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24 books with the same feel
Hide books by the same authorDescent into Chaos: The United States & the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan & Central Asia
Ahmed Rashid · 484 pages
The #1 New York Times bestselling author provides a shocking analysis of the crisis in Pakistan and the renewed radicalism threatening Afghanistan and the West.Ahmed Rashid is "Pakistan's best and bravest reporter" (Christopher Hitchens). His unique knowledge of this vast and complex region allows him a panoramic vision and nuance that no Western writer can emulate.His book Taliban first introduce
And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
Richard Engel · 241 pages
"Based on two decades of reporting, NBC's chief foreign correspondent's riveting story of the Middle East revolutions, the Arab Spring, war, and terrorism seen up-close--sometimes dangerously so. When he was just twenty-three, a recent graduate of Stanford University, Richard Engel set off to Cairo with $2,000 and dreams of being a reporter. Shortly thereafter he was working freelance for Arab new
Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia
Robert Lacey · 462 pages
What happened in the Middle East's oil-rich powerhouse— while we weren't looking Saudi Arabia is a country defined by paradox. It is a modern state driven by contemporary technology and possessed of vast oil deposits, yet its powerful religious establishment would have its customs and practices rolled back a thousand years to match those of the prophet Muhammad. With Inside the Kingdom, journalist
The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda
Peter L. Bergen · 502 pages
Because They Hate
Brigitte Gabriel · 258 pages
The Rise of Islamic State
Patrick Cockburn · 172 pages
Out of the failures of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring and Syria, a new threat emerges. While Al Qaeda is weakened, new jihadi movements, especially ISIS, are starting to emerge. In military operations in June 2014 they were far more successful than Al Qaeda ever were, taking territory that reaches across borders and includes the city of Mosul. The reports of their military coordination and
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
Sam Harris · 348 pages
A startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world, this historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify atrocities, asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can not expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Most controversially, argues that moderate lip se
The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land
Aziz Abu Sarah, Maoz Inon · 240 pages
ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror
Michael Weiss, Hassan Hassan · 341 pages
"How did a group of religious fanatics, clad in black pajamas and armed to the teeth, manage to carve out a violent, fundamentalist "Islamic state" in wide swaths of Syria and Iraq? How did the widely celebrated revolution against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad descend into a movement led by a psychopathically violent band of jihadists dedicated to the destruction of America? And just who are these
Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel
Dan Ephron · 320 pages
"A riveting story about the murder that changed a nation: the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,"--Amazon.com.
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS
Joby Warrick · 384 pages
"In a thrilling dramatic narrative, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. When the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group of political prisoners in 1999, it little realized that among them was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist ma
Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made
Kristin Kobes Du Mez · 352 pages
Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam
Mark Bowden · 704 pages
The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism
Karen Armstrong · 442 pages
"In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong shows us how and why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish.". "We see the West in the sixteenth century beginning to create an entirely new kind of civilization, which brought in its wake change in every aspect of life - often painful and violent, even if liberating. Armstrong argues that one of the things that changed
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States · 567 pages
Final report of the National Commission on terrorist attacks upon the United States. The result of months of intensive investigations and inquiries by a specially appointed bipartisan panel. While the commission notes that future attacks are probably inevitable, a coordinated preventive effort along with a clear plan to respond with efficiency can offer Americans some hope in a post-9/11 world.
On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines - and Future
Karen Elliott House · 320 pages
With over thirty years of experience writing about Saudi Arabia, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former publisher of The Wall Street Journal Karen Elliott House has an unprecedented knowledge of life inside this shrouded kingdom. Through anecdotes, observation, analysis, and extensive interviews, she navigates the maze in which Saudi citizens find themselves trapped and reveals the sometimes c
god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Christopher Hitchens · 307 pages
In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloq
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam
Reza Aslan · 310 pages
Though it is the fastest growing religion in the world, Islam remains shrouded by ignorance and fear. What is the essence of this ancient faith? Is it a religion of peace or war? How does Allah differ from the God of Jews and Christians? Can an Islamic state be founded on democratic values such as pluralism and human rights? A writer and scholar of comparative religions, Reza Aslan has earned inte
Obama's Wars
Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward interviewed dozens of high-ranking government officials to compile this record of the discussions and thought processes behind President Obama's decision to increase the American presence in Afghanistan by 30,000 military in early 2010 and begin phase-out of American involvement in mid-2011. The author used his access well in documenting secret discussions and public pronouncements
Pakistan: A Hard Country
Anatol Lieven · 583 pages
Large, heavily populated, and strategically placed between Iran, Afghanistan and India, Pakistan is of vital importance to the world. This book looks at how Pakistan works, and rather than seeing it as a failed state, the author treats it as a viable and coherent state.
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Jeff Sharlet · 454 pages
A journalist's penetrating look at the untold story of Christian fundamentalism's most elite organization, a self-described invisible network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerfulThey are the Family—fundamentalism's avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the new chosen—congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators
The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future
Victor Cha · 552 pages
Looks at the nation of North Korea, its history, social conditions, and place in world politics as it stands today and where it is likely to end up in the future. In this book the author, pulls back the curtain on provocative, isolationist North Korea, providing our best look yet at its history and the rise of the Kim family dynasty and the obsessive personality cult that empowers them. He illumin
The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11
Ron Suskind · 384 pages
What is the guiding principle of the world's most powerful nation as it searches for enemies at home and abroad? Who is actually running U.S. foreign policy? The story begins on September 12, 2001, as America began to gather itself for a response to the unimaginable. Journalist Suskind tells us what actually occurred over the next three years, from the inside out, by tracing the steps of the key a