Fouad Ajami
The late historian’s memoir, an unstinting portrait of the unhappy collision of tradition and modernity in Lebanon in the years following World War II, is one of the best of our time.
Parallel lives.
They got things wrong, and failed to learn from their mistakes.
Good fortune may be the best explanation for why the country has survived so many troubles.
Fouad Ajami’s last book.
What if there is no solution?
After two decades, Fouad Ajami’s words ring true.
It’s no better in English than in Arabic.
The Lebanese-born scholar knew more about the Jewish state than any Arab intellectual of his generation.
Nobody could match him as an interpreter of the Arab Middle East—or as a deft and witty scourge of his academic opponents.
On a barren piece of land, the Zionists built a flourishing modern state. The Arabs could have learned from this experiment, but they drew back in horror. (2008.)