Pax Arabica: The State, the Street and the Idea That Won’t Stay Inside Borders

Daniel Clarke-Serret’s ambitious first book argues that the Middle East’s central problem isn’t its states — it’s the idea that keeps them from becoming nations

Claude’s full review of Pax Arabica:

Most books about the modern Middle East pick a villain: a regime, a colonial legacy, an ideology, a foreign power. Pax Arabica tries something more ambitious and, for long stretches, is more persuasive than its title suggests: it argues that the region’s recurring catastrophes — minority persecution, failed peace proc…