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The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest Of The Middle East Paperback – 1 June 2007
by Robert Fisk (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,197)
Robert Fisk’s bestselling eyewitness account of the events that have shaped the Middle East is alive with vivid reporting and incisive historical analysis.
The history of the Middle East is an epic story of tragedy, betrayal and world-shaking events. It is a story that Robert Fisk has been reporting for over thirty years. His masterful narrative spans the most volatile regions of the Middle East, chronicling with both rage and compassion the death by deceit of tens of thousands of Muslims, Christians and Jews.
Robert Fisk’s remarkable history is also the tale of a journalist at war – learning of the 9/11 attacks while aboard a passenger jet, reporting from a bombed-out Baghdad, interviewing Osama bin Laden – and of the courage and frustration of a life spent writing the first draft of history.
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The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
Robert Fisk
4.41
5,704 ratings567 reviews
A sweeping and dramatic history of the last half century of conflict in the Middle East from an award-winning journalist who has covered the region for over thirty years, The Great War for Civilisation unflinchingly chronicles the tragedy of the region from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution; from the American hostage crisis in Beirut to the Iran-Iraq War; from the 1991 Gulf War to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. A book of searing drama as well as lucid, incisive analysis, The Great War for Civilisation is a work of major importance for today's world.
GenresHistoryNonfictionMiddle EastPoliticsWarJournalismWorld HistoryIslamSocietyCurrent Affairs ...show all
1111 pages, Paperback
First published October 3, 2005
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About the author
Robert Fisk47 books809 followers
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Robert Fisk was an English writer and journalist. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States'war in Afghanistan and its 2003 invasion of Iraq. Fisk holds more British and International Journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent. The New York Times once described Robert Fisk as "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain.
Fisk has said that journalism must "challenge authority, all authority, especially so when governments and politicians take us to war." He is a pacifist and has never voted.
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Ryan Mishap
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September 2, 2008
I was listening to an interview with Fisk, thirty years a reporter in the Middle East, on Democracy Now when Amy Goodman asked him what gave him hope. Five, ten, fifteen seconds of silence and then one word: nothing. The flat tone and finality of it caused me to choke on tears. Silence, then Goodman, almost incredulous, asked, “Nothing?” Fisk, responding, “No, nothing.” Then, sensing that this isn’t what the audience wanted—or perhaps needed—he back-pedaled and said something about compassionate people, etc. It is the “nothing” that stays in my thoughts.
And what other word is appropriate? No other word comes to mind after having read this massive personal/political memoir. Life and death and death and lies and suffering and hubris and death. History for you, yeah, and there was some joy mixed in.
From the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq in 2003, “Fisky” was there “monitoring the centres of power”, in the words of the Israeli journalist Amiri Haas. This 1000 page book about reporting from some of the most brutal conflicts is shot through with Fisk’s memory of his parents and historical notes that provide eerie parallels to modern times: such as the British invasion of Iraq in 1916. Fisk does not provide us with a vain reporter’s memoir filled with ego and triumph (he’s as hard on himself as on world leaders sometimes), but with an accounting of atrocities and a call to account to those in power. Brilliant, deadly, gruesome, compassionate, outraged, complicated, despondent—unflinchingly looks at horror and condemns all those who cause and condone it. Difficult to stomach just reading about the carnage and duplicity he has witnessed, but I don’t think Fisk believes in looking away, no matter how painful. Neither do I.
Highest recommendations.
personal-writing political-category
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Jibran
226 reviews780 followers
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March 27, 2016
If journalistic chronicle is first draft of history, here's a clarion call of a book that distills more than thirty years of reporting into a veritable micro history of the contemporary Middle East which, despite standing at 1300+ pages, feels too short for the staggering war saga in a state of flux.
This one book taught me more about the forces that shaped - rather misshaped - the Middle East post World War Two than the cacophony of "security experts" keeping publishing industry in business for their shallow analyses designed to hide more than reveal.
Robert Fisk warns in this book about the descent into chaos sitting just round the corner as a consequence of illegal Western wars of the previous decade, whether fought directly or by proxy, and West's propping up of the most illiberal forces in the region.
A decade later everything has come true.
empire history-politics middle-east
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Huyen
148 reviews265 followers
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July 17, 2009
Updated 18/06/09 (it's coincidence I finished this book exactly one year ago - currently rereading the chapters on Israel-Palestine)
Sorrow. Indignation. Dismay. Abhorrence. Horror. Disgust. Wrath. All the things that haunt you through the nights.
If there’s one history book that totally changes the way I see the world, it must be this one. It is an extremely hard read, not so much because of its length but the gruesome story told. Robert Fisk leads us through a harrowing journey of tremendous human sufferings, repugnant betrayal and indifference of the West, monstrous dictators and deplorable cowardice and hypocrisy of Western media and journalism.
While reading this book, the horror haunted me and a voice in my mind kept screaming: wtf? Isn’t it enough? How can we stop this? It was almost impossible not to cringe even when I skimmed through the passages describing the Armenian genocide, Saddam Hussein’s gassing his own people, Iraqi children withering away into oblivion in despair without medicine, Algerian babies dying with their throats slit open. The Middle East is a hell disaster, as Fisk describes it, and it has a lot to do with colonialism, conquest, war and “human folly at an unstoppable scale”. If you ever wonder why some “terrorist”, “barbarous” Palestinians, Iraqis hate America so much, this book offers a perfect explanation. It does not take that much, if your enemy is all-powerful and can kill your people with impunity or your would-be “liberators” imposed sanctions that silently killed and stunted half a million children and blasted your whole family to “liberate” you. No, it does not take that much at all. Just a “little” bit of indifference, cowardice, prejudice, ignorance and lots of “strategic interest”.
The tragedy started soon after the fall of Ottoman empire. The Middle East was carved up and given to a bunch of families without any regard for the wish of the people, despite Woodrow Wilson’s good intentions. The Kurds were betrayed, so too were the Armenians, the Syrians, the Palestinians, the Algerians, and later on the Iranians, the Saudi Arabs, the Iraqi Shiites and Kurds alike. One has all the right to doubt the Western slogan of democracy when they support all the most ruthless demons as long as they are on our side and typically conveniently walk away once their enemies are defeated without casting a single thought on those left behind.
Maybe the chapter that outraged me the most was the one on Iraq, with all heinous hypocrisy of the Americans. After liberating Kuwait and dropping more bombs on Iraq than on Japan and Germany during WWII, the USA appealed to the Iraqis people to stand up against Saddam Hussein and grotesquely abandoned them to Saddam’s callous forces. They stood a very good chance of getting rid of Saddam that year, but fearing the instability the Kurds might have caused to our good friend Turkey, the Americans preferred Saddam. And during that same decade, covert bombings destroyed the lives of thousands of people, with other millions dying without any medicine or clean water. And how ludicrously the Americans expected to be greeted as heroes years afterward.
Fisk’s story is one of human wickedness and viciousness, both from the powerful and the vanquished. It’s a vicious cycle of greed and brutality, despair and revenge, and more punishment, and more revenge. And I think this is exactly the problem with unquestionable power and the lack of just punishment for all sides, Americans or Israelis or Arabs. He also righteously expresses his disgust at the bias of western media in the face of authority and censorship. I believe Fisk has a clear bias, a bias toward the victims, the weak, the defenseless to bring their voices to the world, to speak strongly and harshly against power, empire and violence. Not only a depressing and brutally honest history work, the book is a passionate and bitter memoir of a man of impeccable courage and integrity.
There’s something very poignant and profound about this book that deeply affected me. It is perhaps our attitude toward history and responsibility in the present. I am not an American, not a Western, but let me pretend I am one just for a moment. There is something disgraceful and horrifying about the functioning of our democracy. When I saw the huge Gaza demonstration in Sydney, something very odd occurred to me. Somehow, our governments no longer represent our public opinion, which is against war and for a Palestinian state. America went to war in 2003 when the rest of the world was against it. Somehow, our voices no longer count, somehow, our government have this tremendous power to ignore us to go their way.
Our policy, often made by people who are ignorant of history or culture of the local people, indifferent to their wishes and have no idea what it is like to shiver in fear under the torrents of bombs and missiles, can kill and bring tragedy to so many people living on the other side of the world: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chile... The wounds never heal. That makes us bear this responsibility of learning about the past, the history, the disasters made by our past leaders, to avoid repeating the same blunders in the present, to ceaselessly remind ourselves that somewhere in the world, people are suffering because of our governments’ actions. As Noam Chomsky says, everyone becomes a nationalist when it comes to criticizing our own country. But we must hold our government accountable for all the “collateral damage” and civilian killings and violation of international law if we ever want to keep our humanity intact.
It is so easy to sit down, watch tv and believe in the endless soap opera of the war on terror. But we must ask ourselves: why are they so angry at us? I think it is incredibly irresponsible to not know, to be ignorant and to label them all as “terrorists”, “fundamentalists”, “generically violent”. Every story of rage is one of despair, despair in the face of unstoppable power and endless humiliation. Fisk probably believes in collective guilt, and I must agree with him to a certain extent that each of us living in a democracy is inevitably partially responsible for these atrocities and the silence from our leaders to the injustice visited upon the people in the region. Learning history is vital especially in times of war, to understand that our conquest is doomed to fail in the end, that no one wants to be occupied and they will fight until the end of days to get rid of us. I wonder if Obama remembers that the Afghans were one of the fiercest armies that fought the Russians and British out of Afghanistan more than a century ago, and then the Soviets 30 years ago, why is he still sending more troops to this unwinnable war?
“Soldier and civilian, they died in their tens of thousands because death had been concocted for them, morality hitched like a halter round the warhorse so that we talk about “target-rich environments” and “collateral damage”-that most infantile of attempts to shake off the crime of killing-and report the victory parades, the tearing down of statues and the important of peace.
Governments like it that way. They want their people to see war as a drama of opposites, good and evil, “them” and “us”, victory or defeat. But war is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
I have witnessed events that over the years can only be defined as an arrogance of power. After the Allied victory of 1918, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career- in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad-watching these peoples within those borders burn. America invaded Iraq not for Saddam’s Hussein’s mythical “weapons of mass destruction” but to change the map of the Middle East, much as my father’s generation had done more than eighty years earlier.
We journalists should try to be the first impartial witnesses to history. If we have any reason for our existence, the least must be our ability to report history as it happens so no one can say: “We didn’t know- no one told us. “Our job is to monitor the centers of power”. That is the best definition of journalism I have heard: to challenge authority-all authority especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they have decided that they will kill and others will die.”
I was delighted by Obama’s speech in Cairo last week. For the first time, a US president acknowledged his country’s errors in the past and criticized Israel openly before a Muslim population. Finally, there is genuine apology and change of direction. Obama probably realizes that war does not work, terror does not work, and the healing must start from honestly facing the past. How he is going to translate his rhetoric into action, that is left as an open question that remains to be seen.
history-politics-religion middle-east
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John Anthony
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March 16, 2019
Superbly written. No punches pulled and harrowing, but recommended to anyone trying to make sense of the Middle East, and the West's meddling there...
I picked this up in an effort to try to make sense of the turmoil in the Middle East. Robert Fisk, Journalist/Correspondent of the Times and then the Independent shows that it's by no means easy to do that. This is always compelling reading whilst experiencing heartbreak and rage.
We follow his intrepid journeys into “trouble spots”, a euphemism as he's frequently under enemy fire. Be prepared to read of atrocities which beggar belief and make me feel ashamed at the number of times western eyes are averted, whilst steadily supporting the perpetrators. Our so-called democracies glistening in sunshine provided by media hacks running at their heels.
Robert Fisk gave me here an insight into quality international journalism at the sharp end – the ever human cameraderie of his fellow journalists, not all of whom would make it out alive. Contrast this with our media manipulations: eg “terrorist” = someone(s) who is anti Israel, committing “wicked crimes”. The most a U.S. president will say of an Israeli suicide gunman (who happens to be an Israeli army reservist) mowing down Arab worshippers in a mosque is 'a gross act of murder', 'a terrible tragedy'. But not a “wicked crime”. Only the other side commits those. Weasel words.
Israel's hold over the west, whatever the odds, is staggering.
There is so much here I don't know where to start – Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Israel. Gaza, “Palestine”, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia…
Again and again, Robert Fisk shows this as a backdrop to his father Bill Fisk's experiences of fighting in WW1 (The Great War of Civilisation), the scars that left on him and those around him - eg. his refusal to execute a fellow comrade for desertion? His son's experiences on the journalistic front line bring him closer to his dead, irascible father, helping him to better understand the man and his world in general. Many of the chapters are prefaced very effectively with extracts from the war poets.
I read this on my Kindle - not ideal. I've since invested in a hard copy. I'll refer to it from time to time. Re- reading would be a long shot. But perhaps I could live to be 200+ with marbles intact! Unlikely, I fear.
Recommended – but in sensible doses.
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Jonfaith
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May 21, 2015
But war is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
It would be spurious to suggest that I'm not haunted by this book. Maybe it is a touch of American isolationism, perhaps a hint of xenophobia, that we -- meaning I -- don't peer more into these pages.
Robert Fisk has proven, amongst loftier achievements, to be an audible author. Dozens of times over the past three days I sighed and groaned under the spell of his vivid accounts. Whereas his devotion to the Iran-Iraq War was singular and crushing, his interlude revisiting the Armenian genocide was overly familiar given our reading last summer of Burning Tigris, a text Fisk cites on several turns. Yesterday afternoon I arrived at the plight of the Palestinians the expanse and compunction of the myriad Treaties and Accords, the all-too-familiar events which I recall so directly, the settlements, the Intifadas, the ultimate fall of Sharon and Arafat, who asked Fisk about Michael Collins’ fate.
All of these insights imprint themselves on the conscious reader. I hesitate to say accusations ring and that culpability adheres like the noisome legacy of an accident. I dare anyone to attempt otherwise.
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Whitaker
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December 2, 2009
I don't know why I read books like this. Or rather, I do--the Middle East is one of the more critical flash points of this century and I think it's important to know how we got to this point. But dammit, I just get so damn angry and depressed when I read such books that I sometimes think it's not worth it.
As I write this, the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraqi invasion is proceeding apace in the UK. The evidence that has come out so far has been bleak and depressing, and largely corroborates the views expressed by Robert Fisk in this book. Even more depressing is the thought that American supporters of the war will not view, read, or otherwise engage meaningfully with the evidence coming out of that inquiry.
As I write this, the Israeli government has declared a temporary stop to the building of settlements on land seized after the 1967 war. If history has anything to teach us, it is simply that this will mean nothing. If history has anything to teach us, it is that two peoples cannot demand the right to the same land without one being exterminated.
I can imagine Robert Fisk getting angry at all this. From this book, it would seem that he is, indeed, a very angry man. But he is pro-Arab? Pro-terrorist? Anti-American? A rabid anti-Semite? No. Fisk is not just angry at the actions of successive Israeli and American administrations. He is angry at Saddam, at the Iranian theocracy, at Yassar Arafat and at Hamas, and at all the various repressive and autocratic Middle Eastern regimes. He is angry at a history of colonial betrayals by British and French governments. He is especially angry at policies on all sides that result in innocent civilians, innocent women, children and babies, dying in pain, anguish and horror.
It should make us all angry.
I don't know why I read books like this. Or rather, I do. And you should read it too.
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WarpDrive
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May 1, 2020
First class journalism.
A brutal, honest, accurate and heavily documented account of the many tragedies that have affected too many lives in modern Middle Eastern history.
It does not hide very uncomfortable but undeniable truths about events such as the British and French colonialism, the appalling Turkish genocide of the Armenian people (for which, shamelessly, the Turkish government has not yet taken full responsibility), the fanatical and inhumane ideology of the Taliban fighters, the criminal and shameful 2003 US/UK invasion of Iraq, for which Bush and his lackey Tony Blair have not been prosecuted (the lesson being: if you are head of a victorious military power, you can be responsible for the death of hundreds of thousand of innocent people and get away with it), the plight of the Palestinian people but also the many mistakes of their leadership, the horrific Sabra and Shatila massacre, and many other similar catastrophic events that have enveloped this troubled area in recent times.
Not for the faint-hearted, this is a book that strongly challenges the commonly-held belief that democracies always act externally in a democratic way, but that also sheds a cruel light on the corruption of many Middle-Eastern regimes, and on the toxic effects of religious fundamentalism and sectarianism in the minds of some groups and currents within the Middle East.
A very sobering but highly informative experience.
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Eirini Proikaki
395 reviews135 followers
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March 19, 2021
Μου πήρε δυο μήνες για να το τελειώσω, με έκανε να βλέπω εφιάλτες, μου έμαθε πολλά πράγματα και δεν με άφησε να βαρεθώ στιγμή παρόλο το μέγεθός του. Ευχαρίστως διάβαζα άλλο τόσο.
Δεν έχω ξαναδιαβάσει κάτι τέτοιο. Δίνει ιστορικά στοιχεία για κάθε χώρα της Μέσης Ανατολής, εξηγεί πώς φτάσαμε στα σημερινά χάλια, μιλάει για τις δικές του εμπειρίες απο κάθε χώρα ( και έχει πολλές) και εκτός απο τις ιστορίες των ανθρώπων που έπαιξαν σημαντικό ρόλο στη διαμόρφωση της κατάστασης στην περιοχή, μας μιλάει και για τις ιστορίες απλών ανθρώπων, αυτών που ζουν τη φρίκη. Αυτών που γίνονται "παράπλευρες απώλειες". Που πεθαίνουν, βασανίζονται, χάνουν τους δικούς τους και ό,τι έχουν και δεν έχουν.
Απο την σοβιετική εισβολή στο Αφγανιστάν μεχρι την εισβολή των αμερικανών στο Ιρακ το 2003. Απο τις σπηλιές που κρυβόταν ο Οσάμα μπιν Λάντεν μέχρι την έρημο της Αλγερίας. Απο το ολοκαύτωμα των Αρμενίων μέχρι την άθλια πραγματικότητα στην Παλαιστίνη. Απο τα φρικτά βασανιστήρια στις φυλακές μέχρι τα χημικά όπλα του Σαντάμ. Απο τα μωρά που πέθαιναν με κομμένο το λαιμό στον εμφύλιο της Αλγερίας μέχρι τα χιλιάδες παιδιά που πέθαιναν στο Ιράκ λόγω του εμπάργκο.
Ιστορίες τρομαχτικές, φρικτές, εικόνες που στοίχειωσαν τον ύπνο μου. Mια συνεχής τραγωδία η ιστορία της Μέσης Ανατολής. Και δυστυχώς μάλλον έτσι θα συνεχίσει.
Ο Φισκ μιλάει και για τους συναδέλφους του. Για τον μονόπλευρο τρόπο που συχνά παρουσιάζουν τα γεγονότα και για το πώς επηρεάζουν την κοινή γνώμη και τελικά παίζουν ρόλο και στην διαμόρφωση της ιστορίας.
Είναι ένα βιβλίο που καλύπτει μια χρονική περίοδο απο την διάλυση της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας μέχρι και το 2005 και έχει πολύ ενδιαφέροντα πράγματα να πει. Κρίμα που δεν έχει μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά.
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Diaa
154 reviews2 followers
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February 28, 2018
وطني هل أنت بلاد الأعداء؟
وطني هل أنت بقية "داحس والغبراء" ؟
اقتتلوا بسيوف السنة والشيعة والعلويين
وحتى المنقرضين
نطاح كباش
ثيرانا تركب بعضا
فما أعجب مجتمع القردة
منذ قرون يشوون الشعب على نيران مناقلهم
قردة
سلطات القردة
أحزاب القردة
أجهزة القردة
قتلتنا الردة ...قتلتنا الردة
إن الواحد منا يحمل في الداخل ضده
ما زلنا نتوضأ بالذل ونمسح بالخرقة حد السيف
ما زلنا نتحجج بالبرد وحر الصيف
ما زال كتاب الله يعلق بالرمح العربية!
ما زال ....... بلحيته الصفراء
يؤلب باسم اللات
العصبيات القبلية
ما أوسخنا ...ما أوسخنا ...ما أوسخنا
ونكابر
ما أوسخنا.........
مظفر النواب - مع التصرف في ترتيب الأبيات
-------------------------------------------
هو الكتاب الأول من ثلاثية فيسكي بعنوان الحرب الكبرى تحت ذريعة الحضارة
وكما هو واضح من العنوان الفرعي : (الحرب الخاطفة) وهي التسمية التي أطلقها صدام حسين على حربه ضد إيران
ولكنها لم تكن حربا خاطفة بل كانت 8 سنوات دفعت فيها الحكومات والشعوب أثمان باهظة في السعي وراء سراب
فنلاحظ أن الكتاب ركز عليها بشكل كبير حوالي 5 فصول من أصل 8
الحرب الأفغانية لم يتم تغطيتها بالشكل الملائم تم تغطيتها في 3 فصول أي حوالي ثلث الكتاب .
الكتاب كمرجع تاريخي غير كافي لأنه لا يغطي الأحداث التاريخية بشكل كامل وشامل ،
لكن تبقى هناك جاذبية كبيرة لمؤلفات فيسكي (كما كان يحب أحد أصدقائه مناداته ) ، ما يشدني في كتب هذا الصحافي الحقيقي
هو موضوعيته ، والإنسانية الطاغية في طريقة عرضه ، أسلوبه السردي الجميل الذي يركز على قضية الإنسان والإنسان فقط ، لم تتشوه إنسانيته على مدار الأعوام ، ما شاهده خلال عمله يجعل الإنسان يفقد الرغبة في كل شئ ويلعن وجوده وحياته !!! ، لكنه مع هذا بقي محافظا على رسالته من أجل الأبرياء ومن أجل الحقيقة وطبعا كل هذا من أجل الإنسان ، كتبه هي صفحات من دماء تسطر ظلم الشعوب ومآسيهم وصراعهم مع طواغيتهم وضياعهم في عتمات السياسة ، و استلاب عقولهم بالشعارات الرنانة والوعود التي تحقق أمانيهم ورغباتهم .
الكتاب مليئ بالمعلومات والتفاصيل فمراجعة تفاصيل المحتوى ليست بالمهمة السهلة ، ولو أردت التكلم عن كل حادثة وعن كل تصريح وكل مجزرة فسأحتاج أن أكتب ملخص للكتاب ، وتعليق على كل فقرة منه .....
لكن هناك أمور لابد من الإشارة إليها :
1.إننا أمة تملك شئ عظيم في دينها ومحرك أساسي لتقدمها ونهوضها وهو ركيزة أساسية في الإسلام ألا هو الجهاد ، هذا الركن العظيم الذي مسخ وشوه وأخرج عن هدفه ومقصده وأصبح يستخدم فزاعة للتخويف من الدين ، روبرت فيسكي لاحظ هذا الأمر وبهره بشكل كبير وحتى أنه كان يقول أن الغرب لا يستطيع أبدا أن يفهم الحالة التي يخلقها هذا الركن العظيم في النفوس .
وطبعا معنى الجهاد الذي أقصده مختلف عن جهاد فاحش وداعش والملالي وغيرهم ، ربما أتحدث عن هذا الأمر في سياق آخر وفي مراجعة لكتاب يعالج هذا الموضوع .
2.تدرك مقدار تعاستنا بسبب لعنة النفط !!!!!!!!! هذا النفط الذي يسكب على الشعوب لإحراقها . أموال النفط الداعمة للمقاومة والثورات وصيغة الإسلام التي ترافق هذه الأموال وتصّدر للدول هي من عوامل بل من أهم العوامل التي تعيق ثوراتنا وكفاحنا ومحاولتنا للنهوض ، وأظن أن واقعنا المعاصر شاهد على هذا .
3.تتدرك أننا أمة بائسة تجتر تاريخها وتعيده بنفس الصورة وكأن تاريخنا مكرر بشكل ساخر فقط نستبدل الممثلين ، ما أشبه اليوم بالأمس كأن الدهر لا يرضى بنا حلفاء له ....
4.تدرك أن الدين من أهم الأركان التي يجب أن نبني عليها نهضتنا ، لأثره العظيم فلا نهضة من غير دين ،فلابد من إصلاح ديني (أو الأصح أن نقول نحتاج إلى عملية تنقية وإزالة تكلسات ، نحتاج عودة إلى الذات وإلى المنبع الاول دون أن تعيقنا تراكمات التاريخ و دون أن يقف تراثنا حائلا بيننا وبين تقدمنا نحتاج لإعادة قراءة للإسلام ونستفيد من الدرس التاريخي لصنع واقع أفضل ) حتى لا نبقى ندور في حلقة مفرغة .
كلامي كلام إنشائي ، أعرف ذلك ولكن لابد من قراءة التاريخ بتفاصيله
وكما قلت في مراجعة سابقة على كتاب من هذا النوع
أن الأمة التي لا تعرف تاريخها هي أمة بلا ذاكرة .
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Kusaimamekirai
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January 4, 2018
I really don’t know what to do with this review. I’ve just read 1,300 pages detailing the worst kind of misery, torture, man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, greed, callousness, and naked aggression. Reading about the world Robert Fisk has seen during his 30+ years covering the Middle East quite simply leaves you with no hope. How can you read for example about the overthrow of the democratically elected president of Iran by American and British agents in 1953 and not draw a direct line to 1979 and the horrors the Ayatollah unleashed on the world and his own people? How can you not read about the US intervention in Iraq and its subsequent chaos and not draw a line to the British invasion 80 years earlier with similarly disastrous results? What of America proclaiming to the world the wonders of democracy and then supporting brutal regimes monetarily and militarily that crush democracy? Why must we time after time repeat the most horrific of mistakes and support the most brutal of men. Surely there must be some hope that this insanity will end? Sadly no, there is very little here that inspires hope. Very little that indicates anyone has learned any important lesson that could even temporarily delay the frightening downward trajectory the Middle East has been lurching toward for generations. And yet, we must continue, like Fisk, to bring light to these dark corners of the world where evil unfolds. If for no other reason than to give names to the thousands who die under brutal regimes or give their lives to win the freedom to rule themselves. Through telling the personal stories of those who suffer from the machinations of the great powers, this book does that and becomes an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to begin to understand this troubled patch of earth. Apologies for a somewhat incoherent review but this book truly shook me to my core. No amount of time or thought would allow me to write anything approaching what this book deserves.
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From Australia
Youssef A. Youssef
5.0 out of 5 stars Important for those who want to learn about western interference
Reviewed in Australia on 12 March 2026
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Easy to read. Exposes much of the invasion people are not seeing or told about.
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Aaron
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, well written, eye opening
Reviewed in Australia on 15 January 2017
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An incredible eye opener, an inside look into a career that only a few people on earth could have stomached, let alone achieved. The book is both informative, emotive, and is some how (considering the heaviness of the content) and easy read. If everyone read this book, the world would be a better place.
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Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars Shame there aren't more reporters like him
Reviewed in Australia on 5 June 2015
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Outstanding. A wealth of experience in the Middle east to share. Well written, engaging. It will anger you and break your heart. Shame there aren't more reporters like him
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Andrew McIntyre
3.0 out of 5 stars Very large book with small print. content ok
Reviewed in Australia on 13 May 2024
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Very large book with small print. Content ok
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Anthony Rowlands
3.0 out of 5 stars Another" Great War for Civilisation"?
Reviewed in Australia on 28 August 2018
Format: Kindle
Polishing my grandfathers WW1 medals I noticed them boldly inscribed with the claim "The Great War for Civilisation".
That was the war to end all wars in 1914-1918. Sadly it didn't end wars and we now see the "Great War for Civilisation II "underway.
Tragically it may be the one to end all wars.
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From other countries
Paul Kendall
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read to understanding the seemingly endless conflicts in the middle east
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 December 2014
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The most gripping book I have ever read and a must read to understanding the seemingly endless conflicts in the middle east. Fisk tells modern history from his first hand experience in dense detail and without remorse for the perpetrators and suppliers of evil. This includes the leaders who, from the persuasion by the turkish government, have denounced the Armenian genocide to the propping up of madmen such as Saddam Hussein by western governments, arms dealers who profit from the killing of civilians, and finally to the utterly false reasons for the US to invade Iraq and the fallout from these lies that we are seeing today.
Reviewers have called this book Anti-Semetic, which only goes to show that some people are afraid to hear the truth about the brutal actions of the Israeli government. This blind eye includes most governments and reporters from the western media. Fisk does not fear backlash from Israel, nor does he favor one people over the other, he simply reports what he has witnessed and what he has gathered from countless hours of research and interviews. This book is no more anti-Semitic than it is islamophobic. Fisk is simply telling history as it actually happened, no matter who it makes look bad.
Personally this book was very difficult to read for two reasons. Firstly, it is a bloody narrative from first hand accounts, and should not be read if you want something warm and fuzzy. The narrative is cold, relentless, and sad, because of the brutality and betrayal of which these people have had to endure. Secondly because of how dense it is. Fisk writes in a wonderfully clear manner to cover so much information, but it would be wise to read this book with a notepad and pencil to keep the names and places straight and also to highlight some of the more telling insights that Fisk has on the events, the precursors and the fallout.
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Dr. Hartmut Heuermann
5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Fisk:a one-man demolition crew
Reviewed in Germany on 27 February 2009
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Here is an outstanding work of truly epic proportion - more ambitious, more impressive, more profound than anything that has been published by political scientists, historians or critical observers in recent decades."The Great War for Civilization" by British journalist Robert Fisk is a stupendous achievement from the pen of a man who distinguishes himself by an impeccable sense of justice, an unswerving commitment to human rights and an undauntable courage in the teeth of adversity and deprecation. With the possible exception of Edward Said, who has written on the same subject, Fisk has no peer. He is a one-man demolition crew in that he relentlessly demolishes the prevalent myths and ideologies that have long obfuscated the view of Western policy-makers when dealing with the nations of the Middle East. He exposes their hypocrisy and partiality when they take sides in the Jewish-Palestinian conflict and obtusely favor Israel. He plausibly explains the reason why the West, especially the USA and their client state Israel, have become hated and despised throughout the Arab world: too many crimes committed, too many innocents killed,too many promises broken. Fisk sweeps away the popular misconception about the causes of the sveltering problems in the region and sets the historical record straight.What is most valuable perhaps is his critial look at the fuzzy concept of "the war against terrorism", which demonstrably serves the ideological purposes of those who, under the pretext of fighting terror, attempt to impose their own political and cultural standards on people who don't want them. As the author makes clear, the explosiveness of the situation is not so much attributable to an endemic unruliness or aggressiveness of the Muslim population as to their endless sufferings at the hands of Western colonialists and imperialists. It is oppression and humiliation that have sown the seeds for violence. It is the many interventions and military campaigns of the US and their allies in Iraq, Palestine, Libya, lebanon and Afghanistan that stoke the flames of wrath. While professedly bringing the blessings of peace, justice and stability they have invariably caused bloodshed and wrought havoc.
Fisk's book is a real eye-opener which deserves to be translated into all European languages and studied by all readers with a minimal interest in historical truth. If it is a truism that there are always two (or more) sides to a given human problem, Fisk is to be applauded for presenting the other side.
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Mohammad Bahrami
5.0 out of 5 stars All you need to know from Middle East
Reviewed in Italy on 29 May 2015
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Anyone who wants to know more than stereotype descriptions of Middle East must read this book! Even for me, originally from the region, the book contains many new information. And what makes the book unique is that the write has had first-hand experience on almost all stories he is telling
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Pedro Gryschek
5.0 out of 5 stars Epic
Reviewed in Brazil on 11 March 2020
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Probably the most thought-provoking book I've read in over 10 years. It could be a novel, but it's the author's professional - and personal - life, with excellent historical digressions.
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David Chirko
5.0 out of 5 stars A sparrow tells an uncaring world from a plaintive branch
Reviewed in Canada on 14 November 2008
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"...war is a security organization...because it succeeds...in inventing, real enemies to kill, and...if...not for war, society would...leave men defenseless before...a purely internal foe" ("The Psychoanalysis of War," Franco Fornari, 1974).
A scribe at Britain's "The Independent," English born Robert Fisk, (1946- ), Ph.D., Political Science, LL.D., et al, has resided in Beirut, Lebanon since 1976. His compassionate book, "The Great War for Civilisation" (2006), is based on 16 years of eyewitness reporting on "The Conquest of the Middle East," culled from over 350,000 various documents. It is almost 1,400 pages, replete with 10 maps, bibliography, exhaustive notes and a chronology.
Fisk's coverage of Israel's influence here and the American invasion of Iraq is provocative, because nobody wants to "damage the peace process"... Arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, whom the author questioned, don't speak out against improprieties Israel commits with ordnances because they are a valued customer. And "The Independent" did a fortnight study of American military stocks, ascertaining that thousands of armour, tanks and planes were grabbed by Israel during two decades. Officers apprised Fisk that the omnipotent Israeli lobby doesn't tolerate captious politicians, who treasure their longevity in government, therefore allowing Israel to anytime snatch more than the minimum $14 million in arms required for congressional notification, uncontested and unreported because it is "classified." The most powerful such lobby group is the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, which former doyen of, Denis Ross, plus three other Jews--if they were all Arabs, someone would've taken notice--became head negotiators of in the latter 1990's "peace envoy." The American press was reticent about this bias, but the Israeli press welcomed them.
Fisk pondered, not just the "how" and "who," but the "why," behind "9/11," the 2001 bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York City. Also, he says, just after this event, on September 16, no British or American newspaper "...would recall the fact that on that date in 1982, Israel's Phalangist militia allies started their three-day orgy of rape and knifing and murder in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. It followed an Israeli invasion of Lebanon...which cost the lives of 17,500 Lebanese and Palestinians, almost all of them civilians...more than five times the death toll in the September 11th, 2001 attacks.... No, Israel was not to blame for what happened..." The author explains that it was Osama bin Laden, whom he first met in 1993, and al-Qaeda, who were the perpetrators, making their statement regarding how they felt about America's involvement in the Middle East--not because "they hate our democracy." None came from Iraq, which U.S. President George W. Bush's aggressors invaded, seeking "weapons of mass destruction" which never existed, through their "war on terror."
Fisk documents America's pitiless sanctions and civilian killings--"collateral damage"--in Iraq. In Baghdad, citizens' looting is not precluded by U.S. forces, who protect only the Ministry of the Interior, with its intelligence info, and the Ministry of Oil--go figure.
It is Israel, who dispossessed 750,000 Palestinians of their land--and "right to exist," in the West Bank, in 1948, who now dictates American foreign policy in the Middle East, weakening Arab voices. Get "The Great War for Civilisation" by Robert Fisk, where a sparrow tells an uncaring world from a plaintive branch.
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Spartak Ter-Martirosyan
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant, comprehensive and exhaustive read
Reviewed in the United States on 9 August 2006
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Before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, most Americans, indeed most people living outside of the region that sits between the border of western China and Morocco's coastline were not interested about bespeckled patch of deserts, mountains, valleys, gorges that had been plagued with violence since time immemorial. However, as the United States' wild forays into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 came into being, much of that amnesia and blithe disregard dissipated. With that being said, journalist Robert Fisk of the UK newspaper, the Independent, has written an enormous tome that chronicles the Middle East's history and its entanglement with the great "civilised countries" of the West. While many authors have painted the region with a thick brush that simply labels the entire Middle East as a terrorist haven, Fisk is much more sensible to get past the antiquated cliches and banal platitudes that often hamper the ability for many of us to have a clear understanding about a region many of us are quite, emotionally, indifferent to.
Fisk's book begins with his trip to Afghanistan in 1996. After being led from checkpoint to checkpoint, Fisk is presented to none other than Osama bin Laden himself. He holds a cordial interview with him while bin Laden goes on about his latest criticism of the West as Fisk faithfully takes note of his posture, tone, and least to say, his words; the most chilling of which makes one's hair rise: "One of our brothers had a dream..." Fisk's book is essentially about his travels along the Middle Eastern countries and occasionally taps open the history book. His book is revealing and written with excellence and empathy. As he traveled to Afghanistan to cover the war, with the Soviets in 1979, not 2001, he captures the brutality of the Afghan rebels who mercilessly slaughter Soviet teachers, hanging them from telephone wires. Yet it was not all conquest and satellite states for the Soviet Union as Fisk notes, "a modern educational system in which girls as well as boys would go to school, at which young women did not have to wear the veil, in which science and literature would be taught alongside Islam...."It had been trying to create a secular, equal society in the villages around Jalalabad" (page 58).
The next several chapters spans and chronographs the Iranian revolution and its subsequent struggles in fending off the invasion by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which was unconditionally supported by the West. Fisk documents the brutal torture methods employed by the United States' second greatest ally in the Middle East on its domestic population and how the US turned a blind eye against the atrocities. Of course, the author has no kind words to spare for the West's adored "Butcher of Baghdad", constantly and rightly so, castigating him and reminding us of his victims. The Islamic "tribunals" set up by Iran are also extensively mentioned with the US, bizarrely enough, condemning Iran. Yet the United States has no words of regret when it came to downing an Iranian passenger jet during the Iran-Iraq war despite the fact evidence proved an otherwise intentional attack.
Perhaps Fisk's most emotionally driven part of the book is Chapter 10, entitled "The First Holocaust", known much better as the Armenian Genocide. Being an Armenian myself I was surprised to find an entire chapter solely devoted to the near elimination of the Armenian people in 1915, when the Ottoman Turkish government sought to cleanse its minority problem by systematic rape, mass murder, and deportations through the scorching deserts of Syria. Fisk's fervent arguments are seen most pronounced in this chapter as he lambastes the world media which often refers to the event with simple euphemisms: "tragedy", "massacres", and "deportations". He documents how even many Jewish leaders, notably Shimon Peres, refuse to acknowledge the plight of the Armenians as a Genocide. He condemns the present day Turkish government for giving its ridiculous excuses and for denying its own past and goes further to condemn those countries who refuses to do it because of their close relations with the NATO member. Fisk asks us what would happen if world leaders would similarly use those terms to describe the Jewish Holocaust and refer it to a disputed event...of course we all know what would happen if they did.
Of course no Middle Eastern book can be written without mentioning the Palestine-Israel conflict. Three chapters are devoted and while Fisk acknowledges the brutality of the Palestinian suicide bombers he turns and asks why Israel's actions often go uncritcized by the media and by world leaders. He does an exceptional job in not only this section but the entire book by naming for us the once nameless, the victims who weren't famous partisan leaders or known diplomats but those who were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. By doing this, he allows us to at least place some sympathy so that those who perished in a cell in Iraq's torture pens do not remain a statistic; only to be cited endlessly twenty years later as a rational for war. He doesn't allow us to forget Israel's indiscrimante military raids which lead to the deaths of thousands and notes the number of UN resolutions it has violated, including building illegal settlements across the West Bank and Gaza. He recognizes the violence committed by the Palestinians but also forces us to take a look and scrutinize Israel's questionable ethics in dealing with the Palestinians.
Fisk's book also contains no praise for the George W. Bush administration, especially its botched invasions of not only Iraq but also Afghanistan. He records the US's reckless trampling of Iraq against its former ally, Saddam and the subsequent looting that took place after Saddam fell as the administration obliviously pointed to it as an example of new found liberty. His work chronicles the Middle East from the 20th century and its frequent interventions by the French, British, and Americans whom constantly change the region's political landscape each time it reconfigures itself to be incongruent with their interests. It is poigant, shocking at times, and he does not spare us from the bloody carnage that has been wrought upon the area for decades and which will most probably continue to do as years pass by as we idlely watch it change all over again.
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Amazon-klant
5.0 out of 5 stars Better understanding of the people of the Middle East
Reviewed in the Netherlands on 14 February 2025
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A must read for anyone who looking for inside information about the Middle East: the countries and their people and mainly the history and the wrong decisions so many western governments made.
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O'Bs
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Reviewed in France on 2 September 2014
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Excellent history book for anyone interested in what's going on in the middle east (and around the world) today. Thank you Mr. Fisk.
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Rodrigo
5.0 out of 5 stars Deep personal reflection on the Middle East
Reviewed in Mexico on 24 January 2021
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The detail of the descriptions. The effort to be fair in the explanations of the facts, without evading showing indignation at the great injustices committed in this region by the external and Arab powers. A great tragedy narrated by an honest journalist.
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Mateen
5.0 out of 5 stars A heartfelt dirge on the middle east
Reviewed in India on 17 January 2022
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Mr. Fisk. There won't be a more compassionate journalist as far as the Arabs are concerned for the inequities heaped on them by the west. The biggest among them the creation of Israel. GOD BLESS YOU for your fairness and fearlessness. Just below the minority who challenge authoritarianism and risk their lives to speak the truth to power.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed and Filled with gritty, on-the-ground perspectives
Reviewed in India on 18 February 2023
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Essential reading if we are to understand the age and geopolitical environment we live in better. Do give it a shot.
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Uppal1949
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Good on the Middle East, period.
Reviewed in Canada on 2 August 2017
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This is the best book one could possibly read on the Middle East, from a well-decorated journalist who has lived every moment of every war. Running from Soviet helicopter missiles, then riding shotgun in their APCs; getting caught in No Man's Land under tank fire in the Iran-Iraq War; throwing a chair at would-be suicide bomber at the last moment in Tel Aviv; or observing shock and awe from his Baghdad balcony - untouched until debris from kilometres away took out his wall. This book is full of crazy stories from the most honest, albeit cranky, journalist I know.
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VO2 Max.
5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Fisk's Masterpiece.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 August 2011
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Interesting and very enlightening from start to finish. A "Big Book" in all respects, which is compulsive reading.
Fisk's comprehensive, and fascinating history of the tragedy of the Middle East has filled the gaps in my understanding
of how the present situation has evolved,and particularly the continuing "guilty "roll of the Western Powers in this most strategic area.
I can now better understand the present situation playing out in Arab States, which can only be understood set into the proper historical perspective that Robert Fisk achieves in this book.
The "nightmare" reports, particularly in his chapter on the Iraq, Iran War are not only shocking in detail,but also in the magnitude of the tragedy,which I had not previously fully comprehended.
Fisk obviously risked his life on numerous occasions to get to places to see what was the truth for himself, and has proved himself to be among the very best of our few "great investigative journalists". (A sadly shrinking fraternity).
The book has not only been a real education to me ,but has left me with a profound respect for Robert Fisk's obvious integrity,and
moral,and physical courage.
At a time when public opinion of the press is so low,it is good to know that we still have a few first rate "real" investigative journalists, and this great work of Fisk's illustrates his obvious right to that title.
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Theo Pilk
5.0 out of 5 stars A man who lived the history
Reviewed in the United States on 16 August 2011
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There are a number of very hostile reviews of Robert Fisk's book. There is reason enough for this: the truth hurts. In an age where we are used to "embedded reporters" and talk-head pundits who simply re-iterate the religion as spewed by the disinformation centers of the world (particularly every government capitol), we are used to having people simply feed us with articles and info that is either selective or simply a lie. Our media functions as simply a tool of the government, coming at hand to believe anything an "official" has to say. It is especially noted when most of what our media reports comes from the generals and politicians who are interested in keeping us quiet and ignorant. For more on this, one can look into Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" (a book written before the rise of Fox News, which has made media even worse). All of this has resulted in a populous all to ready to believe that their nation is "special" or "holy"; a people who truly perceive their nation as "doing what is good". When these "truths" are shown for what they really are, we become angry. Case in point, when we discuss Israel the media is ready to almost always show us the horrors of suicide bombers; yet, when if somebody should point out a missile strike against Gaza or the West Bank that occurs days before the suicide bomb, then you are "biased". In our media, as Chomsky has shown, there are "worthy" and "unworthy" victims. The "unworthy" can die by the thousands without a single shout being made, the "worthy" bring about intense outrage from the very moment a single death is reported.
Fisk, like all good journalists (however many left), does not accept this. He does not accept the notion that an Israeli life, or an American life, or a European life is worth any more or less than a Palestinian, Iraqi or Iranian. He does not accept the notion that there are "worthy" and "unworthy". All death is horrific, whether it is a little Israeli victim of a suicide bomber in Jerusalem or a Palestinian boy in Gaza. As he has argued, war is filled with perpetrators and victims. The monumental book that Fisk has written will get accolades or hate based on this very fact: Fisk will point out where the West errs, where it is criminal and murderous -- and it errs oh so often.
What makes this book so fantastic is that it is not simply another study of the Middle East history. Fisk does not give us an aerial view of the Middle East in the all too typical apathetic, academic style. He brings Middle East history to life by literally having lived it. He has been present in most of the events. He is in Afghanistan watching the unraveling of an empire and the beginning of international "Jihad" (sponsored by CIA); he was there to witness the effects of chemical attacks on Iranian youths during the Iran-Iraq war (chemical weapons given to the Iraqis by the Americans and Germans); Fisk is present in Lebanon and could describe vividly the end result of the infamous Sabra and Shatila massacre (overseen by the Israelis, see the film "Waltz with Bashir"); he held an Israeli victim of a suicide bomber in his own hands. Fisk has seen as much in one life time as most could bare to handle in 10.
The end result is that we see a great humanization of the victims. We see the vast array of people in Fisk's story not as merely numbers or ethnicity, but as human beings. At the same time, the horrors become all the more evident. More than once I had to put the book down to collect myself before reading further. Whether it was the brutality of the Baathist regime in Iraq (then supported by America) or the death and slaughter brought about by the endless number of wars, Fisk does not spare any detail. He recounts it all or gives first-hand accounts of those who witnessed it. This is an important contribution as much as the detail and knowledge of the Holocaust is important if we are to understand the full gravity of what is going on. The very fact that a single death could be as brutal or savage as described by Fisk made me not want to ever pick up a gun again.
It is important that Westerners, particularly us Americans, read this book. Fisk brilliantly points out where our errors have been and how so many of the monsters that we face today are creatures of our own making. It is important that we understand the end results of so many years of occupation and brutality. If only so that we in the future can correct it.
This is a brilliant book, a sober and haunting read. I recommend it for anyone wishing to learn about the Muslim world!
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Samuel Artem
5.0 out of 5 stars Rewarding and informative
Reviewed in Germany on 14 September 2020
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Brilliant work from Fisk, can be labouring at times but nontheless fascinating
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Stanley C. Pierce
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read to understand the full middle east story.
Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2007
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I've looked over many other reviews and mostly agree with them, both the positives and negatives of this book.
Up front, I want to say that this is a necessary read to ever have a broad understanding of so many Middle East situations including Israel, Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, and, of course, Iraq. It also helps considerably in understanding WHY there is "terrorism".
Probably the toughest part of reading the book is when Fisk writes about the many, many innocent people who have been killed or seriously injured over the decades in the Middle East both from war and from limiting the flow of goods into needy countries.. The book points out something we almost never feel and understand in depth It tells us the extent of so-called collateral damage when bombs are dropped from planes and helicopters in the name of getting rid of a single significant leader. It points out how often children are deprived of the nutrition they need as they grow up.
It tells of the tragedy of massive bombing of troops and cities. It raises in my mind the cost of war to human beings.
The book makes one consider the many wars and incidents and the relationship of these to "terrorism". It really takes to task the foreign policy of western governments (USA, UK, especially). It makes me wonder if the people making decisions have any understanding at all of the history of the Middle East..... the things that so many humans have been through, the resentment of western powers interfering in the Middle East in so many ways.
Lastly, as I finished reading this book (and it is a long book but an important read), I asked myself what I have learned. Rather than repeat things I have just written, I will summarize by saying that WAR is not the solution to anything. War is in many ways the easy way out of a situation. It is much easier to start bombing and shooting at perceived enemies than to try to understand the issues on both sides, to talk about them, to respectfully seek alternatives to war.
How many of us have ever really asked "Why the "terrorists" are doing what they do. How have they arrived at this point. How much have we contributed to their current position. "
And I realize how easy it was for the USA to go to war with Iraq making anyone who might question things a "terrorist sympathizer".
All of us need to understand as much as possible so that our votes and voices can be heard advocating solutions other than killing human beings.
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Mostafa H. M.
5.0 out of 5 stars You should BUY IT if you wanna know more
Reviewed in Germany on 11 September 2014
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You should BUY IT if you wanna know more, the truth about the leaders of the world exposed (both in the west and the middle east).
A lot of untold stories, suffering of many. a lot of connections to what is currently happining in the world.
REALLLY WORTH IT
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Gerard 7
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure class
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 March 2026
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This should be required reading in all schools & colleges\ universities. By reading this book and questioning the world we live in - maybe our politicians will listen to the views of the people. This kind of journalism will always be needed if we are to avoid more conflicts.
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Eddywire
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read .have for those who are searching for answers to many issues in middle east conflicts .
Reviewed in Canada on 11 July 2023
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For those who are searching for answers to many issues in middle east conflicts and politics.
A brutally honest insight to enlighten us with the reality of every single one , far from what mainstream media wants us to believe.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars I have received this masterpiece by Robert Fisk. Anyone ...
Reviewed in India on 27 April 2018
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I have received this masterpiece by Robert Fisk. Anyone who wants to understand current middle east turmoil, must go through it. I'm enlightened as I'm going through the pages. Thanks Amazon for timely delivery and affordable price.
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T. A. Kelly
4.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Content, Unfortunate Form
Reviewed in the United States on 12 June 2007
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This book was highly recommended to me as the one book most likely to shed light on what's really going on in the Middle East, and it delivers: I don't think you'll find a volume (and it IS that) with more gory detail (literally) on the power dynamics, the whys and wherefores and who's-doing-what-to-whoms, in that part of the world.
It's worth noting that Mr. Fisk is as much of a historian as a correspondent here, and he does an excellent job at both. In fact, he is too good in some ways; he feels too much and shares too much detail. I don't think I have ever read a more effective "witness" to history, but often the reader feels as if he's listening to unedited audio tapes of reporting and coverage. There seems to be no editing, no effort to summarize, and he's all over the place topically, hopping from one subject to the next with dizzying regularity.
In a way, I think Fisk does this intentionally. It's clear that he feels a tremendous sense of injustice and indignation at how the press have oversimplified the situation in the region for decades, editing for the sake of clarity when things just aren't that clear. He refuses to do that here, spilling his guts all over the place, really, refusing to "dumb it down" for anyone or anybody. The effect is edifying, but really pretty difficult to get through and an effective soporific; the book can be a great substitute for Lunesta if your prescription's run out. You really have to buckle in to get through all 1000 pages, printed as they are in rather small type.
The main problem here, sadly, is that Fisk has the emotional intelligence of an adolescent boy. His petulant rage over the incalculable wrongs that litter the history and landscape of the region (which are absolutely horrifying) prevent him from presenting his case in a more cogent way. That said, it IS worth reading, as Fisk is clearly an intellectually brilliant man and understands the players involved and the way the pieces of the puzzle fit together as well as anyone alive. If you want to understand the Middle East- as any Westerner alive today should be required to- this is (somewhat unfortunately) your book.
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bogdano
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! No other word would do it justice.
Reviewed in Germany on 13 March 2016
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One of the best books I have ever read on the subject. Quite detailed and long description of Mr. Fisks reporting on many middle eastern topics. Fully recommend to anyone interested in the subject.
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Saichand
4.0 out of 5 stars Great content but poor packing
Reviewed in India on 27 October 2025
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Ofcourse the content is 5 star and must read.. however the packaging was rather poor and got without bubblewrap.. the edges of the book were little worn
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Clement Rode
4.0 out of 5 stars Understand the current situation in the Middle East
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 June 2016
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This is a very comprehensive review of the political situation in the Middle East from the decline of the Ottoman Empire until after the Second Gulf War, al-Qaeda and Isis. Fisk has been the Foreign Correspondent for The Times and Independent for many years, and has lived in Beirut during this period. The great strength of the book is that Fisk has met most of the big players in the region, and has a unique personal insight into the current situation. Perhaps one criticism could be that Fisk has a largely 'Arabophile' view of the problems, but this does provide some counterweight to the usual pro-Israeli analysis we normally see. The only potential problem with the book is its length.
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Tribst - CAE-A
5.0 out of 5 stars A beacon of hope and dignity for journalism
Reviewed in the United States on 30 April 2012
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The masterpiece now being reviewed, an epic narration of facts happened in the Middle East in the last forty ears - and their historical and political backgrounds - puts Fisk among the group of journalists not committed with the establishment. As time goes by, it is becoming much more difficult to find people like that. Hence, the importance of T.G.W.F.C.. Fisk has left for mankind another view of those facts. The view of the people - himself included - being bombed; the view of desperate medical doctors who have nothing but their hands and will, heart and soul, to cure and treat; the view of children being deprived of water, food, medicines, and, probably worst of all, of their childhood.
Fisk has a power few do: he has one eye on the microscope, the other on the telescope. While telling the stories of the "unknown", he masterfully presents a context, refusing to label people the way the mainstream press do; that would be an easy, cheap, not to say misleading, job. Investigative journalism is what he's all about. T.G.W.F.C. must horrify superpowers' governments (and their branches on the Middle East) as it demonstrates the net of deceitfulness and lies that guides the actions of those superpowers towards that region.
Fisk witnessed every single war that stroke the Middle East since the last quarter of the twentieth century: from the Lebanese Civil War, in 1976, until the invasion of Iraq. In Afghanistan, he was there when the Soviets invaded it; twenty years later, he miraculously survived a beating and murder attempt by a crowd of Afghan refugees, refugees from the U.S. disproportionately bloody revenge - which Fisk also covered. He has interviewed Osama Bin Laden, Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Kalashnikov, Israeli Prime-Ministers, Kings... All of those stories and their framework, above all, capture the reader's attention. On one moment, it feels like reading a history book; right away, it feels like political science; then, like a newspaper article... And there it goes.
I wouldn't go as far to say one must read Fisk's T.G.W.F.C. so as to "know" about the Middle East. But it certainly brings new elements to the table to do so.
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Isabell
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in Canada on 31 August 2024
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Recommend
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Anckarström
5.0 out of 5 stars Merciless settlement
Reviewed in Germany on 29 August 2015
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Although the book covers almost 1300 pages, you can hardly put them away. As with Robert Fisk always written very rousing, a merciless reckoning with nationalism and war in a very personal way.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read
Reviewed in India on 11 February 2019
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The quality of the book, in terms of binding, the print and the paper is very good.
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A A
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, a haunting read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2023
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Reading this book is more important now than ever.
So many things stand forgotten in history:
The French massacre of Algerians in 1961 in Paris.
The first holocaust of Armenians in the 20th century.
Brutal invasion of Israel into Lebanon in 1982.
The bullying of NATO members by US politicians to not stray from US's official path.
How lobbyists influence US Politicians.
How armaments companies benefit from war.
How survivors of holocaust use the same technique of warfare they were once subjected to, upon other refugees.
How lobbyists make media show only one side of history.
How journalists with a conscience have their work redacted.
This is heavy in history but written like a prose.
This read will haunt you.
There are no heroes in history, only victors.
A must read by a generation lest we forget and repeat.
I am so buying the rest of his work.
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OhCaptainMyCaptain
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book about the Middle East, not even close
Reviewed in the United States on 25 March 2016
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The Great War for Civilization should be mandatory for anyone in Foreign Affairs, and I would go beyond, for anyone seeking an understanding of the Middle East and the world. Fisk's perception and interpretation of events is built on his personal experience living and covering the Middle East as a reporter for almost three decades (now almost four, but the book stops in 2006).
Each chapter of the book reveals one or many "surprising" facts. "Surprising" to me because I didn't know about it, I didn't hear about it or I didn't explore it enough before, in large part because of my ignorance, but also because our traditional media outlets are incredibly deficient or subscribed to a particular view of the world. Fisk talks about the terrible consequences of the First World War, the history of aggression to the Afghan people by Brits, Russians and Americans, the conflict between the urban and rural sides of Afghanistan, the Western-sponsored coup d'etat that overthrew the only Iranian President ever elected in a fair democratic process, the world support to the invader and user of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war, the gruesome history of the Algerian civil war, the conversations between the Nazis and the Palestinians during World War II, the massacres at the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in the Lebanon, the contamination of water and soil and increased cancer rates in Iraq due to depleted uranium, just to name a few terrible facts. This is definitively not a "feel good" book, but rather a raw description of the events in an area of the world ravaged by war and vengeance. You will feel sad. You will feel frustrated. You will feel anger, especially at the intervention of the foreign powers in the region (UK, France, US, Russia, even Germany and Italy). But suddenly, you will realize that the marathon effort of going through more than 1,300 pages is one of your best investments of time. Very highly recommended.
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PN
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
Reviewed in Germany on 12 July 2020
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Super detailed and surprisingly easy to read. Recommend 100%
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Smarth Bali
5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT!
Reviewed in India on 28 September 2019
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EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT!
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Frank
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books you can buy on the subject!
Reviewed in Canada on 27 June 2019
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Robert Fisk has risked his life on numerous occasions to get the story of the wars in the Middle East right. His honesty and integrity are beyong dispute. His reputation as an investigative reporter goes beyond any author of his kind. This is a must read for everyone.
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Ronald G. Young
5.0 out of 5 stars Holding to account
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 March 2006
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Robert Fisk’s massive, thoughtful and humanistic portrayal of the killing fields of the middle east, brought on by the thoughtless and arrogant interventions over the past century of Britain, France and America in such areas we now know as Syria, Israel, Palestine, Iraq and Iran. Its 1300 pages are a modern “War and Peace” – and can be put down only long enough to rest one’s arms from the weight of the book! I’ve tried before to understand the history and events of this area – but the previous books have clinically recited events and dates and referred in a few cliches only to the horror of those events. The only individuals who figure in these other books are the leaders – but this book portrays both the victims of the slaughter and their families and also those in the Western bureaucracies – both private and public – who make the slaughter possible. Their words are closely analysed – and their actions held to account in a relentless way which restores one faith in journalism. The book’s theme of our lack of historical perspective is echoed in a much shorter book first published in 2003 by Karl Meyer - but Fisk’s book is interlaced with powerful references to his father and others who fought in these same places at the beginning of the 20th Century. This is the book which should be required reading for students of government and for those aspiring to leadership – and the subject of discussion at all book clubs. It is writing and humanity at its highest level. Government is about individuals making, or colluding with, decisions - and how rarely do we get this level of research and critical scrutiny of the words individuals use to protect themselves from questions which might challenge the lives they lead.
I too have read his previous book on Lebanon - and disagree with another reviewer's comparison. This is the more significant book - which needs this detail to balance the countless times the victims are simply written out of history. But yes, perhaps, the chapter on Armenia is overdone - and fails to mention the slaughter by Armenians of Azeris in the 1990s and the displacement by them of 1 million Azeris to tent cities.
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Sean Sokhi
3.0 out of 5 stars The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
Reviewed in India on 18 October 2022
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The book is well written and absorbing. Mr Fisk is a good writer and investigative journalist. Sadly, the book is based on only on his first person account with key people who impacted the Middle East. It does not shed light on major events that changed the course of the Middle East and its neigbours and history as we have come to know it today. This is a gap in the book and I was a little disappointed. Definitely not in the comprehensive range like John Pilger.
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