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BOOKS I N BR I E F narrates represent the space where the political meets the personal.The reader feels they are exploring the workings of Mourani’s mind, as the book jumps through time and space, memory prompting memory. Mourani utilises several different media: poetry, prose, photographs, letters and even skype conversations.The result is a human portrait of a woman who has learned how to negotiate war and loss. It is a shame, however, that the quality of publishing is poor, rendering many of the photographs unclear. Éditions Dar An-Nahar, 2009, pbk, 101pp, ISBN: 978-9953-74-257-1. FC. NON-FICTION Voices From Iraq: A People’s History by Mark Kukis records the testimonies of almost seventy Iraqis, presented chronologically to form a history of the 2003 Iraq War, told by those who lived through the US invasion and subsequent occupation. Kukis covered the war in Iraq as a correspondent for Time magazine from 2006 to 2009. The testimonies come from a wide range of people – former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, civilians and former dissidents and freedom fighters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The book recounts the history of the war from the 2003 invasion and follows Iraq’s gradual descent into chaos and open sectarian violence. The narratives make for harrowing reading, with vivid depictions of violence and torture, as well as accounts of the devastating effect that such a climate has on everyday life and relationships, as Rasim Hassan Haikel says in his testimony, “Love has no taste in war.When you see the misery of others, how can you love? When you go out and see all these black banners, and burned houses . . . how can you have feelings of love?” This is essential reading for anyone wanting to know about the human consequences of the war in Iraq. Columbia University Press, New York, 2011, hbk, pp220, ISBN 978-0-231-156929. FC. Standing by the Ruins: Elegiac Humanism in Wartime and Postwar Lebanon by Ken Seigneurie is a study of Lebanese cultural production in the tumultuous period between 1975 218 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

BOOKS I N BR I E F and 2005. Seigneurie focuses on contemporary film, fiction and popular culture to show how artists, novelists and film-makers appropriated both the legacy of “commitment literature” from the early to mid-twentieth century, and the ancient topos of “standing by the ruins” to form what he calls an “elegiac humanism.” It offers a new and unique angle on the relationship between the rise of sectarian extremism and the role of culture in suppressing or mediating it in modern-day Lebanon. Seigneurie forms a clear and coherent argument, and has packed the book with a wide range of cultural examples. Fordham University Press, New York, 2011, pbk, pp247, ISBN: 978-0-8232-3483-7. FC. The Road toTahrir: Front Line Images by Six Young Egyptian Photographers, Sherif Assaf, Omar Attia, Rehab K. El Dalil, Timothy Kaldas, Zee Mo, Monir El-Shazly, text by Omar Attia and Timothy Kaldas.This beautiful book chronicles the first two months of the Egyptian revolution in photographs taken by six young Egyptian photographers. The photographers have captured all elements of the crowds that gathered in Tahrir Square: male and female, elderly and young, Christian and Muslim.Although Mubarak’s harsh reaction – tear gas, live and rubber bullets and water cannons – is well documented in the photographs, their overwhelming message is one of hope. The ceaseless creativity of the slogans, the recurring image of the crescent and the cross, and the shots of the clean-up on 12 February come together to paint a picture of protesters who want peace, freedom and dignity above all else. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, 2011, pbk, pp147, ISBN 978-977-416514-6. FC. Reflections on Islamic Art, edited by Ahdaf Soueif. Twenty-seven leading writers and thinkers – from novelist Radwa Ashour to Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy – were invited to select an object from the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar and write a response to their chosen piece.The results of this experiment are collected in this book, complete with beautiful photographs of their chosen objects. From musings on the history BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 219

Page Text

BOOKS I N BR I E F

narrates represent the space where the political meets the personal.The reader feels they are exploring the workings of Mourani’s mind, as the book jumps through time and space, memory prompting memory. Mourani utilises several different media: poetry, prose, photographs, letters and even skype conversations.The result is a human portrait of a woman who has learned how to negotiate war and loss. It is a shame, however, that the quality of publishing is poor, rendering many of the photographs unclear. Éditions Dar An-Nahar, 2009, pbk, 101pp, ISBN: 978-9953-74-257-1. FC.

NON-FICTION

Voices From Iraq: A People’s History by Mark Kukis records the testimonies of almost seventy Iraqis, presented chronologically to form a history of the 2003 Iraq War, told by those who lived through the US invasion and subsequent occupation. Kukis covered the war in Iraq as a correspondent for Time magazine from 2006 to 2009. The testimonies come from a wide range of people – former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, civilians and former dissidents and freedom fighters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The book recounts the history of the war from the 2003 invasion and follows Iraq’s gradual descent into chaos and open sectarian violence. The narratives make for harrowing reading, with vivid depictions of violence and torture, as well as accounts of the devastating effect that such a climate has on everyday life and relationships, as Rasim Hassan Haikel says in his testimony, “Love has no taste in war.When you see the misery of others, how can you love? When you go out and see all these black banners, and burned houses . . . how can you have feelings of love?” This is essential reading for anyone wanting to know about the human consequences of the war in Iraq. Columbia University Press, New York, 2011, hbk, pp220, ISBN 978-0-231-156929. FC.

Standing by the Ruins: Elegiac Humanism in Wartime and Postwar Lebanon by Ken Seigneurie is a study of Lebanese cultural production in the tumultuous period between 1975

218 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

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