Books › The Great War for Civilisation
The Great War for Civilisation
The Conquest of the Middle East
First published 2005 · 1511 pages
A monumental, fiercely passionate chronicle of conflict that plunges you into the devastating human realities of modern history.
What it feels like
Reading this monumental work feels like sitting with a battle-scarred correspondent as he empties his notebooks, pouring out decades of grief, outrage, and profound historical insight. The pace is steady and demanding, requiring you to sit with the sheer weight of its massive scope. It is a harrowing, immersive experience, drenched in the somber realities of conflict and the bitter consequences of imperialism. The prose is visceral and fiercely opinionated, blending sweeping historical context with gritty, devastatingly intimate on-the-ground reportage. It asks you to bear witness to the cyclical nature of violence and Western hypocrisy. This is a book for readers who crave unvarnished, deeply passionate journalism that refuses to look away from the human cost of geopolitical games.
- Mood
- harrowing
- somber
- immersive
- relentless
- Tone
- passionate
- indignant
- authoritative
- cynical
- tragic
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the human cost of imperialism · cyclical nature of violence · journalistic witness · Western hypocrisy · the weight of history
- The writing
- Visceral, expansive, and fiercely opinionated, blending sweeping historical narrative with gritty, on-the-ground reportage.
- The arc
- Moves from a sense of urgent historical inquiry into a profound, overwhelming grief and righteous anger at endless cycles of betrayal.
- Who it's for
- Readers who want unvarnished, deeply researched, and passionately argued historical journalism that refuses to look away from the brutal realities of war.
Content notes
- graphic war violence
- atrocities and war crimes
- torture
- civilian casualties
- terrorism
About the book
During the thirty years that award-winning journalist Robert Fisk has been reporting on the Middle East, he has covered every major event in the region, from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution, from the American hostage crisis in Beirut (as one of only two Western journalists in the city at the time) to the Iran-Iraq War, from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan to Israel’s invasions of Lebanon, from the Gulf War to the invasion and ongoing war in Iraq. Now he brings his knowledge, his firsthand experience and his intimate understanding of the Middle East to a book that addresses the full complexity of its political history and its current state of affairs.
Random House Publishing
Description from Open Library.
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