Recommended by Tamara Cofman Wittes:

Every year, my students, my cousins, and random strangers ask me to recommend a single book that provides a good introduction to the contemporary Middle East. Very few of those asking are willing wade through something as edifying as Albert Hourani’s A History of the Arab Peoples. Let me recommend, as an alternative for the general reader, a delightful memoir by the scholar R. Stephen Humphreys entitled Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age (2d ed., University of California Press, 2005). Personal, readable, and thoughtful, Humphreys’s essays hit all the key issues (Islamism, demographics, oil curse, etc.) while weaving in history and personal narrative.

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Product Description

Middle Easterners today struggle to find solutions to crises of economic stagnation, political gridlock, and cultural identity. In recent decades Islam has become central to this struggle, and almost every issue involves fierce, sometimes violent debates over the role of religion in public life. In this post-9/11 updated edition R. Stephen Humphreys presents a thoughtful analysis of Islam's place in today's Middle East and integrates the medieval and modern history of the region to show how the sacred and secular are tightly interwoven in its political and intellectual life.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #620732 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

Amazon.com Review
R. Steven Humphreys reveals the rich complexity of the Middle East--a region that stretches from Egypt to Afghanistan--in Between Memory and Desire, a set of ten "interlocking essays" that take on everything from economic growth and nationalist movements to Islamic human rights philosophy. Humphreys has a very clear and concise writing style that makes easily comprehensible an enormous amount of historical and cultural data with which most Western readers will be largely unfamiliar. He demolishes many of the mythic images that Americans have built up around the region and its people, like the "madman" dictator: "When we look beyond the façade of theater and posturing," Humphreys writes, "we will almost always discern a hard-headed politician who knows perfectly well how to set his goals and to craft strategies for achieving them.... The problem for us is not that the goals of Middle Eastern leaders are impenetrable; most of the time they are quite transparent. The problem is simply that these goals are not the ones that we want them to have."

The latter half of the book contains several excellent chapters on Islam--particularly on the concept of jihad and on the role of women in Islamic culture--that reveal the religion's diversity. It is a cliché, of course, to say that after reading a certain book you will never be able to think of its subject in quite the same way again, but it is also the truth concerning Between Memory and Desire and the Middle East. This book is strongly recommended to anybody who wants to know more about the region and its history than can be fit into a 30-second sound bite on the evening news.

From Library Journal
Islam has long been a major force in shaping the contours of sociopolitical and cultural debate in much of the Middle East. With the apparent failure of Pan-Arabism, Westernism, and other secular ideologies to provide meaningful and workable solutions to the region's numerous problems, Islam has once again become a central ingredient in the ongoing philosophical and practical struggle among the forces contending these. This struggle (as well as Islam itself) is complex, multifaceted, and influenced by a variety of other factors, both within and outside the Islamic world. In this sober and highly informative book, Humphreys (history and Islamic studies, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) introduces educated readers to the nuances of Middle Eastern political and social discourse. He goes behind the headlines and offers a sophisticated and yet accessible analysis of Islamic polity for Western readers. Highly recommended for specialists and nonspecialists alike.ANader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, AL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"In this sober and highly informative book, Humphreys introduces educated readers to the nuances of Middle Eastern political and social discourse. He goes behind the headlines and offers a sophisticated and yet accessible analysis of Islamic polity for Western readers." - Library Journal It is a rare achievement that combines erudition, compelling writing, and personal experience." - Meron Benvenisti, author of City of Stone"

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Customer Reviews

the middle east revisited
If one tries to understand the present political situation in the middle east, one is left lost and wandering helplessly. This book helps us to to understand this situation by digging deep into the political past of the middle east , and succeeds spectacularly !!

A definite read for all those interested in the middle east

Excellent
Most of the books on the modern Middle East have axes to grind, and this book, say professors Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, is the notable exception. Stephen Humphreys is one the HUGE names in Islamic history, and extremely well-respected academician at the University of California. His book is readable and unbiased. It portrays an intelligent picture of that part of the world that is still perceived very strangely by the many people outside it. (By the way, the previous reviewer, Daniel Pipes, is part of the same organization as Martin Kramer, who advocated removal of funding for Middle East Studies Programs. Pipes himself has just set up a McCarthyan website in which he keeps "dossiers" of any professors who might be sympathetic toward Islam and the Middle East and in which he urges students to report others. He's hardly objective.)

So much of what's going on in the Middle East today is the result of recent history, and it's important to understand that history for any kind of modern understanding. This book discusses the politics, economics, social tensions, and religious issues that shape the character of the Middle East. Very recommended for anyone who wants to understand what's going on there and how -- increasingly -- it will affect us in the Western world.

A very educational overview of the Middle East
I read the 1999 edition. It appears that the only difference between it and the 2005 edition is that the latter contains an additional 10-page preface, presumably commenting on 9/11 and the War in Iraq. I read the book recently, in 2007. It struck me as mildly dated and I regretted that particularly because it was so informative and insightful that I wished I was able to get the benefit of the author's knowledge and analysis of the most recent developments in the Middle East. If in fact Humphreys has not re-written or updated the text in the 2005 edition, that is unfortunate, but even so the book can be highly recommended.

"Between Memory and Desire" is a sober, thoughtful, and objective survey of the social, economic, and political problems confronting the various countries and peoples in the Middle East. Humphreys identifies and then explores at moderate length such issues as a) unprecedented population growth in the Middle East, without anywhere near commensurate economic growth; b) historical reasons for Mideasterners' disdain for constitutional and parliamentary government; and c) the pervasive overlay of Islam and how, in different ways and to differing degrees from country to country, it affects the prospects for democracy, economic growth, the place of women in society, and human rights (as judged by Western standards). There also is a trenchant chapter entitled "Jihad and the Politics of Salvation". Humphreys takes pains to note and discuss separately, where relevant, the situations in different Mideastern countries. (In hindsight, much of the discussion of conditions in Iraq is remarkably prescient, and one can't help but wish the Bush Administration had shared and/or taken more into account Humphreys' views.)

This is not easy reading. It demands careful attention, and seems most directed at a college-level audience, maybe even as an undergraduate or graduate text. But neither is the book unnecessarily dense or academic. For the type of hardheaded analysis of history, politics, economics, and social conditions that it is, it is very well written and presented. At the back, there are useful footnotes for those who wish to pursue certain issues in greater detail. Again, I recommend the book highly.