The Arab Uprisings: The People Want the Fall of the Regime

This is an interesting and very readable account of the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Libya, with references to Lebanon, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Mixing personal reportage style writing with brief analyses of the causes and and key events of the uprisings, Bowen makes clear that they cannot be treated as single movement but are instead a series of localised reactions to authoritarian regimes and hopelessness, connected mainly by the use of social media to bring the rebellions to worldwide attention and to communicate with other resistors to the status quo.Bowen makes clear that the uprisings, even when they have been successful in deposing rulers, have some distance yet to run before stability is achieved and democatic processes fully established.This is a readable book, although at times the narrative is a liitle disconnected and seems rushed

This sort of book can be hard going and confusing. JB handled the subject matter with his usual calm way and didn't over complicate things. An interesting read..not easy but these topics never are.

Although it is a little out of date this book provides background to the troubles in the middle east at the moment.

I bought this because I enjoy Jeremy Bowen's news reports and thought this would give me a better insight into what is going on in the Middle East.There is indeed some really good analysis. For instance I now have a lot more sympathy for Russia's position on Syria because of Bowen's explanation which seems a lot more balanced than what we normally hear.However I really struggled to keep interested for much of it. It may be that Bowen writes in chunks comparable to his TV reports - but the chunks just don't seem terribly well connected. He jumps from high level analysis to personal interaction with ordinary people he meets on the street, to something happening in a different country.A number of these chunks really held my attention but many others did not and seemed like they were commentary behind TV images of the conditions and doesn't work so well without those images.I'd suggest anyone gets a sample first if buying for a Kindle to see if the writing style is OK for you.

Middle East news has been and no doubt forever will be on our screens and we continue to do our best to follow it with some understanding and without bias. The subject matter, its history and the reasons behind its present day turbulence is incredibly complex but having read JB’s book, I have come away with a greater understanding and a want to know more about the region and its history. In a world of biased information overload it is gratifying to read first hand accounts delivered without an agenda that leave you better informed and humbled with a reminder of how lucky many of us are. Thank you for your pursuits of the truth Jeremy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to find out more about the recent events in the Arab world. As someone who is interested in but sadly not particularly well informed about the politics and history behind events in the Middle East, I found the book was pitched at just the right level. There was enough factual information to feel that I had at least some understanding of the key events leading up to the various revolutions, but not too much to make the book difficult and heavy to read. The experiences and observations of Jeremy Bowen himself also helped to make the book highly readable and unlike some journalists, he writes extremely fluently and engagingly.

Jeremy is an amazing journalist whose sheer longevity and ability to get to the nub of the matter enables him to give superb analyses of ongoing events in often complex situations

I wasn't planning to buy this book, until I went to a talk that Jeremy Bowen was giving - in person he was very engaging and interesting, and it was a fascinating talk. His knowledge of events in the middle east gives a fascinating insight - but sadly he's much more engaging as a speaker than a writer, so although the book is interesting, I'm afraid I found reading it a bit of a trudge, which was a bit disappointing. Bowen is definitely more interesting in person but having said that, it's still an interesting book, covering important recent events, so I'd definitely recommend it to people interested in the topic - I'd just suggest that it might not be quite as readable as one might hope.