James

Revisado: 06-16-18

I'm sure there have been plenty of books published offering a by the numbers for counting of events that have occurred since the Arab Spring, but this one distinguishes itself due to the author's literary flair, access to interviews with elites across the political spectrum due to his status as NYT bureau chief, and knack for finding ordinary people with extraordinary stories to offer a worm's eye view of history.

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Insightful but frustrating

Revisado: 03-11-18

While this is a very insightful book, the author's perspective is skewed by some pretty clear bias that I think she'd benefit from examining more carefully. Her background as career activist for left-wing causes gives her a great deal of perspective and she has been more thoughtful than many about these issues, but she has a very difficult time separating her own views from the causes that she examines. she would benefit greatly from avoiding reflexively supporting any group calling itself a left-wing anti-authoritarian movement, understanding the perspectives of other sides, and examining other social movements from perspectives other than those of her cohorts. for example, my perspective is perhaps colored by having recently finished an excellent book on the subject of Muslim movements in the Middle East since the Arab Spring (Shadi Hamid, Temptations of Power), but her interest only in portraying the most positive aspects of anti Mubarak protestors in Egypt in 2011, and not at all contending with the impact of the Muslim Brotherhood and their existing organizational structure, is a major blind spot, not least because it would actually significantly enrich her analysis of the importance of prior organizational structures and logistics. I was pretty stunned that the tea party was mentioned only in the context of a study whose design she wanted to praise, and that, even worse, the French Revolution was held up as a positive model to learn from. she has never heard of a protest movement that closes itself in the mantle of anti-authoritarianism that she doesn't love or just ignore (tea party, Iranian revolution...). I think this book is best understood as a message from a veteran activist to over-enthusiastic younger generations tempted to believe that technology obviates the need to learn from the lessons of the past; however, the author herself should heed her own advice and start by reading Edmund Burke.

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