Kim Ghattas is an Emmy-award winning journalist and writer who covered the Middle East for twenty years for the BBC and the Financial Times. She has also reported on the U.S State Department and American politics, and is the author of The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power. She has been published in The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Foreign Policy and is currently a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Born and raised in Lebanon, she now lives between Beirut and Washington D.C.
Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize * A New York Times
Notable Book of 2020 * A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of
2020 * A Financial Times Best Political Book of 2020 "[A] sweeping
and authoritative history." --The New York Times Book Review "She
serves up a wealth of human interest wrapped in ambiance and
atmosphere. She paints riveting portraits of the protagonists... a
superbly researched and subtly told story--current history at its
best." --The Wall Street Journal
"[A] wonderfully readable account... Ghattas has an enviable gift
for going beyond politics... Whatever happens next in this
long-running, oppressive and dangerous Middle Eastern drama, Black
Wave will be a vivid, indispensable guide to the story so far."
--The Guardian
"A timely and welcome guide to the politics of a
region...Well-researched and elegantly written." --The Financial
Times "Unlike narratives told from a Western point of view, this
book doesn't highlight terrorism or ISIS but instead seamlessly
weaves history and personal narrative into a story that explains
the gradual suppression of intellectualism and the creep of
authoritarianism in the region...Illuminating, conversational, rich
in details and like nothing else you've ever read about the Middle
East, Black Wave will leave you with a new understanding of this
diverse and troubled region." --BookPage
"The publication of this book, Black Wave, could not be better
timed. In it, Kim Ghattas argues convincingly that the revolution
that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power in 1979 was one of three
events that year that profoundly shaped -- or rather misshaped --
the Middle East... a fascinating and winding but highly readable
tale." --The Times (UK)
"[An] illuminating account of the origins of sectarian violence and
the current political shape of the Muslim world... [a] fluid,
fast-moving narrative...Essential for all who follow world events."
--Kirkus Reviews, *starred review* "Skillfully written and
scrupulously researched, Black Wave is an essential book in
understanding the origins of the modern conflicts in the Middle
East." --Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The
Looming Tower
"The framing of Black Wave is as important as the content. Kim
Ghattas portrays the last four decades across the Middle East as a
dark age, a world dimmed behind a curtain of violence, misogyny,
and religious extremism. In exploring how this blackness came to
be, she recalls a brighter past and predicts a better future. It's
a powerful and important book." --Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of the
New America Foundation and former Director of Policy Planning at
the Department of State "Kim Ghattas is a superb writer and
reporter, which makes Black Wave an accessible and very interesting
account of the sectarian schism and regional rivalry between Iran
and Saudi Arabia that has riven the Middle East for decades and is
one of the most consequential contests threatening global
security." --Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt "An artful, gripping,
timely, and humane account of the roots and consequences of the
destructive rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia from one of the
region's most insightful and incisive observers." --Ambassador
William J. Burns, President, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace and former Deputy Secretary of State "A well-researched and
highly readable primer on the rivalry between Shias and Sunnis
shaping today's Middle East. Kim Ghattas masterfully traces the
origins of sectarianism in the explosive rise of Islamic
fundamentalism in 1979 and the destructive Saudi-Iranian rivalry
that followed. Told through the experiences of those who lived and
shaped sectarianism, Black Wave is both gripping and informative; a
must read for anyone interested in understanding the forces shaping
the Middle East today." --Vali Nasr, professor of international
affairs and Middle East politics at the School of Advanced
International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and author of
Shia Revival "Clear-eyed and honest, perfectly researched and
brilliantly written, a unique book that is about more than the
Saudi-Iran rivalry as it illuminates how and why the region began
to turn inward over the last 100 years--a must read for outsiders
and people in the region." --Marwan Muasher, Vice President for
studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and
former minister of foreign affairs of Jordan "Black Wave is a
brilliant piece of work. Ghattas reveals how the competition
between Tehran and Riyadh, instigated in 1979 by the Iranian
revolution and the siege of Mecca--and intensified after the 2003
US invasion of Iraq--led to the instrumentalization of Islam to
destroy cosmopolitanism, to force women to veil, and to mobilize
sectarian extremists." --Emma Sky, senior fellow at Yale
University's Jackson Institute and author of In a Time of Monsters
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