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dashtaisen's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I don’t read a lot of history, but I’m super glad I read “Sowing Crisis”. The book focuses on the US’s motivations in the Middle East after WWII, particularly during the Cold War. It ends with a discussion of George W. Bush’s catastrophic “war on terror”, but the analyses and insights are still important today.
One of the most important points is this: people often talk about current conflicts in the Middle East as if they are intractably complex, and thousands of years old. But their origins tend to be much more recent – in fact, we can often trace the conflicts back to decisions made by specific people and institutions during the 20th century. There might be a lot of factors involved, but they aren’t necessarily difficult to understand or evaluate.
One of the most important points is this: people often talk about current conflicts in the Middle East as if they are intractably complex, and thousands of years old. But their origins tend to be much more recent – in fact, we can often trace the conflicts back to decisions made by specific people and institutions during the 20th century. There might be a lot of factors involved, but they aren’t necessarily difficult to understand or evaluate.
doruga's review against another edition
5.0
Man o man Rashid knows his stuff. This book was published just after Bush introduced the "War on Terrorism", and it goes deep into how US and Soviet interference literally 'sowed crisis' in the Middle East. Not only that, but he also doesnt silence Middle Eastern people as just victims to imperialism, but shows the several instances of resistance and agency and terrible things that the people and governments of the Middle East did. There's no ultimate good person or country in this book - though there are several evil. Very good read and it was awesome that I got a chance to read this while having a class with him teaching. He's an incredible lecturer by the way, and I think you get that from this book too. Highly recommend for those interested in the Middle East during the cold war and what it means for the country today. Even though this was published in 2009 and A LOT of shit has happened and changed since then, even apart from the so-called Arab Spring of 2012, its still very current and a fantastic source of info. He's very opinionated in the book but he bases those opinions on events and facts, and is very clear when he is making a claim that is his opinion only. This is one way in which this is way better than say Gelvin's book for me, where Gelvin tries to sneak in his opinions as fact without making sure you know what he is saying is his opinion. Anyway, great read overall really enjoyed it.
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