The Modern View of the Middle East

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how these two books indicate the great gap between Eastern and Western culture and beliefs. The paper portrays how the Middle East is still steeped in violence, ancient religious doctrine and old-world cities that seem to have stepped back in time. The paper looks at the authors' view that if the Middle East is going to be competitive in the modern world, it must modernize and throw off some of the ancient customs that bind it.

From the Paper:

"Women are viewed differently in the two books, and even more differently here in the west. In Horwitz' book, he makes little mention of the women because the people he deals with do not mention them at all. He sees few women and most of the ones he sees are covered in traditional dress from head to toe. Most of the encounters he has are with men because they do the business and run the countries. When his wife has to wear a chador, he writes, "Geraldine, have endured months of hoots and propositions from Arab males, welcomed her sexless disguise. I found it creepy. With one flick of the wrist, she'd transformed herself from the object of my desire into a forbidding black phantom, a foot soldier of the Islamic Republic" (Horwitz 235)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brooks, Geraldine. Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women. New York: Anchor Books, 1995.
• Horwitz, Tony. Baghdad Without a Map: And Other Misadventures in Arabia. New York: Dutton, 1991.

More papers on The Modern View of the Middle East:

• Book Review # 94434 : "Modern Middle East"
• Research Paper # 66446 : "An Examination of the Middle East Conflict"
• Term Paper # 69065 : "Middle Eastern Conflict"

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