cover image Arab Spring, Libyan Winter

Arab Spring, Libyan Winter

Vijay Prashad. AK (www.akpress.org), $14.95 trade paper (200p) ISBN 978-1-84935-112-6

In one of five books he will release this year, Trinity College South Asian history professor Prashad (The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World) attempts to exhaustively show “how the Atlantic powers insinuated themselves into the Arab Spring, to attempt to create a Libyan Winter to the advantage of their national interests.” By dissecting the situations in Tunisia and Egypt, whose protestors chanted for “dignity, justice, and jobs,” and looking at the effect of the Libyan and Syrian conflict on the Arab revolutions, Prashad finds that Libya’s future remains an open question. He asks the reader to accept his views that too many factors influence democracy, and that, for Libyans, “democracy means housing, food, work, and health,” not just elections and rule of law. Though informative, Prashad’s ornate writing style may confuse readers. (Apr.)