The Middle-East from a Western perspective

“When I started out as a Middle East correspondent I thought my job would be straightforward. I would figure out the what, where, when, who and how; and then hear all sides on the why, separating fact from opinion. Wasn’t that how quality newspapers set themselves apart? What do those self-congratulatory clips on CNN, Fox News or Al Jazeera promise if not objectivity? “We report, you decide.”
Not quite. “

This is written by Joris Luyendijk, a Dutch author. His first book, freely translated: ‘A good men will sometimes hit his wife’ is about the Egyptian society from a Western point of view. He became a reporter in the Middle-East and based on his experiences wrote his second book: ‘They are just like humans’.

Once in a while you read a book that makes a huge impact on you. Both of his books has this effect on me. He writes with a good sense of humor and is endlessly critical of the world around him. I gained a lot of insight into the Middle-East, Egypt, Islam, religion and my own society. Hopefully, these books will be translated into English soon.