What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle East

Explains with evidence. Statistics, key figures and historical events are elucidated upon. Ignore the review by Vlad, it’s not a book “blaming” the west WITHOUT providing the evidence, it provides the evidential reasoning why the author concludes what he does. Must read for MENA Studies.

What Really Went Wrong by Fawaz A. Gerges is really about how the foreign policies of the Presidential Administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s has had undesired consequences which are having an impact on US-Middle Eastern relations even to this very day. The main focus of this book is on US policy toward Iran and Egypt during that time period. Per the author, Eisenhower and John Foster and Allen Dulles (both brothers were his two closest advisors) were very Cold War oriented and would not tolerate leaders of developing countries that pursued their own agenda and would not explicitly side with the US against the Soviet Union. Hence, when the democratically elected Iranian President Mohammad Mossadegh nationalized Iran's oil reserves so that revenues would be used for the benefit of the country's populace instead of for American or British companies, a coup was set up to oust him out of power. This eventually led to the rise of a radical religious government as well as widespread anger amongst the Iranian people toward the West. Although General Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt certainly had dictatorial tendencies and opposed democracy in his country, he did attempt to unify the varying Arab countries and develop Egypt into a more modern and prosperous country. However, he did obtain assistance and made deals with the Soviet Union due to being denied by the Eisenhower Administration so the US took a more antagonistic approach toward his regime. Perhaps, there would be a more stable and peaceful Middle East due to the success of more secular rather than religiously extreme governments and movements. Maybe there would even be a more peaceful situation between the Israelis and Palestinians due to lesser influence of radical Islam. History has shown that the Cold War was a farce. The Soviet Union and Communism were never a threat. Ruining other countries' governments due to fear of the spread of Communism appears to have been the incorrect tactic.

Extremely insightful, powerful, and gripping. I couldn't put it down. This book offers a fresh perspective on missed opportunities for democratisation and sovereignty in the Middle East after the onset of the Cold War, particularly focusing on Iran and Egypt. A must read for understanding the region and US/UK engagement historically.

Although I don't disagree with central idea of the book, the approach is too simplistic, entire book is a continuous blame of US, and of course some antisemitism is included.