A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS

by Robert F. Worth

In 2011, a wave of revolution spread through the Middle East as protesters demanded an end to tyranny, corruption, and economic decay. From Egypt to Yemen, a generation of young Arabs insisted on a new ethos of common citizenship. Five years later, their utopian aspirations have taken on a darker cast as old divides reemerge and deepen. In one country after another, brutal terrorists and dictators have risen to the top.

In the Caliph's Shadow is the first work of literary journalism to track the tormented legacy of what was once called the Arab Spring. In the style of V. S. Naipaul and Lawrence Wright, the distinguished New York Times correspondent Robert F. Worth brings the history of the present to life through vivid stories and portraits. We meet a Libyan rebel who must decide whether to kill the Qaddafi-regime torturer who murdered his brother; a Yemeni farmer who lives in servitude to a poetry-writing, dungeon-operating chieftain; and an Egyptian doctor who is caught between his loyalty to the Muslim Brotherhood and his hopes for a new, tolerant democracy.

Combining dramatic storytelling with an original analysis of the Arab world today, In the Caliph's Shadow captures the psychic and actual civil wars raging throughout the Middle East, and explains how the dream of an Arab renaissance gave way to a new age of discord.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Middle East, Politics, War, Islam, Religion

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2015

Reviews

[Murtaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really one of the most stirring and evocative books I've read in recent memory. A history of the Arab Spring told through the lives of the men and women who lived through it. This is a brief but yet epic recounting of the monumental human dramas of this era. The writing is absolutely captivating; its like history as literature. The Arab uprisings happened due to a simple demand for a "dawla," a state that accorded its people the promise of real citizenship; dignity, hope and opportunity. It came apart strand by strand, and peoples hopes have in many cases now been transmuted into an overwhelming rage against the forces that suppress them. I really can't recommend this book enough. Whether the Arab Spring is a subject of interest or not this, this book is just a tour de force of the human experience.

[Book Riot Community]

In the slew of books about the post-Arab Spring Middle East, rarely has anyone captured the humanity of the struggle within so eloquently. Worth is a former Beirut bureau chief for the New York Times who spent a decade reporting on the region, and this book isn’t a historical study. Instead it captures the narratives of revenge, sectarianism, corruption and religious fervor that run through the wars and revolutions in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen through the lives of ordinary people, from an interrogator with a Libyan militia who finds himself charged with the government torturer who killed his brother, to two women, one Sunni and one Alawite, in Syria whose friendship disintegrates with the uprising in Syria, to Tahrir Square in Egypt’s brief promise of egalitarianism, and how it all fell apart.

– Kareem Shaheen


from The Best Books We Read In June 2016: http://bookriot.com/2016/06/29/riot-r...

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history observed by this reporter since 2011 during the Arab Spring, for the Middle Eastern countries surrounding Egypt, where his report begins. It's dire. It's more than a difficult read. He tells the story through a particular person's tale in each country. The languages, the tribal, clan, other cultural particulars dense to definition and comprehension.

The Introduction is essential to understanding much of what you read in the following eye witness reports, IMHO. The indigenous divisions and factions being so multiple that even with the best of communications, to solidify for one governmental control in any one larger area? Three or four friends celebrating together after Mubarak's ousting, 2 or 3 years later, where are they? Fighting each other, and 2 of them sawing off the head of one of the others.

It told me some portions of facts in context that I already knew, but some pivotal points for Middle Eastern "eyes" that I did not. For instance, that there has never been a peaceful or voting process take over of true authoritative power in any of these governmental, nation defined entities. Not without consequence of military or vindictive physical reprisals. Torture and slow death to obscuring by brutal force any access to "voting" or negation to the current seated power. And also that in several of these locations, the more the percentage of the middle class evolves from education, manufacture, trade etc. the worse things are going to get. Human rights and civil liberties violations and atrocities, being much worse than surmised in the wider world- even with the specific detailing that we do see on other continents.

It's not an optimistic view of this reality in any sense, IMHO. But it will educate you to some of these realities.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found my way to this book by way of a thoroughly positive review in the New York Times Book Review. I have to admit that I didn't care for the first chapter and wasn't sure I wanted to read the rest of the book, but I'm very glad I stayed with it because it got better and better as it went along. I would have rated this 5 stars if the opening chapter had been more engaging.

The backbone of the book is Worth's experience with a variety of people he meets along the way (between 2011 and 2015) in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Tunisia. The book's great strength is in Worth's ability to tell their stories while carefully weaving in background history and his analysis of modern events. The writing is first rate and I highlighted many passages.

This is a book I would definitely read again and I have a feeling it'll be even better the second time around.

[Daniel Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book on the streets of Sidi Bouzid, where 26-year-old street cart vendor Mohamed Bouazizi doused himself in petrol, set himself alight, and unwittingly kickstarted the Arab Spring, about which Robert F. Worth's book is the single best work I've read to date. This is not a history book, or a geopolitics survey, or a sociological study -- though it contains elements of all of these things. Instead it focuses on the very human side of the conflict, following particular individuals in Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Tunisia, and Libya as their lives and nations are upended by revolution and are then left to ask: ok, now what? A fascinating and heartbreaking read.

[Thebookiemonster · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strolling along the Corniche in Beirut, Lebanon, I encountered a world of contradictions. While the call to prayer echoed over my head, a hip 20-something in designer leather shoes with a greaser haircut smoked a cigarette. Young, buxom women in colorful headscarves and faces full of make up passed by, while a flash of Gucci shoes peeked out from the bottom of a conservative woman's robe. It was here I met for tea with Yusuf, a self-styled communist revolutionary hailing from Palestine.

Most of this meager "definitive account" is written just like the passage above, which I just wrote in 30 seconds while trying to sound as annoying as possible. It read like a caffeinated freshman's journal about his study abroad to Egypt. To be fair, the book description made it clear this wasn't meant to be a hard-nosed analysis of the Arab Spring. Knowing and expecting that, I was still surprised at the nonsense that filled most of the pages.

Congrats on all the awards to the author. Obviously, a ton of people loved his work and found a lot more value in it than me. This could be a good pick for someone who hasn't read similar books before (like those by Tom Friedman) or who wants to feel a little exotic and go on a fun, low-pressure adventure while learning a morsel or two about the Arab Spring. Thinking back, there WAS a good deal of historical and political context provided for the Egyptian revolution, but there was far too much filler along the way. To me, it was a lazy, simplistic human-interest story that focused on all the wrong topics for far too long.

Nearly every Arab interviewed is quoted as desperately wanting democracy and "rule of law." The way it's painted in the book, those Arabs emphatically and unquestionably meant "democracy" as people in the West define it, and all had a fluent grasp of English. But I think if he dug deeper in those interviews, he'd realize their conception of democracy and laws would differ greatly from people in the West. I can just see this American author's eyes lighting up at a bubble gum vendor in Tahrir Square shouting "Yay Obama! Democracy #1!" and scribbling in his notebook about the people's heartfelt desire to emulate the American political system.

That's why all the schadenfreude in news coverage after the Arab Spring "failed" seemed so juvenile and irrelevant to me. NYT also has a record of reporting the government narrative in overseas stories, as documented by Noam Chomsky's painstaking analysis of the NYT's coverage of the Nicaragua crisis.

The two parts I found useful were the history of the Alawis and the chapter near the end about Tunisian political figures, but the latter was hard to follow. He barely mentions terrorism and offers no real opinions on the various terrorist groups at play.

There was enough historical research and context provided to make this a two-star, but I would not recommend this book for anyone who actually wants to learn about the political background and unfolding of the Arab Spring.

[Abbie Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by the former New York Times Beirut bureau chief, this book tackles the buildup to and aftermath of the Arab Spring in several Arab States (Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Tunisia, with a smattering of Iraq), though I think the Tunisian arc was particularly fascinating. Highly readable.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book some months ago, and kept setting it down to read something else. The reason is that A Rage for Order is a frustrating read. This isn't a criticism of the author's work, just that the subject matter itself is one without a clear morale, lessons are hard to find in the various stories which can be helpfully applied (though some do exist), and every country covered is still in chaos without the relief or dignity that people living in these countries have demanded. Maybe the best takeaway, and a lesson which can be learned from the reading, is that things are extremely complicated in much of the middle east and Arab world, and there are no easy answers for how to bring about national representation, stability and order in the various countries, even when people want it badly and fight to make it happen.

The author has done some amazing things and deserves credit. He's traveled throughout the Middle East and has gotten to know people personally whose stories are covered as narratives. The format of the book is a good blend of background information about a country and its politics at the time, mixed with the personal narratives of people living within it. The author discusses Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria, and did so with thorough background as well as at least one real person's story within each country. Often more than one person.

An interesting thing about ISIS is how broad its appeal was when it was first growing. People from numerous countries in the Middle East as well as Europe flocked to join the movement. There was a utopianism early in the movement which resonated with so many people wanting to make meaning of their lives and also restore a true caliphate. Sometimes they left very comfortable lives to join this utopia. To the horror of many once they got to Iraq or Syria, the utopia was anything but. One person is followed from his sneaking into the border of Syria from Turkey. He wanted to be a part of this grand movement, the idea of a unified Muslim majority living righteously. His story of how things actually were, and his lucky escape later is one of the best on the book. There is no utopia, and a claim for one whether by liberals or conservatives anywhere in the world should raise our skepticism. Abu Ali witnesses what ISIS was actually about in all its horrors, and was incredibly lucky to escape back home later when he had the chance. It turns out many were trying to escape, and networks had been created to facilitate getting out from ISIS. But many would be mutilated trying.

In Egypt, people thought things would be better if they could get Mubarak to step down. Turns out that the path to a stable democracy is not so simple. Such was the case in Libya too, where removing an autocrat did not immediately bring a unified peace. In Yemen, other countries had a strong interest, and this made it vulnerable later to the bombing campaigns of Saudi Arabia among other things. Tunisia had some real progress in peacefully bringing different rival parties together to make constitutional changes and unify the country. Unfortunately, there is still great political turmoil to this day, and there is still much to be resolved and reconciled. None of the countries covered thus far have a happy conclusion for the struggling of their people and the suffering that is still ongoing. Again, the story of A Rage for Order is a frustrating one, lacking in any story that brings the people-- or the observer-- much satisfaction.

Sometimes a book can illuminate a problem for the reader that makes them say "aha, this explains things better. I see how things could have been done differently." With a Rage for Order, much is explained but not in a way where this is not the case. Again the major takeaway and lesson may simply be that there are no easy solutions for the countries covered. That there are many people wanting better representation, dignity, rights, and stability, and that getting there is a nearly impossible task.

[Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Rage for Order" is just another one of those books I found terribly depressing and enlightening at the same time. A power vacuum sucked all the optimism out of the Middle East after the Arab Spring when the euphoria of overturning dictators wore off. But who to indict first: 1) The disorganized liberal and leftist factions; 2) the moderately organized Islamist groups; 3) the better organized (and corrupt) military bureaucracies; or 4) the moneyed interests in Saudi Arabia? I'll have to leave answering these questions to my Middle East friends. In the meantime, who will take responsibility for the mess in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, or what seems the biggest mess of all: Syria? Syria, like Yugoslavia and Rwanda before it, pits neighbour against neighbour. Family friendships give way to suspicion, distrust, and too frequently violence. Perhaps I knew once, but had forgotten, that Bashir al Assad, pressured by the West to step down, took the unwarranted step of emptying all his prisons of the most radical Islamists and murderers to shift public outrage away from him to the growing jihadi groups. As I recall, he took a page from Fidel Castro's playbook. In order to get even with the US acceptance of boat people from Cuba, Castro emptied his prisons and sent them all to Miami. Figure out how to put the genii back in the bottle in Syria and you will have a formula for reconciliation in the rest of the Arab states. Some day all of these states will need an accounting much like that which was done in South Africa, without packing the jails once again. Truth, reconciliation, forgiveness, and the political will to move past sectarian grievances. Like Ireland a little? We have the mechanisms to wind down the violence. When will our brothers in the Middle East find the political will to do so?

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journalist’s account of the Arab Spring’s hopes, momentum, and snowballing conditions that set the stage for the rise of the Islamic State. The book tells stories of people in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Tunisia. I found the specific stories he chose to be very telling, and the reasons for which he picked them to be equally fascinating.

The narrative of the Arab Spring is one of extremes: a wild pendulum swing from the shedding of tyrannical order to the chaos of anarchy and ISIS. Much like Kim Ghattas in Black Wave, Robert Worth uses the word “unraveling” to describe the disintegration. The word feels appropriate for what I learned, but also, heartbreaking.

Some lessons gleaned from the book:
- Conflicts in much of the world don’t really have the ability to evolve and come to a rest. A conflict starts, and then there is such a large influx of international interference (especially from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the US, China), that soon, the original fight fades away and perpetual conflict churns.
- Ideology is only as stout as the humans who carry it, and humans constantly falter in the face of absolute power.
- For the virtuous, religion is a guiding light. For the malevolent, religion is a weapon.

Favorite quotes:

“Everyone in this struggle was bent on portraying his own people as David, and the other side as Goliath.”

“She might peer over the box of her loyalties, but she could not escape it.”

[Bryn Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m chary of ‘literary journalism’ claims (once bitten, twice shy), but yeah. At times this acts like a tragic novel. A few of its human portraits are art + reality.

Interspersed is introductory material, so you don’t lose your footing even if you’re not up with current events (me) or with history.

Neither the ecstasy of the attempt, nor the sadness of its failure, are smudged over or sacrificed one to the other.

I felt funny about some sentences, which inhibits me from 5*.

I read it in an afternoon and evening; it’s short and novelesque enough to want to do so.

[Ris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wasn't a fan of this book. I liked the premise of it, and I liked the stories--but they were too thick with his opinions of the stories. He didn't just narrate, he applied a western lens to them. His bias was blatant from the introduction, and the stories were filtered through his feelings and reactions to to the storytellers.

There's some interesting stuff here, if you're willing to sift.

[Steve Solnick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary book. Immensely illuminating snapshot of the rise and fall of the Arab Spring, through the lens of specific individuals and relationships in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Tunisia. Worth has the ease of a Kapuscinski or a Boo for capturing a whole movement in a single detail. His characters are vivid, alive and almost invariably tragic. A must read.

[John Rymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, loaded with insight

A gripping narrative built on reporting on and individual life stories in the epicenters of the Arab Spring. I found many echoes of politics in Trump's USA, including the despair that leads to violence. Could not put down this book. Bravo!

[Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a brief but informative overview of the Arab Spring and its fallout, this is a great option. Worth manages to focus on the human element of each country he details, balancing the larger scale of events with specific personal narratives, all over the course of a relatively short time. In doing so, he reveals just how great a tragedy these still-unfolding events are shaping up to be. As I put this book down, I couldn't help but think those of us alive through this time were witness to the same dynamics as the Iranian Revolution—hope for a liberal democracy giving way to yet another, sometimes harsher, autocracy—playing out on a wider scale. And I, for one, hardly paid attention while it was happening. A very sad read but an important one if you want to understand how/why the Middle East is the way it is these days.

[Julian Douglass · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and moving account of the Arab Spring and its aftermath. Mr. Worth really tells the story from the inside out, giving a clear and balanced picture of the messy, chaotic, and unpredictable nature of Middle East Politics. As he states, the biggest failure of the spring was that the organizers didn't have a plan of what to do next, there were many two-faced supports in the liberation movement, and the failure to construct a lasting peace in Iraq made the west weary of nation building on a grand scale, leaving terrorist groups like ISIS and AQAP to fill the vacuum with devastating consequences for the entire world.

A masterpiece in Narrative Non-fiction and the complicated realities of Middle East politics.

[B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some people can only read non-fiction books, and particularly history books, if told through a humanist paradigm, using social anthropology instead of facts. Those people would like this book as a way to learn a little about the human experiences of the Arab Spring.

Unfortunately I bought this book to learn more facts about the Arab Spring, and the only facts in this book are so basic and scarce that I might as well have just read Wikipedia.

I just did not feel interested in or connected to the cast of civilian, political, or militant characters in this book, and walked away having learned almost nothing. I dreaded cracking open each chapter. Disappointing.

[Roopa Prabhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely enlightening to say the least. 2011 Arab uprisings was more of a media fable to me. Getting to understand the triggers, the events that led to it and the actual human story behind it, was a revelation. Disheartening was the part where country after country it came to nothing. Frightening part was the complexities involved in every country and how some of it has become so complex that human resolution and intervention is possibly no more an option. Fascinating was how Tunisia managed to avoid civil war, at the least. Sigh! Heart breaks when you read such books, for the lost cities, society, history, neighbourhood, in general life as they knew it.

[Susan Bivins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting a little out of date, but wonderful, informative book about the Arab Spring. Covers the before, during and after in several countries, including Eygpt and Yemen. Very readable with vignettes describing the experiences of those on the ground.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s about the Arab Spring of the first half of the 2010’s. The Epilogue was good. Most of the book is in par with the reporting of the New York Times on the same subject and time frame. It’s ok.....

[Carrie Lange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dense, this took me forever to get through. I liked having an explanation for the turmoil in the Middle East, but I don't think this book was for me.

[Amy O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing writing. A brief sociopolitical history as told through individual narratives that capture both the complexity and humanity of the Arab Spring

[David Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.8/10

[Chandan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative read about the Arab Spring how, why , what and what next. Definite must read for history readers.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Rage for Order is an excellent book that provides the background story of why the Arab Spring happened and what happened after. The human side of Arab Spring and the path to ISIS was a revealing, touching, disturbing, and ultimately depressing view of the Arab world since 2010.

Robert Worth was there in Tahrir Square when the first wave of the uprising against Mubarek's regime happened. He follows a doctor,Muhammed Beltagy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood as he tries to convince the Brotherhood that the way they were handling the crisis was wrong.

He seems to be everywhere in the years following – with two women friends in Syria, a freedom fighter in Yemen and another in Libya, and two elder statesmen on both sides of the Arab world in Tunisia. Through his interviews with these people, I learned about how their lives had been affected by the great events happening in their countries.

The book is in two sections. I read the first chapter about Egypt, and skipped immediately to the chapter about Egypt in the second section. Then I went back and read the rest of the first and second sections.

Worth’s writing is beautiful, touching. I cry for these people and repel in horror from the cruelty and violence. This is a world I had never imagined and it will haunt me for a long time.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most important and relevant books of this year. The author spent 14 years as a correspondent for the NY Times and was the paper's Beirut bureau chief from 2007 to 2011.

This was a beautifully written book about the turmoil that was, is and will probably always be, the Middle East. In this short, yet powerful book, Worth brings to life what is happening through through interviews with individuals, both he famous and newsworthy as well as normal, everyday Arabs.

He starts with the optimism of what was called the Arab Spring, starting back in 2011 from Egypt to Yemen. He ends with the current despair there. Through interviews he brings to life the feelings of hope that the Arab Spring brought on to the anger when people realized that dictatorships were being replaced by more dictatorships and finally to the discord and hopelessness that exists today due to the rise of groups like ISIS. This is a must read to understand what is going now in the Middle East.

I must say that as compelling as this book was to read, I also found it quite depressing. I don't see how there can ever be peace in the Middle East, with all these factions, sects, religions and tribes that have been waging wars for centuries. I hope I am mistaken in my pessisism, for the sake of those trying to survive in that war torn part of the world, as well as for all the rest of us.

[Vinay Badri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The summer of discontent that gripped a whole bunch of Arab nations is examined here in brief but from a different level, a more ground level view that takes a hard look at the people in the thick of things, their passion, their mistakes, their fears and ultimately their regrets.

What the book also does a bit differently compared to some of the others in this field is to spend time looking at the consequences of the so called revolutions and ultimately link it to the rise of ISIS. Robert Worth brings to life the effects that religion has with respect to nation building. For all the talk of keeping religion out of politics, its a difficult beast to manage when religion is so tightly woven into the fabric of nations. Ultimately it requires individuals willing to hold the nation dear than power to drive that change. A fact that most of these countries now rue as they grapple with the consequences, especially as ISIS rears its ugly head. In-depth reporting, fantastic storytelling and incisive commentary, this is a must read for everyone (incl Trump :P)

[Sara-Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been on a quest to understand the events of the Middle East that are so impacting our world. This book presents the lead up to the Arab Spring in several countries and goes through the event in each one. I was able to follow the events in the countries I am more familiar with like Egypt and Syria. I didn't know anything about what has been happening in Yemen and do now.

It was harder to follow the events portrayed in Tunisia because I don't have a familiarity with any of the players or groups. Interestingly, the one place where the spring has been more successful-or at least was when this was written-is Tunisia.

I am building a broader understanding of the world around me so that I can help others understand so that, hopefully, the next generation coming onto the scene can work toward solutions that will move us all toward a more peaceful future world.

[T S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth focuses on a few different countries: Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Tunsia and how the Arab Spring and disrest unfolds in each of these through stories of people in these countries affected. The focus on explaining Arab Spring through personal stories is very powerful and can add a lot of depth to anybodies understanding.

However, I do agree with another review that there is western slant/bias or bias against religion, which is to be expected. It is subtle but noticeable to me. One example of this is when he speaks of violence done by Muslim Brotherhood Islamists, he would refer to it as terrorism but not when the new secular government committed an atrocity.

[Rolf Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative book on recent events in the Middle East, with compelling stories of people caught up in the change / chaos, from Syria to Cairo to Libya to Tunisia to Yemen. The author is a journalist with long service in the region. He lets the people speak for themselves and their own experiences. Goodreads describes the book thusly:
The definitive work of literary journalism on the Arab Spring and its troubled aftermath
and it is hard to improve on that line. Highly recommended.