Reading: Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present, by Michael Oren
Time/Date: 6:30 pm / September 15, 2009
Location: Khyber Pass, Hillcrest, San Diego
Attendees: Eric, Suraj, Dan, Carlos, Rusty, Lee, Alan, Glenn
What a treat this meeting was! The entire Eight Men Out were present. We were seated in a private loft room, with low bench seats arranged in a square at low tables, with plush red cushion. I have no idea if it was authentically Middle Eastern or Afghani, but it was certainly enjoyable.
I only finished the first 1/3 of this long book. Dense yet immensely readable, Michael Oren’s book surveyed America’s involvement in the Middle East since America’s start in 1776. What may be as interesting a side story is that Michael Oren, Israel’s current Ambassador to the United States was for most of his life a U.S. citizen. His credentials make him immensely suitable to serve in that capacity, but Israel’s policy is that its Ambassador must hold sole citizenship in Israel. Thus, Mr. Oren had to renunciate his U.S. citizenship to take his current position.
Although I have gleaned much history from literature, I was fascinated by this book, how little I really knew about a subject matter that is daily in the news today and whose history informs current diplomatic relations between the U.S. and contemporary Middle Eastern states. Here is a summary of Oren’s book:
“Given the confusion and general polarization that our country suffers from our present political and military intrusions into the Middle Eastern areas, it would seem sensible in forming our opinions to understand the history of events that have taken us to this point. Oren has provided us with such documentation as covers the 230 years of our relationship with this crucial area, which should be helpful to better understand how we got into such entanglements as we now face. This book takes us from the founding of our country after breaking the colonizing bonds of the British, to early conflicts and attempted resolutions to effect commerce with Arab cities of the North African Barbary Coast, through the ultimate dissolution of the Ottoman Empire with formation of independent countries, and finally to extensions of events in such countries as have a majority of Islamic people. There is considerable focus on the foundation, politics, and military actions of Israel, including strife vis. a’ vis. Jewish and PLO Arabs within its present borders and with the larger numbers of Islamic peoples in surrounding areas such as Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. In text-like but readable fashion, the book details the principal people, actions, treatises, and dates. Sufficient and reasonable sources are cited.” (by Don McCormick – http://www.uuview.org/Power,Faith and Fantasy.htm)
Whether the book presents a balanced view or not, that’s up to your own book club members to decide.
As much as anything though, the evening was enhanced by the superb selection of restaurant to accompany this work. Khyber Pass is an Afghani restaurant and the food (whether truly Afghani or not) is first-rate, so much so that it prompted a return trip with my wife. We shared several platters of appetizers and shared portions of main dishes as well. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves immensely.
We decided to try a new genre this time, invoking Achar’s rule (no work shall be over 700 pages long, or all works must be under x pages long (precipitated by the fact that Oren’s book was very long) – the rule has yet to be ratified as the work we chose is 703 or 708 pages long!). We chose science fiction as a genre, and in consulting a list of the best science fiction books for non-geeks, we were involved in a split-decision, with some members choosing one work, and the other side of the room choosing another. The “another” won. Stay tuned to find out just how successful that choice was.
Keep reading.