Holy Lands

March 21, 2016
Pelham (A New Muslim Order) poses a troubling question: Can a region once known for its vibrant pluralism and religious cooperation return from the brink of sectarianism and a cycle of hyper-nationalistic violence? He recounts distressing vignettes from the Middle East before offering a nostalgic and analytic recommendation for remedy that emerges from the region's own history. To make his case, Pelham surveys snapshots of tension from Israel to Iran and Iraq to Turkey, juxtaposed with anecdotes of a fragile hope that are rising out of the rubble of lost history and recent regional turmoil. Proposing that hyper-nationalism and a legacy of Western incursion are particularly problematic, Pelham suggests that a return to a form of Ottoman militocracy might prove the pacifier. The reportage is well-grounded in textured life histories, interviews, and relevant historical narratives and statistics. Pelham offers impressively nuanced interpretations of entangled political rivalries and the hazy religious boundaries that crisscross the Middle East. Readers will find his investigation of the region's intolerance and aspirations for peace refreshing, particularly in the context of increasingly pessimistic headlines and political rhetoric.

Starred review from February 15, 2016
A sound, accessible argument for why returning to the mixed-faith communities living among each other in the Ottoman model might just save the Middle East. British Middle East journalist Pelham (A New Muslim Order, 2008, etc.) traces the current crisis of violent, xenophobic sectarianism in the region to the series of forced population transfers and displacements carried out through the 20th century, most critically from the fall of the ethnically diverse Ottoman Empire to the creation of Israel and Pakistan. In the Ottoman Empire, writes the author, the sultans had learned how their strength derived from the heady mix of faith communities, living among each other, their houses of faith side by side. This borderless fluidity of groups--encompassing Arabs, Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Jews, Christians, and others--provided a paradigm of diversity and tolerance, subsequently destroyed with the rise of the secular Young Turks and the accompanying attributes of a Turkish nation-state--i.e., nationalism, defense of the land, and service in the military. A kind of "cultural homogenization" inevitably followed, involving forced displacement of people and even genocide, a pattern that was repeated in the creation of Israel and Pakistan and is now occurring again in the establishment of the Islamic State group--a brand-new caliphate. Through his firsthand examples, Pelham explores the richness that has been lost in these lands once teeming with ethnic and religious pluralism--e.g., the formerly Arab towns of Safed and Acre, before the Jewish battle cry of "redeeming the land" produced the sanctioned, barren segregation. Moreover, the rise of militant radicalism has violently cleaved the two sects of Islam, Shia and Sunni, with both battling for assumption of power claimed over centuries. However, Pelham does not see only doom but rather a resurgence of pluralism as a natural, human response given the chance for peaceable community. A lively, succinct, nonpolemical study that will offer much thought for discussion.

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May 1, 2016

One may believe that the conflicts in the Middle East are owing to centuries-old religious and ethnic clashes that are well-nigh irreconcilable. Having spent over 20 years in the region, journalist Pelham (A History of the Middle East) sets out to upend this conceit. He starts with the multicultural and interreligious harmony that once existed within the Ottoman Empire (1299-1923). This cooperation was accomplished by a system of overlapping nongeographical jurisdictions called millets, which were based on religious and cultural affiliations. Between Western ideals of uniform justice and Europe's efforts to dismantle the empire, the system of millets collapsed into ethnic enclaves. Secular practices of justice degenerated into sectarian struggles for dominance and survival. Much of Pelham's study concentrates on this aftermath and concludes with tidbits of hope that the region can again produce diverse societies. VERDICT While the reasons for optimism may be anecdotal, this is a thoughtful response to the claim that the problems are insolvable or that the blame lies firmly on the doorstep of religious and ethnic strife.--JW

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2017
A valiant attempt to disentangle the many threads snarled in the continuing African tragedy.Epstein (The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against AIDS in Africa, 2007) has reported extensively on Africa for the New York Times and the New York Review of Books, among other publications. Here, the author recalls an African myth in which a wily hare outwits powerful but dimwitted enemies and then likens Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni to the clever hare manipulating bumbling Americans. She charges that the United States, while purporting to support the growth of democracies, has ignored his corruption and human rights violations as long as he has convincingly claimed that Uganda is a democracy and has appeared to be a bulwark against advancing Islamic terrorism. She reports that Museveni's American-trained army "has been highly effective in crushing nascent democracy movements in Uganda and in other countries," and she grimly details the dictator's outsized ambitions and atrocities against innocent people. The numerous unfamiliar African names and a plethora of abbreviations for various military forces--e.g., NRA, LRA, RPF, AFDL, SPLA--will challenge readers who do not pay close attention to the text. Fortunately, Epstein prefaces her work with a concise timeline of events in Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, Zaire/Congo, and Somalia that can be consulted by readers struggling to understand her dense account of the violence and corruption that have beleaguered that part of the world. So what should the U.S. do to change the situation? According to the author, it's crucial that we renew the pledge to support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but a specific plan of action is not included. A sizzling indictment of Uganda's current strongman and of the American policy in Africa that supports his corrupt regime with generous foreign aid.

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September 15, 2017

Author (The Invisible Cure), journalist (The New York Times), public health consultant, and professor (human rights & global public health, Bard Coll.) Epstein weaves the life story of Ugandan journalist, political activist, and professor Kiwanuka Lawrence Nsereko into the modern history of Uganda to expose the unconscionable decades-long support by the United States and other Western governments of President Yoweri Museveni, a murderous dictator who has plundered foreign aid and natural resource funds to gain wealth and power and install and maintain similar strongmen in neighboring African nations. Epstein demonstrates how Museveni played U.S. administrations from Reagan through Obama by selling himself as the bulwark of democracy against Islamist extremism in East and Central Africa, building an army to intervene in (and exacerbate) conflicts in neighboring countries on behalf of "Western interests" in the "war on terror." Though others have written about Uganda in this context (Epstein cites particularly Ogenga Otunnu's Crisis of Legitimacy and Political Violence in Uganda), Epstein's book is well written, well documented, and brief enough that it should be widely read. VERDICT Essential for anyone interested in American foreign policy as it relates to Africa.--Joel Neuberg, Santa Rosa Junior Coll. Lib., CA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 3, 2017
In this relentlessly angry but convincing polemic, Epstein (The Invisible Cure), visiting professor of global public health and human rights at Bard College, exposes the corrupt and murderous regime of Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for over 30 years. Though uneasy over Museveni’s poor record on human rights, the U.S. government considers him a bulwark in the war against terrorism. Museveni’s army defeated Uganda’s previous military dictator in 1986, after five years of guerilla warfare. He took power promising peace and democracy, but almost immediately began suppressing democracy, rigging elections, and—with the help of massive amounts of American aid—using his army to oppress the Ugandan people and wreak havoc in neighboring nations (including Rwanda, where Epstein concludes Museveni bears major responsibility for the genocide). Epstein spent years in Uganda working on AIDS research, and most of the Ugandans she interviews are opposition members. She recounts Museveni’s misconduct and bloody military adventures in painful detail, with the express goal of persuading the U.S. government to change its policy. That may be a tough sell, but Epstein succeeds in disclosing the nefarious deeds of a U.S. ally.