A couple of summers ago, we at the Monitor asked three of our Middle East correspondents which books on the Middle East they thought had the most value. They each compiled a list of books they had read that rang true to them.
Not surprisingly, many of them were books by journalists who, like them, had lived in the Middle East for long periods of time and were able to bring first-hand expertise to their writing. One of the most highly recommended books on that list was “The Occupation” by Patrick Cockburn. Cockburn is an Irish journalist who has been working in the Middle East since 1979.
He’s seen it all and he knows his stuff. So it’s both timely and useful that he should come out with his new book Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq” just at a moment when Muqtada is much in the headlines.
To see the Monitor’s review of “Muqtada” by Monitor staffer Michael B. Farrell, click here.
