Status
Available
Call number
Publication
London, Fourth estate, 2005
Description
Decorated British foreign correspondent Robert Fisk has been based in the Middle East for the last twenty-five years, reporting from the world's worst trouble-spots. This is his first-person account of fifty years of bloodshed and tragedy in the area, from the Palestinian-Israeli bloodbath to the shock and awe of the current war against Iraq. The Great War for Civilisation is written with passion and anger, a reporter's eyewitness account of the Middle East's history. All the most dangerous men of the past quarter century in the region -- from Osama bin Laden to Ayatollah Khomeini, from Saddam to Ariel Sharon -- come alive in these pages. Fisk has met most of them, and even spent the night out at a guerrilla camp with bin Laden himself. In a narrative of blood and mass killing, Fisk tells the story of the growing hatred of the West by millions of Muslims, the West's cynical support for the Middle East's most ruthless dictators and America's ever more powerful military presence in the world's most dangerous lands as well as its uncritical, unconditional support for Israel's occupation of Palestinian land. It is also a story of journalists at war, of the rage, humour and frustration… (more)
Media reviews
There are no illustrations in the text, but there is an end paper portrait of Bin Laden, looking benign but, oddly, a bit drunk. A great book is a great evil, wrote Callimachus. Vigilant editing and ruthless pruning could perhaps have made two or three good short books out of this one.
This is really several books fighting each other inside the sack. It could have been an intelligent young person's guide to Western Asia, or a concentrated, closely structured polemic against American policy in the region, or just a memoir.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Karen_Wells
I used to be a rabid Fisk-hater, and I like to think that few could touch me on that score. Then along came the debacle of Iraq, and I was foolish enough to actually read him. My problem now, is how to even attempt to do justice to this book.
If you want to know how the world actually is, instead
It would be a superb book if it stopped at this, a summing-up of what he has learned and witnessed. But there is a good deal more in this huge and panoramic book; in keeping with the theme of politics being about individual human lives, he uses his own father, a WW1 survivor and a man he didn't like, as a kind of talisman for the history of the 20th century. Then again, there are some very funny stories included too, as one might expect to be accrued by a war correspondent on active duty. I wonder if there's another book in the world which can single-handedly remove as much ignorance as this one? I have to say, I rather doubt it.
If you want to know how the world actually is, instead
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of how you thought it was, read this book. Because he isn't just a theoriser or a commentator or a pundit. His own two eyes have seen it. The case he makes is ironclad and inescapable, because he was actually *there*, in the heart of the world, for fifteen years. But politics in itself can only engage the intellect; it can't move you to tears. Only human stories can do that. Not once, ever, does Fisk talk about politics - wars and systems and corruptions and what-have-you - in a vacuum. Always, the focus comes right in close to the resulting agony and loss inflicted on a single human being or a family. No book has ever made me shed so many tears as this. A propagandist? A manipulator? Hardly. He isn't a Chomsky sitting at a desk three thousand miles away. How do you put 'spin' on a burnt child you have personally witnessed writhing in a hospital? It would be a superb book if it stopped at this, a summing-up of what he has learned and witnessed. But there is a good deal more in this huge and panoramic book; in keeping with the theme of politics being about individual human lives, he uses his own father, a WW1 survivor and a man he didn't like, as a kind of talisman for the history of the 20th century. Then again, there are some very funny stories included too, as one might expect to be accrued by a war correspondent on active duty. I wonder if there's another book in the world which can single-handedly remove as much ignorance as this one? I have to say, I rather doubt it.
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LibraryThing member roblong
The Great War for Civilisation covers the past thirty years of Middle Eastern history, as covered by Fisk, with pauses to take in more distant reaches such as the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire. The book is vast and a real education in the region’s recent history. It is intensely
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partisan; Fisk is a journalist and his writing is highly emotive (which makes it all the more involving): he is pro-Palestinian and regards Western policy across the region as arrogant, foolish and catastrophic. His vivid depictions of the wars and atrocities of the past thirty years amount pass comprehensible levels of horror, and reading the book is a largely dispiriting experience, leavened by the acts of kindness from the people who have to cope with it on a daily basis. Show Less
LibraryThing member Miro
In a recent interview Robert Fisk concluded that his 30 years of writing and reporting on Middle East troubles had not led to any improvement so he regarded his work there as a failure.
I would disagree, in that "The Great War for Civilisation" explores the Middle East conflict in a context of
He doesn't spell it out but his conclusions are;
-Turkey admitting the Armenian genocide as the Germans have done with the Jewish genocide. This would be good for their EEC aspirations and the health of their democracy.
- Israel unilaterally removing all the West Bank settlements and wall, and offering help and support to a new democratic and viable Palestine state.
- Arab states and the world community accepting the results of free elections even if they don't like them. Allow the Islamist democratic winners in Algeria to form a government. Accept Hamas as the democratically elected government of the Palestinians.
- Remove all government support from extreme Islamist and Jewish organizations. eg. Saudi support of Wahhabism, Pakistan's I.S.I.O. support of Afghani Taliban, Likud support for fundamentalist settlers and AIPAC manipulation of the US government.
- Make the Middle East a nuclear weapon free zone. i.e. Cancel Israel's secret nuclear weapons program and destroy its warheads + remove all nuclear development in Iran, Syria etc.
- Withdraw foreign troops from Iraq and Afghanistan in the same way that the Syrains left Lebanon + the US and GB admitting that WMD was a lie and that they tried to manipulate the UN as cover for their invasion.
He's saying that justice and fairness are the basis for peace (and growth) rather than traditional Middle Eastern power relationships.
I would disagree, in that "The Great War for Civilisation" explores the Middle East conflict in a context of
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justice and fairness, so the success of the book is that more people can see the basis for Middle East peace. Fortunately it's a bestseller.He doesn't spell it out but his conclusions are;
-Turkey admitting the Armenian genocide as the Germans have done with the Jewish genocide. This would be good for their EEC aspirations and the health of their democracy.
- Israel unilaterally removing all the West Bank settlements and wall, and offering help and support to a new democratic and viable Palestine state.
- Arab states and the world community accepting the results of free elections even if they don't like them. Allow the Islamist democratic winners in Algeria to form a government. Accept Hamas as the democratically elected government of the Palestinians.
- Remove all government support from extreme Islamist and Jewish organizations. eg. Saudi support of Wahhabism, Pakistan's I.S.I.O. support of Afghani Taliban, Likud support for fundamentalist settlers and AIPAC manipulation of the US government.
- Make the Middle East a nuclear weapon free zone. i.e. Cancel Israel's secret nuclear weapons program and destroy its warheads + remove all nuclear development in Iran, Syria etc.
- Withdraw foreign troops from Iraq and Afghanistan in the same way that the Syrains left Lebanon + the US and GB admitting that WMD was a lie and that they tried to manipulate the UN as cover for their invasion.
He's saying that justice and fairness are the basis for peace (and growth) rather than traditional Middle Eastern power relationships.
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LibraryThing member mbmackay
Comprehensive (1300 pages!) detailing of the continuing insanity of US (Western) policy on Israel and the Middle East and how this has come to fruition in the Bush-led debacle of invaded Iraq. Confirms what I had thought all along, and adds details and facts to support the view. Particularly
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poignant in coverage of the Palestinians – who have so lost hope that they now grow suicide bombers. Until the West forces Israel to come to some lasting settlement with the Palestinians, they will never have the “security” that their retaliation to the suicide bombings is intended to deliver. Read March 2008 Show Less
LibraryThing member jrcovey
At 1,286 pages, a long and sometimes draining read, but a necessary and compelling one from a passionate voice of conscience. From the three interviews with Osama bin Laden in the opening chapter, to his closing-chapter anecdotes of sitting first in Saddam Hussein's throne and then his foxhole,
What I most admire about this book is the way that it puts the lie to the idea that you cannot be fully engaged both with history and with the contemporary moment. He sees each moment in its historical context without defensive detachment, and articulates the hypocrisy in every cruel, unthinking political decision and action.
Even the most hardened cynic may be shocked at some of his descriptions of violence and brutality. The chapter on Algeria, notably, is not for the faint of heart or sensitive of stomach.
A few published reviews suggest that Fisk, against his own intention, creates the impression that there is nothing more to the Middle East than unending cycles of horrific violence. To some degree I agree with that criticism, but I think that this is largely inevitable due to his his journalistic role in covering specific events.
For many in North America, 9/11 happened essentially out of the blue. Fisk attempts to document that long-term collective media crime by giving us 1,019 pages of lead-up to that event. There is no comparably thorough account.
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Fisk has been there and seen it in the Middle East & Central Asia.What I most admire about this book is the way that it puts the lie to the idea that you cannot be fully engaged both with history and with the contemporary moment. He sees each moment in its historical context without defensive detachment, and articulates the hypocrisy in every cruel, unthinking political decision and action.
Even the most hardened cynic may be shocked at some of his descriptions of violence and brutality. The chapter on Algeria, notably, is not for the faint of heart or sensitive of stomach.
A few published reviews suggest that Fisk, against his own intention, creates the impression that there is nothing more to the Middle East than unending cycles of horrific violence. To some degree I agree with that criticism, but I think that this is largely inevitable due to his his journalistic role in covering specific events.
For many in North America, 9/11 happened essentially out of the blue. Fisk attempts to document that long-term collective media crime by giving us 1,019 pages of lead-up to that event. There is no comparably thorough account.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ashergabbay
This is a book every Israeli should read.
Robert Fisk is a British journalist who writes for The Independent. He lives in Beirut and has been reporting from the Middle East for decades, having witnessed many of the region’s conflicts firsthand. The West’s interest in Osama Bin Laden following
In this book, Fisk sets out to explain the “Conquest of the Middle East” (the subtitle of this book). He borrows the name of the book - “The Great War for Civilization” – from words engraved on one of the medals his father received for participating in World War One (Fisk’s father features prominently in this book, with Fisk the son expending considerable efforts to reconcile his pacifistic ideals with the fact that his father wore a uniform and held a gun). The book covers many of the conflicts in the Middle East: the Armenian Genocide, Algeria’s civil war for overthrowing French colonial rule, the eight-year Iraq-Iran war, the civil war in Lebanon, the Soviet and West’s wars in Afghanistan, the two Gulf wars in Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Fisk was witness to many horrors in these wars. His prose is most masterly when he describes these horrors in great detail. We get to know many of the victims personally, and some get a “mini biography” several pages long, as Fisk traces their families and friends to reconstruct a life that has been brutally taken or shattered by war. Afghans, Algerians, Iranians, Iraqis, Lebanese and many other Arab and Muslim victims receive a passionate and compassionate treatment. In this respect, Fisk’s attention to detail and his aptitude for understanding human suffering are remarkable.
But given Fisk’s extensive experience and knowledge of the Middle East and the grandiose title of the book, one would have expected this voluminous tome (well over 1,000 pages in hardcover) to provide an insightful and well though-out perspective into the “conquest of the Middle East”. That was certainly my expectation.
Instead of a perspective we get a rambling, disordered memoir that is despairingly long and pompously self-centered. After a few hundred pages, the reader comes to realise that this is not a book about the Middle East conflict or even the victims of war; it is a book about Fisk and his terribly misguided outlook on life, an outlook that can be summarised in a few short sentences. Everything the West does is wrong, especially the US and Britain. The Arabs are blameless victims of the West’s brutal aggression. There is no such thing as “terrorism”, only the desperate acts of people who have been repressed and abused for too long. And, last but not least, we have a modern-day prophet who can open our eyes and expose all the lies: Robert Fisk.
As an account of the Middle East conflict, this book is a total failure. It reads like a collection of newspaper columns, shoddily lumped together with little thought given about what they all mean. There is no “big picture” perspective. The graphic detail of some of the war horrors are borderline war porn. Fisk’s shattered soul after decades of reporting these horrors is understandable, yet one is left with an uneasy feeling that it is Fisk we are really supposed to feel sorry about, not the real victims.
Now the reason why this is a book every Israeli should read.
Fisk’s commendable humanitarian approach to the victims of the “Great War for Civilization” in the Middle East is nonexistent when it comes to Israeli victims. The innocent lives of the hundreds of Israelis who died in senseless and barbarous terrorist attacks by Palestinian terrorists get only a cursory mention, and almost always in order to find some excuse to exonerate the terrorist and “explain” his motives. In most cases the Israeli victims have no name; none get the biographical treatment that Arab victims get in this book. Fisk is unable to mask his hatred of Israel and his bigotry is exposed in all its ugliness when he is incapable of feeling any compassion towards Israelis whose lives were torn apart by war.
It is important for Israelis to understand Fisk, because his attitude is representative of the outlook of many Europeans towards Israel. Fisk is not ignorant of the facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict, yet his selective and one-sided views influence those of many who are not as well-versed in the facts. This delegitimisation of Israel in the guise of pacifistic humanitarianism is a danger we should all be aware of, and Fisk is an excellent example of this danger.
Robert Fisk is a British journalist who writes for The Independent. He lives in Beirut and has been reporting from the Middle East for decades, having witnessed many of the region’s conflicts firsthand. The West’s interest in Osama Bin Laden following
Show More
the 9/11 terror attacks in the US propelled him to fame, because of his interviews with the bearded arch-terrorist during the 1990s.In this book, Fisk sets out to explain the “Conquest of the Middle East” (the subtitle of this book). He borrows the name of the book - “The Great War for Civilization” – from words engraved on one of the medals his father received for participating in World War One (Fisk’s father features prominently in this book, with Fisk the son expending considerable efforts to reconcile his pacifistic ideals with the fact that his father wore a uniform and held a gun). The book covers many of the conflicts in the Middle East: the Armenian Genocide, Algeria’s civil war for overthrowing French colonial rule, the eight-year Iraq-Iran war, the civil war in Lebanon, the Soviet and West’s wars in Afghanistan, the two Gulf wars in Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Fisk was witness to many horrors in these wars. His prose is most masterly when he describes these horrors in great detail. We get to know many of the victims personally, and some get a “mini biography” several pages long, as Fisk traces their families and friends to reconstruct a life that has been brutally taken or shattered by war. Afghans, Algerians, Iranians, Iraqis, Lebanese and many other Arab and Muslim victims receive a passionate and compassionate treatment. In this respect, Fisk’s attention to detail and his aptitude for understanding human suffering are remarkable.
But given Fisk’s extensive experience and knowledge of the Middle East and the grandiose title of the book, one would have expected this voluminous tome (well over 1,000 pages in hardcover) to provide an insightful and well though-out perspective into the “conquest of the Middle East”. That was certainly my expectation.
Instead of a perspective we get a rambling, disordered memoir that is despairingly long and pompously self-centered. After a few hundred pages, the reader comes to realise that this is not a book about the Middle East conflict or even the victims of war; it is a book about Fisk and his terribly misguided outlook on life, an outlook that can be summarised in a few short sentences. Everything the West does is wrong, especially the US and Britain. The Arabs are blameless victims of the West’s brutal aggression. There is no such thing as “terrorism”, only the desperate acts of people who have been repressed and abused for too long. And, last but not least, we have a modern-day prophet who can open our eyes and expose all the lies: Robert Fisk.
As an account of the Middle East conflict, this book is a total failure. It reads like a collection of newspaper columns, shoddily lumped together with little thought given about what they all mean. There is no “big picture” perspective. The graphic detail of some of the war horrors are borderline war porn. Fisk’s shattered soul after decades of reporting these horrors is understandable, yet one is left with an uneasy feeling that it is Fisk we are really supposed to feel sorry about, not the real victims.
Now the reason why this is a book every Israeli should read.
Fisk’s commendable humanitarian approach to the victims of the “Great War for Civilization” in the Middle East is nonexistent when it comes to Israeli victims. The innocent lives of the hundreds of Israelis who died in senseless and barbarous terrorist attacks by Palestinian terrorists get only a cursory mention, and almost always in order to find some excuse to exonerate the terrorist and “explain” his motives. In most cases the Israeli victims have no name; none get the biographical treatment that Arab victims get in this book. Fisk is unable to mask his hatred of Israel and his bigotry is exposed in all its ugliness when he is incapable of feeling any compassion towards Israelis whose lives were torn apart by war.
It is important for Israelis to understand Fisk, because his attitude is representative of the outlook of many Europeans towards Israel. Fisk is not ignorant of the facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict, yet his selective and one-sided views influence those of many who are not as well-versed in the facts. This delegitimisation of Israel in the guise of pacifistic humanitarianism is a danger we should all be aware of, and Fisk is an excellent example of this danger.
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LibraryThing member maykram
An interesting read, Fisk is obviously passionate about the situation in the Middle East
LibraryThing member patito-de-hule
This book was hard to classify--history? or current affairs? Nor is it about terrorism, but it covers the author's half century of reporting experience in the middle east. It includes important information as well as interpretation for those interested in the world of Islam and how it came to be
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the way it is now. I intend to reread a little slower and check out some sources, but I'll go for four start for now. Show Less
LibraryThing member Martin444
This is full of the amazing telling of random adventures and biting analysis of the author who has been a Middle East correspondent for English newspapers for most of his life and may never retire. It covers virtually all of the many Middle Eastern conflicts over thirty years including visits with
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Bin Laden and covers it all with insight if occasionally with undue obsession. The story of his near-death encounter in Pakistan is simply amazing and his reaction is incredible. I'm now a confirmed Fiskite as a result of this comprehensive and compendious work. It's worth every hour of reading it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gerrit
Now reading - a stunning read. Simply overwhelming, and highly confronting.
LibraryThing member Hubster
A series of articles on the middle east from a journalist who seems to of spent a life time covering the middle east; a man who met Osama bin Laden the resistance fighter against the Soviet Union before becoming Osama 'the terrorist'
Unashamedly journalistic and openly opinionated, still a great
Show More
guide to the middle east and it's recent as well as ongoing problems. Show Less
LibraryThing member HadriantheBlind
Noble-winged seraphs of the jury, look at this tangle of thorns.
See the eruption of this area in flames, see the piles of skulls disintegrating in the wind, see houses ridden with bullets and children torn apart in martyrdom, see trenches full of soldiers, dead of gas.
I would like to read his
This is a fearsome history, scourging and lamenting, leaving none as the moral victor. Only war, and the failings of the human spirit.
Read it, damn you.
See the eruption of this area in flames, see the piles of skulls disintegrating in the wind, see houses ridden with bullets and children torn apart in martyrdom, see trenches full of soldiers, dead of gas.
I would like to read his
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thoughts on current events, on new revolutions and civil wars, and faint hopes on democracy, but I doubt, after what he has seen and heard, he has any hope.This is a fearsome history, scourging and lamenting, leaving none as the moral victor. Only war, and the failings of the human spirit.
Read it, damn you.
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LibraryThing member beniez
Brilliant.. and sad. A comprehensive account of what we (the "west") have done to the Middle East over the past century... and what they've done to themselves.
LibraryThing member stillatim
I imagine the editor of this book thinking once every two pages "hm... maybe we could cut this out?" and then the very next paragraph being a rant about editorial intervention/dilution/censorship, which leads the editor to think "hm... don't really want to be the subject of one of *those*. I guess
It's also not really a book--it's a series of short books. There are great short books on Afghanistan, the Armenian genocide (um, I mean, 'random disappearance of hundreds of thousands of Armenians'), the Iran/Iraq war, the arms trade, and Algeria. There are pretty good short books about the first Iraq war and Israel/Palestine. There are very boring short books about Fisk's grandfather, Fisk's own massive sense of self-righteousness and self-doubt, and the invasion of Iraq (really? the 'willing' killed civilians? tell me more for another 200 pages!).
The problem for Fisk is that he quite rightly believes in bringing individuals to the reader's attention, so we don't get all abstract about the slaughter and carnage: these are real people. But when you pile on more than two or three names, the individuals become just as abstract, and my anger, at least, started to dissipate. Once we got back to narrative history, my anger picked up again. And surely that's the purpose of this book--to make Westerners angry at our governments and ourselves. Mission accomplished, as the President once said.
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I'll just let him ramble on. Which is too bad, because at 800 pages or so this would have been an amazing, amazing book. Without the subtraction of 500 pages, it's just really good. It's also not really a book--it's a series of short books. There are great short books on Afghanistan, the Armenian genocide (um, I mean, 'random disappearance of hundreds of thousands of Armenians'), the Iran/Iraq war, the arms trade, and Algeria. There are pretty good short books about the first Iraq war and Israel/Palestine. There are very boring short books about Fisk's grandfather, Fisk's own massive sense of self-righteousness and self-doubt, and the invasion of Iraq (really? the 'willing' killed civilians? tell me more for another 200 pages!).
The problem for Fisk is that he quite rightly believes in bringing individuals to the reader's attention, so we don't get all abstract about the slaughter and carnage: these are real people. But when you pile on more than two or three names, the individuals become just as abstract, and my anger, at least, started to dissipate. Once we got back to narrative history, my anger picked up again. And surely that's the purpose of this book--to make Westerners angry at our governments and ourselves. Mission accomplished, as the President once said.
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LibraryThing member bke
This is a massive book, but then it would have to be in order to even attempt to explain the current convoluted middle east situation. The depth of the emotions of the peoples of the region do not bode well for our own folly of intervention in the region. If you do not have time to read all 1200
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pages, at least try to read the last four chapters. Btw, if you are a fan of Israel, you will not like this book. Israel comes off very badly. Show Less
LibraryThing member Hae-Yu
While his politics may or may not be agreeable, there is no doubt that Mr. Fisk is a first-rate storyteller. This collection of stories of the author's experiences in many conflicts over approximately 30 years is well worth the polemics. What keeps it from being a 5-star book is that several times
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Fisk will be telling a fantastic account and then drop off into a subjective, emotionally charged conclusion filled with allegations that do not follow from the story. I was so disappointed in the Algerian story which was great for all but the last 2 pages and then petered out limply with innuendo and vague, unsupported allegations. Show Less
LibraryThing member Hubster
A series of articles on the middle east from a journalist who seems to of spent a life time covering the middle east; a man who met Osama bin Laden the resistance fighter against the Soviet Union before becoming Osama 'the terrorist'
Unashamedly journalistic and openly opinionated, still a great
Show More
guide to the middle east and it's recent as well as ongoing problems. Show Less
LibraryThing member jonfaith
But war is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
It would be spurious to suggest that I'm not haunted by this book. Maybe it is a touch of American isolationism, perhaps a hint of xenophobia, that we --
Robert Fisk has proven, amongst loftier achievements, to be an audible author. Dozens of times over the past three days I sighed and groaned under the spell of his vivid accounts. Whereas his devotion to the Iran-Iraq War was singular and crushing, his interlude revisiting the Armenian genocide was overly familiar given our reading last summer of Burning Tigris, a text Fisk cites on several turns. Yesterday afternoon I arrived at the plight of the Palestinians the expanse and compunction of the myriad Treaties and Accords, the all-too-familiar events which I recall so directly, the settlements, the Intifadas, the ultimate fall of Sharon and Arafat, who asked Fisk about Michael Collins’ fate.
All of these insights imprint themselves on the conscious reader. I hesitate to say accusations ring and that culpability adheres like the noisome legacy of an accident. I dare anyone to attempt otherwise.
It would be spurious to suggest that I'm not haunted by this book. Maybe it is a touch of American isolationism, perhaps a hint of xenophobia, that we --
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meaning I -- don't peer more into these pages. Robert Fisk has proven, amongst loftier achievements, to be an audible author. Dozens of times over the past three days I sighed and groaned under the spell of his vivid accounts. Whereas his devotion to the Iran-Iraq War was singular and crushing, his interlude revisiting the Armenian genocide was overly familiar given our reading last summer of Burning Tigris, a text Fisk cites on several turns. Yesterday afternoon I arrived at the plight of the Palestinians the expanse and compunction of the myriad Treaties and Accords, the all-too-familiar events which I recall so directly, the settlements, the Intifadas, the ultimate fall of Sharon and Arafat, who asked Fisk about Michael Collins’ fate.
All of these insights imprint themselves on the conscious reader. I hesitate to say accusations ring and that culpability adheres like the noisome legacy of an accident. I dare anyone to attempt otherwise.
Show Less
Awards
National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist — General Nonfiction — 2005)
Arthur Ross Book Award (Shortlist — 2007)
Language
Original publication date
2005
ISBN
184115007X / 9781841150079