousness of Western women half a century ago—his acolytes today press the charge, even as their female compatriots flock to see Hollywood movies and dress in Western fashions. That does not dissuade the true believers. As Wright notes, they're still busily seeking to transcend the Arabic world with an Islamic superstate, a caliphate that will rule the whole of humankind—once they settle such pesky problems as whether Sunni or Shia Islam is to prevail, drive America out of Iraq and force women to don the veil. Despite them, and despite the overwhelming view that America will be defeated in Iraq, there is even better news. Wright reports that “the majority of the people in the Middle East still [want] the kind of political change that has swept the rest of the world over the past quarter century.”

A fine set of dispatches from the front.

San Francisco Chronicle
March 27, 2008

(Wright's) reporting does what good reporting should do: It describes, interpreting only where necessary, stopping short of heavy-handed opinion.

Tampabay.com
Rayyan al-Shawaf
April 6, 2008

Arguably America's foremost Middle East journalist, Washington Post correspondent Robin Wright returns with an ambitious investigation of change in the world's most volatile region. Overall, Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East is a resounding success. The introduction - in which Wright deftly encapsulates both the achievements of reformists and the challenges that remain - is worth the price of the book. This book brims with rousing stories of dedicated individuals struggling against overwhelming odds. (Read the whole review.)

 

 

"Fascinating reading for anyone who likes true human drama. Only Wright could have written Dreams and Shadows because only Wright has traveled so widely, interviewed such diverse leaders, and brought so much wisdom to analyzing the region’s many-sided puzzles. This volume, full of mesmerizing detail and large truths, sets a new standard for scholarship on the modern Middle East."
—Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

"At a critical time, Dreams and Shadows offers a panoramic perspective on the prospects of change in the Middle East. Robin Wright brings to life an array of forces, voices and ideas--both inspiring and troubling--in an engaging political travelogue. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the region's rich past, a sense of its current stirrings, and a view into what may lie ahead." --Former National Security Adviser Gen. Brent Scowcroft

"Few Middle East observers have a keener eye or greater passion for the region than Robin Wright, and she is a talented trend-spotter. Two decades ago her Sacred Rage foreshadowed the surging appeal of militant Islam and the grim challenge it posed to the West. With Dreams and Shadows she illuminates, in riveting fashion, the most hopeful political personalities and developments in what many mistakenly see as the uninterrupted bleakness of the Middle East. Her insights -- drawn from vast regional experience, a remarkable array of Middle Eastern contacts, and an unblinking sense of realism -- are cause for cautious optimism." --Chairman of House Foreign Relations Committee Tom Lantos

"Drawing on decades of travel and reporting from the region, Wright reveals the undercurrents of the latest fundamental searching in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon, as well as the labyrinthine politics of Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Iran, and others. With impressive access to the region's political and opinion leaders, Wright brings us to the ideological battle lines of the new Middle East, including promising openings and awakenings too often followed by disappointment and repression. She describes autocrats, democrats, and theocrats skirmishing in increasingly unpredictable ways." --Senator Dick Lugar, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

"A compelling account of a turbulent region whose future is inescapably bound to our own. Anyone who wants to understand the seismic forces at work in this critical arena would be well advised to carefully read Dreams and Shadows." --Sen. Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

"Very rarely is our world so faithfully captured in print as it is here. The Middle East in recent decades has only become more violent and complex. Robin Wright’s insights and analyses are critical for any sensible understanding of what is happening. Her greatest contribution is to grasp the deep currents of hope, humanity and dignity that anchor the often turbulent societies of the region. This book is essential reading."
-- Rami G. Khouri, Editor-at-large, The Daily Star of Lebanon

"Written in the best style of a veteran traveler and expert, Dreams and Shadows tells the story of the world's most volatile area, going through its most profound changes after decades of stagnation. Robin's journey among reformers and reactionaries, clerics and democracy advocates, is a necessary reference to anyone interested in understanding the Middle East's undercurrents - and it taught me quite a lot about our neighborhood." --Aluf Benn, diplomatic editor of the Israeli daily Haaretz

"A lucid and comprehensive look at tumultuous events that have shaped the Middle East and will continue to chart its future. Robin Wright provides a rich tapestry of information and insight that is enjoyable to read and will also go a long way in providing understanding of the Middle East and the challenges that it presents U.S. foreign policy."
--Vali Nasr, author of
The Shia Revival

"Robin Wright brings her enormous knowledge of the Middle East, gained over years of reporting, to narrate how the region is undergoing enormous social change brought on by technology and globalization, and why, despite Iraq, democracy remains on the region's agenda.”
--Francis Fukuyama, author of
America at the Crossroads

"The best of all possible worlds: An old hand guides us through the changes in post-9/11 Middle East, and is able to sort out in a sober, smart way what is really going on." --Thomas E. Ricks, author FIASCO: The American Military Adventure in Iraq

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