The Power of Footnotes
1. My idea of the ideal text is still the Talmud. I love the idea of parallel texts, with long, discursive footnotes and marginal commentary, texts commenting on texts. –Noam Chomsky, Mother Jones interview, 1987…
Category: Middle East
Share the Wealth with Shahed Megdal: The Arab Conference at Harvard
About the conference: Arab Conference at Harvard is the largest Arab conference in America, bringing together thousands of students and professionals to discuss key issues with the region’s most prominent politicians, business people, and civil…
Sara Roy speaks to Germans
Your sense of guilt, if that is the correct word, should not derive from criticizing Israel. It should reside in remaining silent in the face of injustice as so many of your forebears did before,…
The Essential Edward Said–Summer Class 2019
Edward Said was a voice of sanity and courage for literally millions of people around the world and made a brilliant contribution to modern culture and understanding. He was the most eloquent, knowledgeable, and thoughtful…
“Life Must Be Serious or It Can Go to the Devil”
Naguib Mahfouz, Mirrors [Al-Maraya] Illustrated by Seif Wanli Translated by Roger Allen —March 2005 What an odd book! It can be a goad to do something experimental in the future. It is a series of…
The Way It Looked in 1987
A huge amount of work obviously remains to be done, and as the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza enters its third decade one realizes that the magnitude of liberation required can only…
The Long Trail behind You
Shirin Ebadi, with Azadeh Moaveni, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope But a personal story is more powerful than any dry summary of why a given law should be changed. To attract people’s…
To Have Been Exiled by Exiles
I was rereading Edward Said’s Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, which is a great collection of essays on literature and culture with exploration of the experiences of dislocation, exile, migration, and empire as well…
Unpronounceable Words
George McGovern and William R. Polk, Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now March 2007 Dear Andrew, I have finished McGovern and Polk’s primer on the catastrophe in Iraq and how to get…
Finkelstein’s Gaza
I just received Norman Finkelstein’s latest book, Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom. I noticed this blurb by Alice Walker: “This is the voice I listen for, when I want to learn the deepest reality…