Between Memory and Desire The Middle East in a Troubled Age by R. Stephen Humphreys, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999, p. 297.)

Abstract

Between Memory and Desire is a joy to read, since it does justice to many
misunderstood subjects about Islam and the Middle East. Humphreys'
genuine effort to be objective saves him from dismissing the reality of the
phenomenon he is observing with his subjective redefinition of it.
Being objective need not involve giving up one's set of values: it is neither
desired nor possible not to have any values. Rather, objectivity is frankly to
admit that we do have values through which we respond to what we
observe. Because the author does this, he quite successfully compares and
contrasts his own point of reference, i.e. contemporary American values,
with Islamic values. Humphreys' discussion not only will help the
outsiders understand Islam and Middle Eastern phenomenon better, but
also will enable the "insiders" to view how things look from outside and
do self-criticism.
In the first chapter, Hard Realities: Population Overgrowth
and Economic Stagnation, the author considers the difficult economic
situation of the Middle East. Humphreys notes that powerful market forces
of the first world have negative impact on the Middle Eastern economy,
an effect persisting from colonial times. This point could have been
emphasized more, for the impact of the global capitalist economy on the ...