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Hamas: From Resistance to Government by Caridi, Paola [Seven Stories Press, 2012] (Paperback) [Paperback]
From Resistance to Government by Caridi, Paola [Seven Stories Press, 2...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 5, 2024
Review
Comprehensive book that does an honest attempt at providing complex answers to who HAMAS is, how it has evolved and continues to evolve since the inception.
This is a journalistic masterpiece relating events, testimonies, and policies that help the reader form a realistic depiction of the messy and complex nature of the resistance movement.
The author shed light on intentions of all parties involved, internal AND especially external (e.g patrons, alliances, suppliers).
After reading this book you’ll have a more accurate understanding of the powers at play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Quote from Israeli historian and HAMAS expert Henry Siegman page 402:
“It is too easy to describe HAMAS simply as a terror organization. It is a religious nationalist movement that resorts to terrorism, as the Zionist movement did during its struggle for statehood, in the mistaken belief that it is the only way to end an oppressive occupation and bring about a Palestinian state.”
Comprehensive book that does an honest attempt at providing complex answers to who HAMAS is, how it has evolved and continues to evolve since the inception.
This is a journalistic masterpiece relating events, testimonies, and policies that help the reader form a realistic depiction of the messy and complex nature of the resistance movement.
The author shed light on intentions of all parties involved, internal AND especially external (e.g patrons, alliances, suppliers).
After reading this book you’ll have a more accurate understanding of the powers at play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Quote from Israeli historian and HAMAS expert Henry Siegman page 402:
“It is too easy to describe HAMAS simply as a terror organization. It is a religious nationalist movement that resorts to terrorism, as the Zionist movement did during its struggle for statehood, in the mistaken belief that it is the only way to end an oppressive occupation and bring about a Palestinian state.”
September 19, 2025
Best book on Hamas in the world actually sorry Baconi
October 23, 2024
Western propaganda
May 4, 2025
400+ pages of dense facts without basically any overarching organization or analysis. Covers up to 2021 but not 10/7.
Two huge issues with this book:
1. Virtually 0 substantive, thematic analysis. I have no idea what Caridi was trying to argue, if anything. Any analysis she made felt like one-off thoughts that seemed unconnected to any larger arguments or trends. Instead, she basically just presented hundreds of pages of straight fact.
2. Terribly written. Paola Caridi's first language isn't English and you can tell. I almost never DNF books but was tempted on many occasions here. I would have given up if I hadn't heard that Caridi was an authority on the subject. Even then, it took me three or four tries to get into this book. Seriously. I read dense books every day -- I thrive on them -- and even I had to force myself through it.
What's the author's bias? It's somewhat hard to say, because it was pretty objective/fact-based as opposed to argument-based. Part of me feels that Caridi is probably pretty sympathetic to Hamas, but I may feel that way because I'm influenced by the unspoken idea that any willingness to listen to the positions of a declared terrorist group should be interpreted as showing sympathy to that group. In theory, I consider that idea to be insane. In practice, IDK. At the very least, she's sympathetic enough to take Hamas's political position seriously. She doesn't seem to be supportive of violence against Israeli or Palestinian civilians, though she certainly doesn't focus on that.
WHAT SHOULD I READ INSTEAD? Great question. Click through for my reviews:
1. Most people should just read this instead:
Tareq Baconi's "Hamas Contained". Five stars. Appropriate for a general audience.
2. If you want more, read this next: Beverly Milton-Edwards's "Hamas". Incredibly strong four stars. My review gives some substantive coverage of its arguments.
3. If you're already a serious scholar of Hamas, and if you just want deep background factual support that shows exactly which ABC 2nd and 3rd tier Hamas personalities joined which ABC internal Hamas conferences and discussions, etc. etc., then read this instead:
Leila Seurat's "The Foreign Policy of Hamas". Three stars, with strong substantive arguments but terrible writing.
And if, like me, you're also actually that scholar, and if you've also already read Seurat's book too... then yes, FINE. You, and only you, should read this book.
Two huge issues with this book:
1. Virtually 0 substantive, thematic analysis. I have no idea what Caridi was trying to argue, if anything. Any analysis she made felt like one-off thoughts that seemed unconnected to any larger arguments or trends. Instead, she basically just presented hundreds of pages of straight fact.
2. Terribly written. Paola Caridi's first language isn't English and you can tell. I almost never DNF books but was tempted on many occasions here. I would have given up if I hadn't heard that Caridi was an authority on the subject. Even then, it took me three or four tries to get into this book. Seriously. I read dense books every day -- I thrive on them -- and even I had to force myself through it.
What's the author's bias? It's somewhat hard to say, because it was pretty objective/fact-based as opposed to argument-based. Part of me feels that Caridi is probably pretty sympathetic to Hamas, but I may feel that way because I'm influenced by the unspoken idea that any willingness to listen to the positions of a declared terrorist group should be interpreted as showing sympathy to that group. In theory, I consider that idea to be insane. In practice, IDK. At the very least, she's sympathetic enough to take Hamas's political position seriously. She doesn't seem to be supportive of violence against Israeli or Palestinian civilians, though she certainly doesn't focus on that.
WHAT SHOULD I READ INSTEAD? Great question. Click through for my reviews:
1. Most people should just read this instead:
Tareq Baconi's "Hamas Contained". Five stars. Appropriate for a general audience.
2. If you want more, read this next: Beverly Milton-Edwards's "Hamas". Incredibly strong four stars. My review gives some substantive coverage of its arguments.
3. If you're already a serious scholar of Hamas, and if you just want deep background factual support that shows exactly which ABC 2nd and 3rd tier Hamas personalities joined which ABC internal Hamas conferences and discussions, etc. etc., then read this instead:
Leila Seurat's "The Foreign Policy of Hamas". Three stars, with strong substantive arguments but terrible writing.
And if, like me, you're also actually that scholar, and if you've also already read Seurat's book too... then yes, FINE. You, and only you, should read this book.
February 11, 2024
Very well-researched and comprehensive.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews