books on the Arab mindset

[MountainRunner]

Looking at the bookshelf, a few more suggestions that might help understand the different perspective:

Marc Lynch's Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today is more contemporary and looks at the development and influence of media on the shape of the "New Arab Public."

William Rugh's (ed.) Engaging the Arab and Islamic Worlds Through Public Diplomacy is collection of essays on U.S. public diplomacy efforts in the Middle East. Some of the essays are dated already, others are historical anchors for other discussions, and others might be obvious to some SWJ members. For me, this book had some nuggets and some "yeah, and?" bits. It is aimed more at the PD person of yore than the PD/SC person of today.

A book Rugh wrote, American Encounters with Arabs: The "Soft Power" of U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Middle East, is most useful for its historical view of American engagement with the Middle East. I don't think it would be too useful for this crowd.

Reza Aslan's book, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, is a good book I should have mentioned before (disclaimer: he's a friend). This book helps bust the "Clash of Civ" argument.

I have some good books on Arab nationalism, but these (like Dawisha's and Ayubi's) aren't worth mentioning anymore as the world's changed dramatically since 2003. Nice reads but we're too far from that world now. Although, they might help anchor some of the rhetoric.