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[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [title] title Storm from the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World & the Christian West [author] author Viorst, Milton [isbn] isbn 0812974190 [isbn13] isbn13 9780812974195 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 224 pp [avg rating] avg rating 3.73 [num ratings] num ratings 41 [date pub] date pub Apr 18, 2006 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition Apr 17, 2007 [rating] Lucas's rating 2 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 0 [votes] votes 0 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started not set [date read] date read Jan 05, 2009 [date added] date added Jan 01, 2009 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format Paperback [29] actions view [review] 
review This books wants to be a topical book about the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but instead presents about 100 years of the general history of the Mi This books wants to be a topical book about the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but instead presents about 100 years of the general history of the Middle East while constantly offering up parallels and contrasts to the current day events. The first section is very scattered: the author jumps around in dates and events and it's not clear what point he's trying to make. After that there is not much history given of the Crusades or other significant events, the book starts at about 1915 and then moves forward chronologically while backing up occasionally when the country under discussion changes. The book has some interesting history that I was not aware of, but is shallow. I think the first level of shallowness is for a person to view the motivations of everybody else as being for or against a single particular cause. The next level, where this book mostly resides, is to recognize that different groups of people have different overlapping causes that sometimes come into conflict and sometimes work together, but that those groups are mostly blind to that fact since they reside at the first level. In the book the author describes the actions of U.S. policy as always being in opposition to communism, and religious divisions or nationalism being the motivations for most others. But it's a useful simplification given the short length of the book. ...more
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