Book Reviews

Winter 2026 Book Reviews:
Book Reviews
October 7: The Wars Over Words and Deeds
By Asaf Romirowsky and Donna Robinson Divine •
Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2025. 344 pp., $49 (hardcover and eBook)

Reviewed by Mitchell Bard
December 1, 2025
Book Reviews
Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture, Torture, and Enlightenment
By Theo Padnos • New York: Scribner, 2022. 400 pp., $25.00 (paperback)

Reviewed by Jonathan Spyer
December 1, 2025
Book Reviews
Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History
By Vali Nasr • Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2025. 376 pp., $35.00 (hardcover); $24.99 (eBook)

Reviewed by Patrick Clawson
November 28, 2025
Book Reviews
Forgotten Saint-Simonian Travelers in Egypt: Suzanne Voilquin, Ismayl Urbain, and Jehan d’Ivray
By John David Ragan • New York and Cairo: The American University in Cairo (AUC) Press, 2025. 349 pp; $69.95 (hardback), $68.99 (PDF), $68.99 (EPUB)

Reviewed by Roger F. S. Kaplan
December 1, 2025
Book Reviews
Driven to Their Knees: Humiliation in Contemporary Politics
By Roxanne L. Euben • Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2025. 280 pp., $99.95 (hardcover); $29.95 (paperback)

Reviewed by Craig Considine
December 1, 2025
Middle East Quarterly
New Directions in Israeli Media: Film, Television, and Digital Content
By Yaron Peleg, Eran Kaplan, and Ido Rosen • Austin: University of Texas Press, 2025. 364 pp., $55.00 (hardcover)

Reviewed by Sariel Birnbaum
December 1, 2025
Book Reviews
Contemporary Turkish Prison Diary: Reflections on the Writings of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
By İsmail Albayrak • Singapore: Springer, 2024. xx+144 pp., $109.99 (paperback), $84.99 (eBook)

Reviewed by Tom Gage
December 1, 2025
Book Reviews
Israel Strikes Iran: Operation Rising Lion—The 20-Year Backstory
By Edwin Black • Washington, DC: Dialog Press, 2025. 131pp., $30.00 (hardcover); $25.00 (paperback)

Review by Efraim Inbar
December 1, 2025
Book Reviews
Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomanLifeFreedom Revolt

By Jonathan Harounoff • Castroville, Texas: Black Rose, 2025. 181 pp.; $25.95 (hardcover), $15.95 (paperback)

Reviewed by Michael Rubin
December 1, 2025
More from MEF
The operational mechanics of this proxy architecture rely on low-cost, contract-style execution. Handler networks linked to Iranian intelligence recruit local operatives, often disaffected youth or petty criminals, using encrypted messaging channels to conduct low-tech attacks in exchange for financial payments. Plausible deniability is built directly into the operational design.
Middle East Forum Online
The Front Line Is Everywhere: Why Europe Must Dismantle Tehran’s Hybrid Terror Network
Iran-Linked Networks Have Exploited Open Borders, Civil Liberties, and Gaps in Counter-Terrorism Coordination to Establish Cells Across the Continent
September 4, 2026
 · 
Amine Ayoub
Expect schoolteachers, media pundits, and elected leaders speechifying at the New York memorial (think New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani) to pretzel-twist themselves around ever saying aloud that a religious motive rooted in Islamist ideology drove the 9/11 hijackers to that mass murder—and still does.
Middle East Forum Online
Many Will Excise the Lesson of 9/11 from National Memory: Islamist Ideology Still Motivates Mass Murder
As America Prepares to Memorialize the 25 Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks, Expect a Glaring Omission in the Upcoming Speeches, Editorials, and Televised Retrospectives
September 4, 2026
 · 
Todd Bensman
European Parliament in Strasbourg expels FEMYSO, the Muslim Brotherhood-linked youth network, after 33 MEPs warned of its Islamist ties and threat to European values.
FWI News
European Union Supporting Muslim Brotherhood Youth Event on ‘Islamophobia’
EU Makes U-Turn After Parliament Expelled Islamist Youth Organization
September 4, 2026
 · 
Jules Gomes
A yacht sails the waters of the Persian Gulf in May 2025, with the distant skyline of Doha, Qatar, faintly visible.
Middle East Forum Observer
Before the ‘Gulf of America’ There Was the ‘Arabian Gulf’
Changing the Name of Lake Ontario Is Ahistorical, but So Was the Change from ‘Persian Gulf’ That Predated Trump
September 4, 2026
 · 
Michael Rubin
A flag of Bahrain flutters on a traditional dhow, as Manama's modern buildings create a dynamic cityscape backdrop.
Middle East Forum Observer
Is Bahrain the Weakest Gulf Cooperation Council Link in the Regional War?
Unlike Its Bigger Neighbors, Bahrain Has Little Strategic Depth to Absorb a Military Shock
September 4, 2026
 · 
Radhika Lakshminarayanan
A sea turtle in the Mediterranean Sea in North Cyprus.
Middle East Forum Observer
Could Turkey Start a War Over the Greece-Cyprus Great Sea Interconnector?
The European Union Has Termed the $2.2 Billion, 750-Mile Interconnector Among Its European Projects of Common Interest
September 4, 2026
 · 
Christos Konstantinidis
Maryam Abu-Hasaballah, a recent graduate of the University of Connecticut, wrote an honors thesis about the protests at the schools main campus in Storrs, Connecticut. In her thesis, published in 2025, Abu-Hasaballah accused UConn president Radenka Maric of using campus police to deprive the post-Oct. 7 protesters of their right to free speech because of a pro-Israel bias and personal ties to the Jewish state. As it turns out, Abu-Hassaballah has alleged family ties to a Hamas fighter who was killed by Israel after he participated in the October 7 attack.
FWI News
Massachusetts Suburb Hires Anti-Zionist With Alleged Family Ties to Hamas Fighter to Teach Social Studies
UConn Grad Wrote Honors Thesis About Post-October 7 Protests—Without Mentioning Massacre
September 3, 2026
 · 
Dexter Van Zile
On August 30, 2026, political delegates in Tripoli signed a final framework agreement sponsored by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya. However, less than 24 hours after the signing ceremony, serious executive infighting exposed how procedural maneuvering among political elites continues to imperil Libya’s path toward stability. Seafront view of Tripoli, Libya, February 11, 2021.
Middle East Forum Online
Internal Cracks in Libya’s Executive Threaten New U.N.-Backed 4+4 Electoral Deal
To Break This Pattern of Elite Stagnation, the United States Must Replace Passive Diplomatic Support with Decisive Leadership
September 3, 2026
 · 
Amine Ayoub
A protester in Midtown Manhattan carries a photo of Marwan Barghouti on Sept. 2, 2024. Barghouti was convicted of five counts of murder by an Israeli court in 2004 for three terrorist attacks that killed four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk and sentenced to five life terms plus 40 years.
Middle East Forum Online
When Every Hollywood Cause Becomes an Anti-Israel Cause
The Limousine-Liberal Wing of Hollywood Treats Israel as the One Government on Earth Whose Legitimacy Is Perpetually up for Debate
September 3, 2026
 · 
Yuval David
The TCG Anadolu drone carrier-amphibious assault ship of the Turkish Naval Forces near the Sirkeci Port; Istanbul, Turkey, May 27, 2023.
Middle East Forum Online
Turkey Plans for War Scenarios amid Expanding Israel-Greece Defense Ties, Official Letter Reveals
The Letter Cites Not Only Threats and Risks but Also Opportunities
September 3, 2026
 · 
Abdullah Bozkurt