Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East

by Matt Rees

Book Overview

Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, Current Events This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743250478
• ISBN13: 9780743250474
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Cain's Field, Faith, Fratricide and Fear in the Middle East, by Matt Rees

Matt Rees, a long time Jerusalem bureau chief for TIME, has an intimate knowledge of both the palestinian and the israeli scene. His report is fair and full of insight. Although I have spent many years in the area, the book has taught me more than I could ever have found out by myself. It gave me a better understanding of what lies behind the headlines. It is also well written and reads like a thriller.

The stories you don't hear - And I thought I knew it all,...

I had considered myself well read about the Israeli/Arab conflict in general and then I heard Matt Rees speak two months ago about this new book. He told me quite a few things I never knew before (mostly about the Palestinians). I bought his book on the spot and don't regret it. He is a good story teller and delves into issues and people that I don't read about in both the general and special interest media that covers this part of the world. I now have a better understanding about the issues that each side deals with internally (and especially about the Palestinian side). Highly Recommended!

Must read!

I have a deep interest and knowledge of Israel and I am not interested in reading repitious material, of which there is so much. However, "Cain's Field" is original. The first time I went to Israel, I read several books in advance, and in one, every person interviewed had a story. There were compelling stories of their backgrounds and how they got to Israel. "Cain's Field" was, for me, a continuation, a weaving together of stories of people of different backgrounds, each story wrapped up with the story of the country, young people figuring out where they fit into this world, the land of conflicts. The book is full of good drama, meticulously researched, shows authority and sensitivity. Most of all it is excellent reporting and not judgmental. It is fair and balanced and gives everyone equal time, four chapters each. I found the stories penetrating and provocative and Rees seems to have an understanding of the colliding cultures not available to ordinary readers and newscasters. I recommend "Cain's Field", it will entice you, pull you in during the first chapter with the intrigues of conflicts and betrayals. I could not put it down and read it in three sittings! Good gift idea!

A rare glimpse behind the headlines

This book is a real eye-opener. It takes readers behind the repetitive and often misleading headlines of Middle East reporting into the human heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict. It's a place where most journalists out there seem never to reach. Rees introduces us to a broad and fascinating cast of real-life characters, who are portrayed in skillfull detail. I learned more from this book than years of "blow-by-blow" news reports on the intifada. It stands head and shoulders above other journalists' accounts of the intifada, which I have found predictable and superficial. From Cain's Field I finally have some understanding of life in Bethlehem and Gaza, and a real sense of what's been going on out there for the past few years. Perhaps even more crucially, Rees gives us a warts-and-all insight into the internal conflicts which have created the internal divisions within Palestinian and Israeli society, fueling the current conflict. I left this book with only one question - how come most of the journalists covering the Middle East conflict never told us about all this stuff?