The Iron Cage Book Review

All that seems to be remembered is a reverie; a spectacle of valiance and bravery. The older generation —the ones who were there—simply became the collateral damage. The war, in all its infamy, can never be

Edward Said 's memoir, "States", is an interesting take on a man who cannot remember his life in Palestine, a man who has no roots connected to his home country other than the fact that he is Palestinian and how his perspective is based on bias. Contrary, Jane Tompkins ' essay, "Indians", reviews how perspectives can contradict the opinions of others, using her own experiences as examples. Though the two essays concentrate on different topics, they have similarities in their essays. Said focuses on the past with what he knows of Palestine, while Tompkins talks about how she is bombarded by the different perspectives by other researchers, that makes forming her own perspective harder than it was as a child.

Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals is an attempt by Douglas E. Streusland to present the similarities and difference between the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires that stretched across the Middle East. The book focuses on political, military, and economic history rather than on the social, cultural, and intellectual history. Even though Streusland has extensive knowledge and understanding of the Mughal Empire, he still has several observations that make the book a valuable read for anyone studying the history of the Middle East. The book begins with a brief history about the formation of the Islamic culture up until the beginning of the Gunpowder Empires.

He says, “The Sunflower story brings up the question of whether Simon had the right to forgive Karl in the name of all Jews. The question appears to me as irrelevant. Karl did not ask him to speak in the name of all Jews, or for that matter, for the harm done to all Jews but only for what he had done” (137). Flannery thinks Wiesenthal made the wrong decision, and later on said that if he were in the position that Wiesenthal was in, he would’ve forgiven the Karl. I, however, disagree with Flannery because I don’t think that the war crimes that Nazis have committed are something that can be

Author of, True to Life Why Truth Matters, and Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut, Michael P. Lynch teaches, “We don’t often care about truth as much as we should: we dissemble, hide behind ambiguity, refrain from speaking up, we turn away, stop asking questions, ignore reasonable objections, fudge the data, and close our minds. Not caring about the truth is a type of cowardice (Lynch, 2004).” In conclusion, it has been pointed out that there are many compelling yet disenchanting realities concerning terrorism of which people today are simply unaware.

Some would like to argue that it was actually his Hussein’s realization that such power existed that corrupted him. They think that he wishes to return Iraq to a historical age of glory. But the real history that is important is that of the beginning of his life. In the essay Bowden recounts an interview with a journalist named Saad al-Bazzaz in which al-Bazzaz discusses the root of all of this evil.

Avrutin notes that up until about fifty years ago, many historians were puzzled by how quickly the pogroms broke out, and how all the pogroms occurred simultaneously. It was a very commonly held idea that the government conspired against the Jews and did not come to their security or condone the pogroms at all. Therefore, it would make sense that people would instantly believe that the Pogroms must have been organized by some greater power like the Russian

Two minor Characters, a French policeman, Balducci, and an Arab prisoner arrive at the School. Balducci commands Daru to deliver the prisoner to a nearby authorities but Daru has a problem over the decision of whether or not to take the Arab to prison. In the End, Daru leaves the decision to the Arab. The Arab being a flat and seemingly static character, somehow contributes significantly to the existentialistic nature of Daru’s character and his actions.

Trauma in Dawn and Men in the Sun. The theme of trauma is addressed differently b y the authors of Men In The Sun and Dawn , though there have a few similarities , Gahssan Kanafani in Men In The Sun gives the readers a detailed description of not only the social realities , but the political and human ones as well that characterize the basic lives of the Palestinian people during a critical point in their history when the structure of their existence, as well as the traditional order have been significantly altered by the regional as well as international events .The author describes trauma by showing the struggles and hardships that are undergone by Abu Qais , Marwan and Assa who are all in the quest for a better life . Similarly, in Dawn, Elsie describes the wait of two men for a murder that is scheduled to take place in Dawn.

The Zionists accepted this depending on negotiations, but the Arab High Committee denied the proposal of the Peel Commission. As Second World War was coming to a start, there was a three-cornered fight occurring in Palestine, in-between the British, Jews and Arabs. Certain Jewish units agreed at this point to hold off the fights and join the struggle against Nazi Germany alongside Allied troops in Italy and the Middle East. At the same time illegal Jewish immigrants escaping from the Nazis began arriving by boat loads (Takkenberg 1998).

Zinn asks this question in A​People’s History of the United States.​He questions whether or not it was necessary for the explorers of the New World to cause so much destruction. Through his writing, he seems skeptical of these “sacrifices”. In A​Patriot’s History of the United States,​however, this question never arises, it never even appears to cross the author 's mind, their main focus is on who is to blame for the bloodshed and horror. The one thing that both authors (and many others) agree on is that the road that began with Columbus and continues now in the development of this New World is a messy one.

HERZL AS PROPHET Does Theodore Herzl is really the prophet of the Jewish country of Israel? As Shlomo Avinri describes Herzl’s quotes (Avineri, 1998) as almost surrounded in prophetic aura, I have to disagree with this idea. I believe that Herzl simple was just in the right place at the right time, if he hadn’t moved Zionism to center stage then someone else would have. Herzl 's first choice was not Basel, nor did he initially intend to convene a public congress. As his diaries clearly show, his original policy options were quite different, and only a combination of failures.

“The Camp David Accords were significant because it marked a peaceful solution to the dispute between Israel and one of the country’s Arab neighbors. Long disputed land claims in the region, fueled by religious differences, seemed to have taken a back seat to peace and understanding.” (Source C.) Before 1987 the Arab nations that surrounded Israel wanted the land that was the safe haven to the remaining Jewish community in the eastern world. Assassination threats prevented a peace treaty directly between the two countries.

Ahmadinejad also stated that publicizing his holocaust denial was a major achievement of his presidency. George Lincoln Rockwell, an American prominent holocaust denier, became known as the “American Hitler”. After founding the American Nazi Party, Rockwell took it upon himself to be an enthusiastic denier, meaning spreading the Neo-nazi movement across America. In a 1996 interview with Playboy magazine, Rockwell told Playboy that it was “self defense” for people killing jews. He then stated, “ I don’t believe that for one minute that any 6 million Jews were exterminated; it never happened” (Haley).

In Year of the Locust: A Soldier’s Diary and the Erasure of Palestine’s Ottoman Past, Salim Tamari—an Israeli native and highly revered sociologist—poses two arguments for his audience. First, he explores how the Great War transformed the people of the Ottoman East. This transition goes beyond the obvious changes in physical living conditions, but digs deeper into the mental and emotional challenges that Palestinians of this era were faced with. Secondly, Tamari addresses what Ottoman journalist, Falih Rıfkı Atay, deemed the “Turkish problem”.