The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice Since 1967
This book deals with the dilemma posed by the perceived failure of Arab nationalism in the wake of the 1967 defeat of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria by Israel in the Six Day War, and explains how political Islam evolved out of the ashes of the statist nationalist ideologies embraced by Nasserite Egypt and the Baath Party in Syria and Iraq by constructing and objectifying an idealized Islamic past. Includes a detailed analysis of 20th Century Egyptian political history and a survey of the thought of leading intellectuals in the nationalist and Islamist movements, including many figures whose works are still not available in English. A valuable resource, but not friendly to the general reader without a basic grounding in Middle Eastern history.