Book Reviews from the August/September Washington Report

Jordan Denari Duffner explores the proliferation of anti-Muslim speech among Christians. She also offers advice to those looking to confront bigotry in their communities. “These conversations are really hard, and I talk in the book about my own failures in this regard and times when I should have stood up and said something, but I didn’t,” she acknowledges. But, we can no longer "let Islamophobic comments slide by,” she urges.

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Hobler takes readers on a “kaleidoscopic journey through the eyes of 101 American Peace Corps volunteers” who served in Libya before and after his 15-month stint in 1968-1969. He manages to weave together entertaining and profound observations from young, idealistic volunteers with an engaging chronicle of Libyan history, politics and culture. He notes that “in the 219-year relationship between the U.S. and Libya, only 23 years or 11 percent of that time, was there an oasis of peace.” 

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In this richly researched study, French political scientist Gilles Kepel analyzes the “era of chaos” that convulsed the modern Middle East from the 1973 Arab-Israel War to the collapse of the ISIS caliphate. Anyone seeking a detailed analysis of the region’s violent recent past—and especially of the sectarian divide between Sunni and Shi’a Islam that propelled the disorder—will emerge from this study well informed. 

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This delightful children’s book takes the reader back through the long, rich history of Syria. Pick up this book for an adventurous child so you can travel together to pre-war Syria. On the way you may revive your own hopes for a post-war nation with a glorious heritage. 

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