Arab Spring Books

8 years ago today the Egyptian revolution known as The Arab Spring began.  Here are 10 books about the Arab Spring revolution.

The Battle for the Arab Spring: Revolution, Counter-Revolution and the Making of a New Era by Lin Noueihed - The Arab Spring of 2011 unleashed a torrent of hope, change -- and conflict. A year on, the excitement of new freedoms has given way to a complex picture ranging from gradual democratization to vicious repression, and a mounting frustration that, despite transformations in the political sphere, the daily lives of most people in the region have yet to see an improvement. With the aid of first-hand reporting, Lin Noueihed and Alex Warren analyze the extraordinary repercussions of early 2011 and uncover the competing forces vying for dominance in the region. As secular parties have failed to take advantage of the new opportunities, Islamists (some apparently moderate, some less so) have surged to the fore, offering a focus on honesty, justice and conservative values which appeals to ordinary people tired of years of corruption and repression. Meanwhile, the authoritarian regimes who controlled the region for decades have in most cases yet to release their grip -- whether in the form of Syria's attempts to quash rebellion or the subtler machinations of the Egyptian military. Less reported has been the Saudi role in suppressing popular protest in Bahrain, tacitly supported by Western powers who at the same time poured resources into ending Gaddafi's reign in Libya. As tensions mount and the global economic situation worsens, Noueihed and Warren ask: where next for the Arab world?

Demanding Dignity: Young Voices from the Front Lines of the Arab Revolutions edited by Ahmed Shihab-Eldin - Demanding Dignity: Young Voices from the Front Lines of the Arab Revolutions brings together essays written by today's generation of Arab youth who have directly inspired and sparked a revolutionary spirit that toppled governments, unearthing the corruption of decades of dictator dominated countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Their voices are as varied as their individual stories, but their destinies are shared. They are the connected generation.Stories come from the streets of Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Palestine. Inspired in part by universal human values and aspirations, each story captures the changes revolutionizing the region and social media's role in uniting like-minded citizens through civic engagement.

Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution: Voices from Tunis to Damascus edited by Layla Al-Zubaidi - As revolution swept through the Arab world in spring of 2011, much of the writing that reached the West came via analysts and academics, experts and expats. We heard about Facebook posts and tweeted calls to action, but what was missing was testimony from on-the-ground participants--which is precisely what Layla Al-Zubaidi and Matthew Cassel have brought together in Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution. These essays and profoundly moving, often harrowing, firsthand accounts span the region from Tunisia to Syria and include contributors ranging from student activists to seasoned journalists--half of whom are women. This unique collection explores just how deeply politics can be held within the personal and highlights the power of writing in a time of revolution.

The Egyptians: A Radical History of Egypt's Unfinished Revolution by Jack Shenker - In The Egyptians, journalist Jack Shenker uncovers the roots of the uprising that succeeded in toppling Hosni Mubarak, one of the Middle East's most entrenched dictators, and explores a country now divided between two irreconcilable political orders. Challenging conventional analyses that depict contemporary Egypt as a battle between Islamists and secular forces, The Egyptians illuminates other, equally important fault lines: far-flung communities waging war against transnational corporations, men and women fighting to subvert long-established gender norms, and workers dramatically seizing control of their own factories.
Putting the Egyptian revolution in its proper context as an ongoing popular struggle against state authority and economic exclusion, The Egyptians explains why the events of the past five years have proved so threatening to elites both inside Egypt and abroad. As Egypt's rulers seek to eliminate all forms of dissent, seeded within the rebellious politics of Egypt's young generation are big ideas about democracy, sovereignty, social justice, and resistance that could yet change the world.

The Fires of Spring: A Post-Arab Spring Journey Through the Turbulent New Middle East by Shelly Culbertson - The "Arab Spring" all started when a young Tunisian fruit seller set himself on fire in protest of a government official confiscating his apples and slapping his face. The aftermath of that one personal protest grew to become the Middle East movement known as the Arab Spring--a wave of disparate events that included protests, revolutions, hopeful reform movements, and bloody civil wars.
The Fires of Spring is the first book to bring the post-Arab Spring world to light in a holistic context. A narrative of author Shelly Culbertson's journey through six countries of the Middle East,The Fires of Spring tells the story by weaving together a sense of place, insight about issues of our time, interviews with leaders, history, and personal stories. Culbertson navigates the nuances of street life and peers into ministries, mosques, and women's worlds. She delves into what Arab Spring optimism was about, and at the same time sheds light on the pain and dysfunction that continues to plague parts of the region. The Fires of Spring blends reportage, travel memoir, and analysis in this complex and multifaceted portrait.

Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation by Ashraf Khalil - A definitive, absorbing account of the Egyptian revolution, written by a Cairo-based Egyptian-American reporter for Foreign Policy and The Times (London), who witnessed firsthand Mubarak's demise and the country's efforts to build a democracy
In early 2011, the world's attention was riveted on Cairo, where after three decades of supremacy, Hosni Mubarak was driven from power. It was a revolution as swift as it was explosive. For eighteen days, anger, defiance, and resurgent national pride reigned in the streets---protestors of all ages struck back against police and state security, united toward the common goal of liberation.
But the revolution was more than a spontaneous uprising. It was the end result of years of mounting tension, brought on by a state that shamelessly abused its authority, rigging elections, silencing opposition, and violently attacking its citizens. When revolution bloomed in the region in January 2011, Egypt was a country whose patience had expired---with a people suddenly primed for liberation.
As a journalist based in Cairo, Ashraf Khalil was an eyewitness to the perfect storm that brought down Mubarak and his regime. Khalil was subjected to tear gas alongside protestors in Tahrir Square, barely escaped an enraged mob, and witnessed the day-to-day developments from the frontlines. From the halls of power to the back alleys of Cairo, he offers a one-of-a-kind look at a nation in the throes of an uprising.
Liberation Square is a revealing and dramatic look at the revolution that transformed the modern history of one of the world's oldest civilizations.

The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East by Marc Lynch - Less than twenty-four months after the hope-filled Arab uprising, the popular movement had morphed into a dystopia of resurgent dictators, failed states, and civil wars. Egypt's epochal transition to democracy ended in a violent military coup. Yemen and Libya collapsed into civil war, while Bahrain erupted in smothering sectarian repression. Syria proved the greatest victim of all, ripped apart by internationally fueled insurgencies and an externally supported, bloody-minded regime. Amidst the chaos, a virulently militant group declared an Islamic State, seizing vast territories and inspiring terrorism across the globe. What happened? The New Arab Wars is a profound illumination of the causes of this nightmare. It details the costs of the poor choices made by regional actors, delivers a scathing analysis of Western misreadings of the conflict, and condemns international interference that has stoked the violence. Informed by commentators and analysts from the Arab world, Marc Lynch's narrative of a vital region's collapse is both wildly dramatic and likely to prove definitive. Most important, he shows that the region's upheavals have only just begun--and that the hopes of Arab regimes and Western policy makers to retreat to old habits of authoritarian stability are doomed to fail.

The New Middle East: The World After the Arab Spring by Paul Danaher - For the past forty years the images flashing across our television screens from the Middle East have provoked anger, outrage and, sometimes, military action from the international community. But the stories behind them were rarely understood. In 2011 the revolutions of the Arab Spring changed everything. Now, the handful of dictators who ruled brutally over hundreds of millions of people - Hosni Mubarak, Ben Ali, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi and Bashar al-Assad - have gone, or are fighting for their lives. They have left behind countries in turmoil, the people forced to re-examine their identities and regional loyalties, and to decide what role Islam will play in their lives and their politics. The collapse of the old order has left the West scrambling to make sense of a region it hardly recognises. If the people of the Arab world can now speak openly for the first time, then it is also the West's first chance to listen. And there are many questions to be answered. Drawing on compelling first-hand reporting from Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Israel, Syria and Tunisia, and deep knowledge of the region's history and access to many of its key players, BBC Bureau Chief Paul Danahar lays bare the forces that are shaping the new Middle East.

A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS by Robert Worth - In 2011, a wave of revolution spread through the Middle East as protesters demanded an end to tyranny, corruption, and economic decay. From Egypt to Yemen, a generation of young Arabs insisted on a new ethos of common citizenship. Their bravery and idealism stirred observers around the world and led militant jihadis to worry that they had been superseded by a new and peaceful uprising.
Five years later, the utopian aspirations of 2011 have darkened. In one country after another, brutal terrorists and dictators have risen to the top as old divides reemerge and deepen. Egypt has become a more repressive police state than ever before; Libya, Syria, and Yemen endure civil war; and the extremists of ISIS have spread chaos and carnage across the region and beyond it.
A Rage for Order tracks the tormented legacy of what was once called the Arab Spring. Writing with bold literary ambition, the distinguished New York Times correspondent Robert F. Worth introduces a riveting cast of characters. We meet a Libyan rebel who must decide whether to kill the torturer who murdered his brother; a Yemeni farmer who lives in servitude to a poetry-writing, dungeon-operating chieftain; two young Syrian women whose close friendship devolves into enmity as their sects go to war; and an Egyptian doctor who is caught between his loyalty to the Muslim Brotherhood and his hopes for a new, tolerant democracy. In a final chapter,Worth tells the moving story of the two eighty-something statesmen whose unlikely camaraderie allowed Tunisia to escape its neighbors' worst fates.
Combining dramatic storytelling with an original analysis of the Arab world today, A Rage for Order captures the psychic and actual civil wars raging throughout the Middle East and explains how the dream of an Arab renaissance gave way to a new age of discord.

Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring by Bassem Youssef - Bassem Youssef's incendiary satirical news program, Al-Bernameg (The Program), chronicled the events of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, and the rise of Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi. Youssef not only captured his nation's dissent but stamped it with his own brand of humorous political criticism, in which the Egyptian government became the prime laughing stock.
So potent were Youssef's skits, jokes, and commentary, the authoritarian government accused him of insulting the Egyptian presidency and Islam. After a six-hour long police interrogation, Youssef was released. While his case was eventually dismissed, his television show was terminated, and Youssef, fearful for his safety, fled his homeland.
In Revolution for Dummies, Youssef recounts his life and offers hysterical riffs on the hypocrisy, instability, and corruption that has long animated Egyptian politics. From the attempted cover-up of the violent clashes in Tahrir Square to the government's announcement that it had created the world's first "AIDS cure" machine, to the conviction of officials that Youssef was a CIA operative--recruited by Jon Stewart--to bring down the country through sarcasm. There's much more--and it's all insanely true.
Interweaving the dramatic and inspiring stories of the development of his popular television show and his rise as the most contentious funny-man in Egypt, Youssef's humorous, fast-paced takes on dictatorship, revolution, and the unforeseeable destiny of democracy in the Modern Middle East offers much needed hope and more than a few healing laughs. A documentary about his life, Tickling Giants, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016, and is now scheduled for major release.