The Lost World Of Arab Modernism

A leading progressive from the Middle East laments the decline of modernism in the region.The Middle East was once home to a rich variety of modernist Arab political movements, groups that sought a secular, democratic future for the region. The best known of these was the nationalist movement led by Egypt`s Gamal Abdel Nasser. But four decades after Nasser`s fall from power, Middle East politics are a hollow shell in which autocratic oil regimes battle fundamentalists. What went wrong?Drawing on a lifetime of reporting on the region, Lebanese journalist Saad Mehio uncovers the critical role played by America and the West in contributing to the demise of these movements, and notes the way that political Islam has been used not only by the West, but also by the Arab world and by a variety of local despots.Mehio`s rich history is a crucial and compelling corrective to Western amnesia about its responsibility for the Middle East, and a lucid argument that wars against the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Saddam Hussein will ensure not American security but only more bin Ladens. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.