This remarkable book examines how the Islamist movement and its competition with secular-nationalist factions have transformed the identities of ordinary Palestinians since the first Palestinian uprising; or intifada; of the late 1980s. Drawing upon his years living in the region and more than eighty in-depth interviews; Loren Lybarger offers a riveting account of how activists within a society divided by religion; politics; class; age; and region have forged new identities in response to shifting conditions of occupation; peace negotiations; and the fragmentation of Palestinian life. Lybarger personally witnessed the tragic days of the first intifada; the subsequent Oslo Peace Process and its failures; and the new escalation of violence with the second intifada in 2000. He rejects the simplistic notion that Palestinians inevitably fall into one of two camps: pragmatists who are willing to accept territorial compromise; and extremists who reject compromise in favor of armed struggle. Listening carefully to Palestinians themselves; he reveals that the conflicts evident among the Islamists and secular nationalists are mirrored by the internal struggles and divided loyalties of individual Palestinians. Identity and Religion in Palestine is the first book of its kind in English to capture so faithfully the rich diversity of voices from this troubled part of the world. Lybarger provides vital insights into the complex social dynamics through which Islamism has reshaped what it means to be Palestinian.
#829921 in Books Princeton University Press 2001-09-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .65 x 5.58l; .69 #File Name: 0691089140240 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Informative and Insight to Early Virginia CultureBy RebeI found this book highly informative about our history of Virginia. Breen tells the history so the reader can understand the Tidewater Planters' lives; culture; and desires. Breen also explains their relationships with the merchants and Great Britain. Breen provides insight to their lives trying to stay solvent and merchants' taking advantage of a product that got the Planters into a bondage with the Mother country which they tried to be a part of. Importantly this information the author provides to the reader they wanted betterment for the land; each other; and for the slaves. The Planters were environmentalists ahead of their time. True they were slave holders but they also showed they cared for them.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Revolutionary capitalistsBy Harry EagarThe agricultural origins of Americans' habits of revolution; even their habits of being distinguishable as Americans are too little emphasized; but T.H. Breen's "Tobacco Culture" goes a long way to rectifying that.The situation in the mid-18th century was not the first instance of unrest on the land; only the most consequential; it was followed by similar -- but different -- upheavals that led to civil war; to Roosevelt democracy and; the revolutionary spirit atrophying as the overall wealth and stability of America grew; to the disgruntlement of the Midwestern corn/hog/cattle farmers in the 1970s.A theoretical superstructure to bring all these into a general view would be welcome; if justified; but perhaps the rebelliousness of the farmers is not as coherent a concept as I think it is. American farmer unrest is different in kind from the jacqueries and rural incendiarism in other times and places; because the American farmer was; usually; a capitalist.Never more so than in mid-century Virginia and Maryland. Indebted capitalists; but capitalists all the same. And men with social status and political power -- not the source of radical revolution in most times and places.Breen's little book emphasizes the debts; the risks; the resentments as Scottish factors gradually gained (as it seemed to the farmers) a stranglehold on the independence of the rural plutocracy. The factors; in their own minds; were rather in the position of a fashionable West End tailor whose lordly customers are so far in arrears that he dare not keep cutting coats for them. It was a complicated situation; and it is a question how well the players truly understood where they stood in it; for all their education and sophistication;Perhaps Breen understands them better than they understood themselves.He warns against looking for monocausal explanations of world-shaking changes and explicitly denies that planter debt can explain American revolutionary changes. Of course. There were patriots in the Middle Colonies and in New England who were not affected by the long decline in tobacco as a commodity. Nevertheless; "Tobacco Culture" goes on the shelf with other key volumes that help us understand the greatest political event in human history: the American Revolution.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Interesting take on tabacco's influence in the midst of American rebellionBy KyleThe book was a bit lengthy detailing the intricacies around the staple crop; but presented a truly well thought out understanding on how tobacco affected the lives of Americans leading up to the Revolutionary war.
