Discussions

  • What to read on the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East?

    We are all avidly following the progress of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and beyond - combing the pages of the press, chasing down blog links, watching footage. But what recommendations would people make for a longer and more detailed view of the social, historical and economic context of the revolutions?

    5 responses

    • Comments and responses

    This question was actually sparked by discovering Egypt: The Moment of Change, edited by Rabab El Mahdi and Philip Marfleet, and published by Zed Books (http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/book.asp?bookdetail=4266). Published in 2009 it seeks to present "a series of analyses of politics, culture and society, including many by Egyptian academics and activists. It addresses the turmoil created by imposition of neo-liberal economic policies, the increasingly fragile nature of an authoritarian regime, the influence of movements for democratic opening and popular participation, and the impacts of Islamism."
    Rowan Wilson / 21 February 2011 0 people think so
    Also, Tariq Ali visited Yemen and provides some useful context for the situation there in a piece that he wrote for the London Review of Books last year: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n06/tariq-ali/unhappy-yemen

    A slightly longer version has been published as an appendix to his last book The Obama Syndrome: http://www.versobooks.com/books/516-the-obama-syndrome
    Rowan Wilson / 21 February 2011 0 people think so
    Adam Shatz's pieces on Egypt for the LRB over the past year have been nuanced and incisive:



    Rowan Wilson / 23 February 2011 0 people think so
    Joel Beinin from Stanford University is about to publish a collection of essays with Frederic Vairel: Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa: http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=18643
    Rowan Wilson / 23 February 2011 0 people think so
    Hi there

    We'll put up the email address on the final post on Friday.
    Rowan Wilson / 24 August 2011 0 people think so
    Hi Allison - Question 6 is asking for the name of a book published by Verso that opens with a quote from a surrealist.
    Rowan Wilson / 24 August 2011 0 people think so
    Ok - taking pity on you all! Question 6 possibly has more than one correct answer - but we are thinking specifically of a book published in the last 18 months - hope that narrows it down!
    Rowan Wilson / 24 August 2011 0 people think so
    Hi all

    Thanks for joining in with the competition - the winners have now been notified. Apologies for the trickiness of question 6 (we had plenty of correct answers to it, though - the quote is an epigraph before the contents page) but we were trying to come up with questions that were a) not found by simply tapping the q into google and that might require some offline research but b) were nonetheless pretty unequivocal. Not as easy to think of as we thought...! We'll be more careful in future. And there will be more competitions - not sure when, but we'll keep you posted.

    And Nick - thanks for your questions. We have asked the Verso staff member who came up with question 6 to answer them all by Monday!


    Rowan Wilson / 02 September 2011 0 people think so
    Hi there

    We're working on it!
    Rowan Wilson / 09 November 2011 0 people think so
    Hi there

    For the UK we're currently in the process of organising e-books for our titles, including this one.

    We'll keep you posted.

    Rowan Wilson / 08 February 2012 0 people think so