Gilbert Achcar – The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives
(Macmillan/Metropolitan Books, New York; Saqi Books, London, 2010)
Speaking Tour in US Universities – November 8 – 17
Nov 8, 5:00pm, New York University, NYU
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/neareast/whatsnew.upcoming.html
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158658407498269&ref=mf
Nov 9, 6:00pm, with Amira Hass, Columbia University, New York
http://www.mei.columbia.edu/flyers/Achcar-Hass%20Flyer.jpg
Nov 10, 6:30pm, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103434183057077
Nov 11, 7:00pm, Yale University, New Haven
Nov 12, 1:00pm, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/node/2141
Nov 15, 6:00pm, University of Chicago
http://cis.uchicago.edu/events/2010-2011/101115-achcar.shtml
Nov 16, 4:00pm, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
http://www.ii.umich.edu/umich/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=fef9bacb513fb210VgnVCM100000a3b1d38dRCRD&vgnextchannel=683b84328cbab210VgnVCM100000a3b1d38dRCRD
Nov 17, 7:00pm, University of Wisconsin, Madison
http://www.kulone.com/US/Event/1393759-Gilbert-Achcar-Talk-The-Arabs-and-the-Holocaust
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Gilbert Achcar
Professor of Development Studies & International Relations
University of London – School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
Russell Square – Thornhaugh Street
London WC1H 0XG
Webpage: http://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff30529.php
Latest book: http://us.macmillan.com/thearabsandtheholocaust
http://www.saqibooks.com/saqi/display.asp?isb=9780863566394
Most recent review in English: http://www.economist.com/node/16789290
FROM THE PUBLISHER
An unprecedented and judicious examination of what the Holocaust means—and doesn’t mean—in the Arab world, one of the most explosive subjects of our time
There is no more inflammatory topic than the Arabs and the Holocaust—the phrase alone can occasion outrage. The terrain is dense with ugly claims and counterclaims: one side is charged with Holocaust denial, the other with exploiting a tragedy while denying the tragedies of others.
In this pathbreaking book, political scientist Gilbert Achcar explores these conflicting narratives and considers their role in today’s Middle East dispute. He analyzes the various Arab responses to Nazism, from the earliest intimations of the genocide, through the creation of Israel and the destruction of Palestine and up to our own time, critically assessing the political and historical context for these responses. Finally, he challenges distortions of the historical record, while making no concessions to anti-Semitism or Holocaust denial. Valid criticism of the other, Achcar insists, must go hand in hand with criticism of oneself.
Drawing on previously unseen sources in multiple languages, Achcar offers a unique mapping of the Arab world, in the process defusing an international propaganda war that has become a major stumbling block in the path of Arab-Western understanding.
Praise
—Peter Novick, author of The Holocaust in American Life
—Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World
—Michael R. Marrus, author of The Holocaust in History
—Francis R. Nicosia, author of Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany
—Naseer Aruri, member of the Palestine National Council and author of Palestine and Palestinians: A Social and Political History
—Idith Zertal, author of Israel’s Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood
About the Author
Gilbert Achcar, who grew up in Beirut, has taught at the University of Paris-VIII and at the French-German Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin. He is currently professor of development studies and international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Among his many books are The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder and Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy, co-authored with Noam Chomsky.