At The New Republic, I have a piece about one of my favorite places in the world: the Old City of Damascus.
Filed under: New Republic, history, Middle East
29 September 2012 • 6:37 pm 0
The Blasphemy Divide
At The Boston Globe, I have a piece about the different ways in which the West (the U.S., really) and the Muslim world (and Europe) approach blasphemy.
Filed under: Boston Globe, law, Middle East, religion
1 January 2012 • 5:09 pm 0
Freed Press
Late last year, USAID hired me to teach a seminar about journalism to Libyan journalists. I wrote about the experience in the current Atlantic.
Filed under: Atlantic Monthly, Libya, Middle East
23 August 2011 • 6:52 pm 0
The Gaddafi Family File
The Daily published a Gaddafi family tree, partially written by me. Check it out here.
Filed under: Daily, Libya, Middle East
30 June 2011 • 7:36 am 0
The latest from Tahrir
I filed a post for TheAtlantic.com from Tahrir.
Filed under: Atlantic Monthly, Egypt, Middle East
26 April 2011 • 7:02 pm 0
Tale of a Lost City
Originally appeared in The Daily.
Bashar Assad’s father Hafez destroys Hama and kills thousands
Up until Friday, it was possible to imagine that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad had a softer touch than his brutal father Hafez. One hint: His American biographer, the former minor-league baseball pitcher David W. Lesch, reported in 2006 that Bashar likes the soothing tones of Phil Collins music. But over the last few days, Bashar has responded to protests by killing at least 120, including dozens at funerals in cities all over Syria. If Hafez Assad is gazing up at his son from Hades, he can be certain that the family business of brutality is still going strong.
Filed under: Daily, history, Middle East
11 April 2011 • 6:31 pm 0
Holy Treasure
Originally appeared in The Daily.
In December 1945, an Egyptian peasant named Muhammad Ali Samman and his brother wandered away from their village in central Egypt, hoping to scoop up a few buckets of soft dirt to fertilize his crops. Digging next to a large boulder, Muhammad Ali found a mysterious earthenware jar about 3 feet tall. He and his brother backed away from it, worrying that it might contain a genie. Then, on further reflection, they considered that it might contain gold, and they smashed it apart, thereby releasing a force in some ways more disruptive to traditional Christianity than any genie could have been. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Daily, books, Egypt, history, Middle East, religion
2 April 2011 • 6:29 pm 0
A Libyan Misadventure
Originally appeared in The Daily.
Last week, two American aviators crashed their F-15E fighter jet outside Benghazi, leaving it a smoking wreck on the ground. When the airmen parachuted unharmed to safety, they may have wondered about a historic precursor, a lanky 24-year-old Norwegian-Englishman who crashed in eastern Libya more than 60 years earlier and was not so lucky. That pilot nearly died. And if he had, the world would be a poorer place because that pilot was Roald Dahl, among the world’s most beloved children’s authors. Dahl’s books (including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach”) make children and adults squeal with delight and shudder with horror, in part because his own life had its share of delight and horror both. On the night of Sept. 19, 1940, Dahl nearly burned to death under the stars in the Libyan desert.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Daily, books, history, Libya, Middle East
