Fear and Faith in Paradise: Exploring Conflict and Religion in the Middle East

by Phil Karber

Overview

From life along the Tigris River in the 1970s to the ongoing Arab Spring uprisings, Phil Karber has witnessed decades of change throughout the Middle East. Fear and Faith in Paradise draws on his wealth of experience to sketch a timely and compelling portrait of the region throughout history. Going beyond the endless images of terrorism and war, he challenges pervasive stereotypes of Muslims and delves into the living history and cultures of Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Persians, Jews, Tunisians, Moroccans, Armenians, and others.

Seamlessly moving between past and present, Karber skillfully develops two overarching themes: How America's footprint can be shifted from a military to a humanitarian emphasis and how fear is used as a cudgel by today’s monotheistic leaders to sacrifice the faithful. Whether Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, they all invoke their own vision of paradise, often as incentive, in hopeless conflicts that seem doomed to be repeated. Karber’s down-to-earth writing vividly conveys the region’s charm and beauty against a backdrop of power struggles among competing faiths, nationalisms, and outside forces.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442214774
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/18/2012
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Phil Karber is an award-winning travel writer. He is the author of The Indochina Chronicles: Travels in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and Yak Pizza to Go: Travels in an Age of Vanishing Cultures and Extinctions. Since the mid-nineties he has called home Nairobi, Kenya; Hanoi, Vietnam; Bangkok, Thailand; and East London, South Africa. He currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit the author on his website here.

Table of Contents

Prologue: A Moment of Opportunity
Introduction: Terror in the Name of God
Part I: Wars of Choice
Chapter 1: Be Nice to Americans
Chapter 2: Refugees from Iraq and Lebanon Flee to Syria
Chapter 3: Holy Fools and the Red Crescent
Chapter 4: Made in America
Chapter 5: Warlords and a Lebanese Prophet
Chapter 6: Poppy Fields, McDonalds, Armageddon, and the Loire Valley
Chapter 7: Hezbollah and U.S. Cluster Bombs
Chapter 8: Istanbul, Ground Zero in the Clash of Civilizations
Chapter 9: Bombs Away on the PKK
Chapter 10: Peshmerga and Mercy Corps
Chapter 11: Refugees, Water, Schools, Clinics, and Wheelchairs
Chapter 12: It’s the Oil, Habibi, the Oil
Chapter 13: The Sunshine Peddler’s Parlor Game
Chapter 14: Saying Boo! to the Bogeyman
Part II: A Theocracy
Chapter 15: A Wall of Mistrust
Chapter 16: Coca-Cola and KFC in Tehran
Chapter 17: Desert Gardens, Imam Hussein, and the Eternal Flame
Chapter 18: King of Kings in Wine Country
Chapter 19: Fear and Faith in Paradise
Part III: Shadow and Light, an Arab Spring
Chapter 20: Morocco and the February 20th Movement
Chapter 21: The Jasmine Revolution
Selected Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Mark McDonald

Phil Karber is part scholar, part seeker and full-on adventurer, a boots-on-the-ground writer who has regularly been drawn to some of the world's most complex and turbulent places. He began exploring North Africa and the Middle East years ago—sleeping rough, eating local, hitching rides. And now, with Fear and Faith in Paradise, he has delivered a riveting, poignant and up-to-the-minute account of the region, from its history, peoples and cultures to its modern politics and recent upheavals. This book is a guide, a compass, a marvel.

David Holdridge

Fear and Faith in Paradise comes to us from Phil Karber as everyman . . . on the road. Not a historian, nor a development worker. Not a sociologue, nor a novelist. But rather, he invites, 'Come with me, America, and sit by my side,' as this incorrigible native son moves amongforeignpeople.

John Lancaster

It will be a huge mistake if Karber's Fear and Faith in Paradise gets labeled merely a travel book. While his vivid and entertaining descriptions of his travels among the people of the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond paint for us a clear understanding of their communities, cultures,politics (or lack thereof), andbeliefs, the book's real strength is the insight it provides into the lack of understanding and trust our leaders and we, as Americans, have of the Muslim world—and theirs of the United States. In this turbulent and uncertain Arab Spring and post-9/11 era, it is a must read for our leaders and policy makers and all of us who put them in power.

Editorial Reviews

It will be a huge mistake if Karber's Fear and Faith in Paradise gets labeled merely a travel book. While his vivid and entertaining descriptions of his travels among the people of the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond paint for us a clear understanding of their communities, cultures, politics (or lack thereof), and beliefs, the book's real strength is the insight it provides into the lack of understanding and trust our leaders and we, as Americans, have of the Muslim world—and theirs of the United States. In this turbulent and uncertain Arab Spring and post-9/11 era, it is a must read for our leaders and policy makers and all of us who put them in power.

John Lancaster

Phil Karber is part scholar, part seeker and full-on adventurer, a boots-on-the-ground writer who has regularly been drawn to some of the world's most complex and turbulent places. He began exploring North Africa and the Middle East years ago—sleeping rough, eating local, hitching rides. And now, with Fear and Faith in Paradise, he has delivered a riveting, poignant and up-to-the-minute account of the region, from its history, peoples and cultures to its modern politics and recent upheavals. This book is a guide, a compass, a marvel.

Mark McDonald

Fear and Faith in Paradise comes to us from Phil Karber as everyman. .. on the road. Not a historian, nor a development worker. Not a sociologue, nor a novelist. But rather, he invites, 'Come with me, America, and sit by my side,' as this incorrigible native son moves among foreign people.

David Holdridge

Counter to the homogeneous portrayal of the Middle East and North Africa in American media, Karber reveals the kaleidoscope of cultures, ethnic identities, and belief systems that comprise the region. Beginning in 2006 in Syria and concluding in 2011 in Tunisia, Karber traveled through the Middle East, witnessing critical periods of humanitarian distress and political foment from the 2006 Lebanon War to the postwar development of Kurdistan to the birth of Arab Spring. He shows genuine enthusiasm and curiosity for the people and places he visits as well as an understanding of, and sensitivity to, the diverse cultures of the region. Throughout his travels, Karber engaged locals in discussions on their perceptions of the U.S. and on the political climate in their own country. He couches these conversations in the wider history of the region, weaving in historical events dating back to BCE. A fascinating travel memoir and a revealing look at the devastating toll that war has taken on the Middle East.

Booklist

Counter to the homogeneous portrayal of the Middle East and North Africa in American media, Karber reveals the kaleidoscope of cultures, ethnic identities, and belief systems that comprise the region. Beginning in 2006 in Syria and concluding in 2011 in Tunisia, Karber traveled through the Middle East, witnessing critical periods of humanitarian distress and political foment from the 2006 Lebanon War to the postwar development of Kurdistan to the birth of Arab Spring. He shows genuine enthusiasm and curiosity for the people and places he visits as well as an understanding of, and sensitivity to, the diverse cultures of the region. Throughout his travels, Karber engaged locals in discussions on their perceptions of the U.S. and on the political climate in their own country. He couches these conversations in the wider history of the region, weaving in historical events dating back to BCE. A fascinating travel memoir and a revealing look at the devastating toll that war has taken on the Middle East.

Booklist