cover image The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs to Know

The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs to Know

James L. Gelvin. Oxford Univ., $16.95 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-19-989177-1

Gelvin, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California at Los Angeles, has distilled a wide range of information about the revolutionary protests across the Middle East into a remarkably readable, informative, slim volume. Dedicating his work to the "tens of thousands of men, women, and children [who] have faced death on a daily basis to end the nightmare of oppression that all too many outside observers had written off as their destiny," Gelvin (The Modern Middle East: A History) employs a question-and-answer format that follows a logical progression, from "What is the Arab world?" to "When will be able to judge the significance of the Arab uprisings?" Short chapters cover the initial protests in Tunisia and Egypt, giving a clear account of the driving forces that led to the overthrow of those governments; the "weak states" of Yemen and Libya; as well as Algeria, Syria, and the monarchies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others. Of particular worth is Gelvin's ability to show how the protests are interlinked, yet also independent of each other. Brief forays into the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and the current state of al-Qaeda are also illuminating. While some may tire of Gelvin's straightforward writing style, the book's orderly presentation of facts makes this an excellent primer for the general reader. (Mar.)