Despite its limitations, a worthwhile grouping of journalistic assessments of the war on terror.
A collection of newspaper columns written in the wake of the 9/11 attacks examines the war on terror and the political troubles of the Arab world.
Stalinsky meticulously chronicled the war on terror that followed the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks in a weekly column for the New York Sun. This book is an assemblage of those columns from 2004 to 2007, an eclectic mix that covers a broad spectrum of topics of a political and cultural tincture. The author particularly focuses on the extent to which ideological extremism pervaded the Middle East, not only on the fanatical periphery of Arab life, but also within its core political and journalistic institutions. For example, Stalinsky doggedly documents seething antisemitism in news programs on Arab and Iranian television and the incitements to prejudice and violence espoused on Al Jazeera, often considered a neutral news outlet in the Western world. In addition, the author examines the prevalence of virulently hateful conspiracy theories throughout the Middle East as well as the ways in which Arab political reformers heroically attempted to debunk them. Many of those theories revolved around the 9/11 attacks, the event that forms the thematic core of this volume: “As each year passes following the attacks of September 11, 2001, conspiracy theories surrounding that day continue to appear on Arab and Iranian TV. While it will be commemorated as a solemn day in America as in much of the world, unfortunately, in the Middle East, it will be continued to be blamed on others.” Stalinsky’s reports are lucidly written and tautly argued, and he provides an important peek into a world awash in a dangerous combination of misinformation and discriminatory contempt. But since the columns weren’t originally composed to be presented as a journalistic whole, they finally become quite repetitive. Moreover, given the profound failures of the war on terror initiated during the George W. Bush administration, the author’s support for it seems at best dated, if not deeply myopic. Still, this remains an astute collection of cultural analyses and an intriguing look back into the still fresh past.
Despite its limitations, a worthwhile grouping of journalistic assessments of the war on terror.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73442-832-2
Page Count: 364
Publisher: MEMRI Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: tomorrow
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
