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A decade after the 9/11 attacks, this groundbreaking book takes readers deep into rebellions against both autocrats and extremists that are redefining politics, culture, and security threats across the Islamic world. The awakening involves hundreds of millions of people. And the political transformations' and tectonic changes'are only beginning. Robin Wright, an acclaimed foreign correspondent and television commentator, has covered the region for four decades. She witnessed the full cycle, from extremism's angry birth and globalization to the rise of new movements transforming the last bloc of countries to hold out against democracy. Now, in Rock the Casbah, she chronicles the new order being shaped by youthinspired revolts toppling leaders, clerics repudiating al Qaeda, playwrights and poets crafting messages of a counter-jihad, comedians ridiculing militancy, hip-hop rapping against guns and bombs, and women mobilizing for their own rights. This new counter-jihad has many goals. For some, it's about reforming the faith. For others, it's about reforming political systems. For most, it's about achieving basic rights. The common denominator is the rejection of venomous ideologies and suicide bombs, plane hijackings, hostage-takings, and mass violence to achieve those ends. Wright captures a stunning moment in history, one of the region's four key junctures'along with Iran's revolution, Israel's creation, and the Ottoman Empire's collapse'in a century. The notion of a clash of civilizations is increasingly being replaced by a commonality of civilizations in the twenty-first century. But she candidly details both the possibilities and pitfalls ahead. The new counter-jihad is imaginative and defiant, but Muslim societies are also politically inexperienced and economically challenged

The Middle East : the propects -- The Palestinians : the conundrum -- Egypt : the turning points -- Egypt : the players -- Lebanon : the dreamers -- Lebanon : the shadows -- Syria : the outlaws -- Iran : the revolutionaries -- Iran : the reactionaries -- Morocco : the compromises -- Iraq and the United States : the furies

Four "unexplored realities" - the possible by-products of the Gulf crisis and potential political flashpoints - in the post-crisis Middle East are discussed: the future of Iraq, the political costs for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, the crisis' effect upon Arab unity, and the status of the PLO. Although some positive elements have emerged (renewal at the United Nations, international coalition in the Gulf), the long-term cost-benefit ratio is not in favor of US interests or even those of Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. (DÜI-Hns)

According to the author, Islam has proved to be a dynamic and energetic force at a time when the world is awash with new political formulations. He discusses Islam's political appeal and notes that its appeal has grown because of economic hardship, political failure, social turmoil or a combination of all three. These are the very reasons that Middle East governments have began to experiment with pluralism and democracy. (DÜI-Sen)