Jordan

Reviews

'Beautifully written, lively and engaging, this book will give both old hands and first-time visitors a very 3-dimensional analysis of Jordan and where it stands five years after King Hussain's passing.' - Eugene L. Rogan, St Antony's College, Oxford

'A highly readable introduction to Jordan, its people and politics, intersected with enlightening interviews with Jordanians from a range of backgrounds. A must-read.' - Joost R. Hiltermann, Director of the Middle East Project, International Crisis Group

'In a deft combination of analysis and direct reportage, Alan George has provided an excellent account of contemporary Jordan and of the different pressures, internal, regional and global, to which it is subjected. At once sympathetic and critical, his book shows how the modern state and society of Jordan have been created, where power lies, the limits to that power, and the diverse forces operating within that country.' - Professor Fred Halliday, London School of Economics, author of The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideologyand 100 Myths About the Middle East

'Alan George has painted a shrewd, candid and unsparing portrait of contemporary Jordan. Crisply written, and with obvious sympathy for the effectively disenfranchised who make up the majority of the population, George has interviewed a wide variety of Jordanians, both East Bankers and Palestinians, whose personal histories are adroitly sandwiched between a critical history of the state since its origins and a series of perceptive studies of the principal institutions through which it is run. By the somewhat dismal standards of most of its neighbours, Jordan may seem a bastion of liberty in a sea of oppression, but George's measured accounts of the limitations of 'Jordanian democracy', the fragility of the rule of law when either national security or the comfort of the elite is threatened, and the self-censorship which is more or less obligatory for journalists and researchers, give glimpses of a rather grimmer reality. It is certainly the sharpest and most informative study of the country currently available.' - Peter Sluglett, Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Utah, Salt Lake City

'Living in the Crossfire makes Jordan come alive. In patient detail, based on interviews at every level of Jordanian society, from refugee to king, George paints a damning picture of Jordan's pseudo-democracy and an affectionate one of its (majority Palestinian) society. His chapters on the media and legal system are especially lethal, anatomising spheres in which 'responsible freedom' reigns within 'reasonable red lines' drawn by a monarch who, by his own admission, 'can't be very democratic' where 'national interests' are at stake.' - Tom Hill, Tribune