I found any of Tom Friedman's books to be an easier and more comprehensible read. I am not a full time student of the middle east, although I like Dr. Ajami.

A lot of the subject matter is poets and intellectuals in
the Arab countries and the extent to which they reflect the attitudes on a number of related subjects - secular vs religion, Israel vs Arab, democracy vs repression, modernity vs tradition. Interesting at times, maybe a little too focused on the literary at other times. Sometimes the reader has to work a bit to get something out of it. I'm not sure how much insight it gives in the end on the current popular mood in Arab
countries - depends on to what extent the intellectuals reflect that mood, I guess.

(...) I know very little about Arabic literature and poetry, and I have not read extensively about the "Middle East." Once the bar is set at that level, however, I found this book quite approachable.

The Dream Palace of the Arabs focusses on a particular time and space in the Arab world--the brief rise of Nasserism and nationalism generally and its subsequent collapse into bitterness. There is much great contemporary relavance in this 1998 work.

Ajami gives us Beirut and Lebanon, both before and during the terrible war; and he takes us into its rich literary world. He discusses the First and Second Gulf Wars [Iran-Iraq war and Desert Storm], explains the subtext of shia/sunni conflict, tells us a bit about Kuwait and a great deal about Saddam Hussein.

My favorite part of the book is the chapter "In the Land of Egypt." The last chapter "The Orphaned Peace" takes us to the heart of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, post-Oslo to the birth of the Palestinian Authority. Despite the tragedies and sorrows encountered in this book, I was left hopeful for peace.

Not conventional history I suppose, but a fine intellectual history of the last half-century in the Arab world. Inspires me to read some Naguib Mahfuz, where I go next on my journey through amazon...

While Ajami's analysis is engaging and literate, the author's bias shows throughout the book. Ajami refuses to call the terrorist group Hizbullah by its name, instead referring to it in translation as the "Party of God," and thereby hoping to deflect the reader's attention away from the true nature of this organization. He also translates jihad as "struggle," again in a revisionist attempt to bury the violence that certain sects of Islam have engendered in the name of holy war. He refuses to call the Yom Kippur War by its accepted name. Worst of all, in all of his references to the terrorsit mastermind Dr. George Habash, Ajami never once informs a reader that he is writing about a man who bombed school buses filled with children. This kind of selective ignorance has plagued many Arab accounts of the Middle East for years. Unfortunately, Ajami's work is no exception.

Fouad Ajami's objective for the book is simply stated in the title. His aim is to thoroughly analyze The Arab Predicament, with a specific focus on the problems of the Arab states since 1967. However, what does Ajami mean when he says, the Arab predicament? I believe his best definition of this is found on page 250. He states that the Arab predicament is the failure of an Arab order because of the lack of a cohesive political, social, and economic system that "makes people and societies behave justly or rationally". He asserts that this has led Arabs to turn back to the force they have the most trust in, their religious identity. Over the course of the book, Ajami analyzes in detail the reasons for this change, focusing on three overall themes that are roughly separated into the three parts of the book. The first theme is the complete failure of the 'progressive' states and later with pan-Arabism. This in chronicled in the first part of the book titled One's world as it really is. The second theme of the book is the detachment of Egypt from the rest of the Arab world and Egypt as a predictor for things to come in the Arab world. This is found in the second part of the book labeled Egypt as state, as Arab mirror. The third part of the book seeks to clarify a theme that is an undercurrent of the two previous chapters: the Arab world's relationship with the West. This final chapter, called Fractured tradition: the claims of authenticity, the realities of dependence, explains the conflict between modernization and tradition, and how the Arab world is coping (or more precisely, failing to cope) with the impact of the modern world on the Arab states and its political, cultural, and economic systems.
I do believe Ajami has achieved his objectives that he sets out in his introduction to The Arab Predicament. He explains the fall of Nasserism and Ba'thism, he explores the path Egypt has taken since the Six Day War and why they have taken it, and he explores the conflict between Islamic fundamentalism and modernization, and the problems that the ruling elites and the Arab governments have contributed to this conflict by not giving their people an outlet for political expression. I think the author has deliberately tried to give an unbiased study of the problems of the Arab world, as he uses the thoughts and ideas of varied thinkers and writers, from anti-Western Muhammad Jalal Kishk to the romantic thinking Ba'thist founder Michel Aflaq.

Overall, I think there are very few bad points to The Arab Predicament. I think the study of the topic has created some profound points throughout the book, especially Ajami's explanation for the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism found in the last chapter and its relationship with the inaccessibility of political channels to the people of the Arab world. However, I do think there are a few minor negative points towards the book. First, although I enjoy Ajami's writing style, I am sometimes confused as to whether he is stating an opinion or simply explaining the mindset of another author or writer that he has cited in his text.
In regards to the material covered in the book, the Palestinian issue is mentioned only in passing, as if it is only another outside agent in the Arab world. In some sense this is true, since Ajami already points out the strength of the state in the Middle East (which Palestine does not have). Along with this, it would be helpful if Israel's situation had been more strongly explained and contrasted with the rest of the Arab states, as their presence is a major factor in the Middle East. Also, although the book seems to be written for the specialist reader, it would be helpful to give a little more explanation of most important events, such as the Six Day of 1967 or the October War of 1973. Even if the explanation is not put within one of the chapters, it would be helpful if his Note to the nonspecialist reader gave greater detail to some of the seminal events of the Middle East in the last half century (or at least from 1967).
The Arab Predicament provides great insight into some of the modern problems of the Arab world. Fouad Ajami goes into great depth exploring various issues, and his insight and ability to see the problems of many different viewpoints help him to create a great inquiry of the problems of the Middle East, almost all of which are applicable to today, nearly 10 years after he last revised his book.

How have Arab political ideas and institutions evolved since the 1967 war? how have the Arabs contended with the external influences to which their wealth have exposed them? what does the rise of Islamic fundamentalism mean and what will it lead to? Ajami, director of Middle East Studies department at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, seeks to answer these and related questions in his illuminated study of the constraints and possibilities facing the Arab world today. he documents the political and intellectual response to the 1967 defeat; surveys the choices facing the arab world exemplified by the case of Egypt; and seeks to explain Islamic fundamentalism, ultimately locating its roots in the failures of the dominant political atmosphere and ideology and the integration of secularism. emphasis is been given to specific events such as the assassination of Anwar Sadat, the Iranian revolution, the iran-iraq war and the persian gulf war.