More on Books & Critics from
The Atlantic Monthly.
More on Fiction & Poetry from
The Atlantic Monthly.
From the archives:
"We Have a Pope!"
(April 2003)
A short story
By Christopher Buckley.
"Scrutiny On the Bounty: Captain Bligh's Secret Logbook"
(December 2003)
By Christopher Buckley.
"Royal Pain"
(April 2004)
Further adventures of Rick Renard. A short story
By Christopher Buckley.
Also by Benjamin Healy:
"Proper-Name Index"
(September 2004)
"Onward and Upward"
(August 25, 2004)
David Brooks, the author of On Paradise Drive, talks about the American creed, the dark side of hope, and life on the New York Times op-ed page
Previously in Interviews:
"A Conversation With Colin Powell"
(August 2, 2004)
Colin Powell and P. J. O'Rourke discuss foreign policy, Volvos, Elvis, and more. The full transcript of an interview from the September 2004 Atlantic
By P. J. O'Rourke.
"Stories to Break Our Hearts"
(July 15, 2004)
Bret Anthony Johnston talks about the fiction of grief and loss, skateboarding, and choosing a hometown setting for his first collection of stories
By Curtis Sittenfeld.
"Justice + Beauty = Sublime"
(July 13, 2004)
The acclaimed poet Alice Fulton talks about Cascade Experiment, her new collection of poems, and why art must aim to be "fair"—in both senses of the word
By Sarah Cohen.
"Soccerworld"
(July 7, 2004)
Franklin Foer, the author of How Soccer Explains the World, on what soccer has to tell us about globalization, identity politics, and the future of baseball
By Frank Bures.
"Livin’ la Vida Lobster"
(June 30, 2004)
Trevor Corson, the author of The Secret Life of Lobsters, talks about fishing for lobsters, and the quirks of our favorite crustacean
By Sanders Kleinfeld.
"The Status-tician"
(June 29, 2004)
Why do the successes of our peers drive us crazy? Alain de Botton, the author of Status Anxiety, explains
By Adam Baer.
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Atlantic Unbound | August 3, 2004
Interviews
Veiled Optimism
Christopher Buckley, the author of Florence of Arabia, talks about women's lib, exploding camels, and the making of the modern Middle East
.....
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Florence of Arabia
[Click the title
to buy this book]
by Christopher Buckley
Random House
288 pages, $24.95
|
 lthough
scholars and diplomats could debate endlessly in search of the surest path to
peace and stability in the Middle East, few would find the region's persistent
turmoil and antidemocratic leanings a laughing matter. But in his new novel Florence
of Arabia, an excerpt of
which appears in the September Atlantic, the humorist Christopher Buckley does just that, proposing
a third way that casts a satirical and sensitive eye on the bitter absurdities
of life behind "the iron veil."
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Discuss this article in Post & Riposte.
More Interviews in Atlantic Unbound.
Benjamin Healy is an Atlantic Monthly staff editor.
Copyright © 2004 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
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