Thanks first to Nicholas Lemann and Jimmy So of Columbia Global Reports for prodding me to write a book and seeing it through to fruition; my editors at The Economist, Ed Carr, Xan Smiley, and Anton La Guardia; Tim Fieldsend, who kept me from wandering, and Michael Sissons, my agent at PFD, for all his support.
Travelling is a wonderful way to experience that support system called humanity. I have been physically and spiritually nourished and housed by far too many to mention. The Middle East has lost none of its traditions of hospitality and can be a remarkably cheap place to travel.
The late Eyad Serraj was a political Houdini, hurdling the ghetto walls the region’s armies have built around Gaza, even when losing the fight against cancer. He remains my moral compass. Bassim Naim, Mahmoud Zahar, and Husam Zumlot in Gaza always outsmarted me in any argument, and taught me much in the process. Udi Eiran and Eliot Sacks did the same in Israel. I have yet to understand how Naftali Bennett can be such a warm individual and such a vicious orator. I still live in hope that he might one day correct himself. In another age Rabbi Michael Melchior would have been a prophet. I owe many insights and kindnesses to Makbula Nassar, Yazid Sadi, Lani Frerichs, Bill Van Esveld, Ana Uzelac, Rolly Rosen, and Mandy Turner. After Eyad, George Hintlian became my font of wisdom on all things Israeli, Palestinian, and Armenian. His company alone is worth a trip to Jerusalem.
Ara Sarafian and Ariadna Grigoryan made inspiring and generous travel companions through Western Armenia. Kerim Balcı prized open the world of the caliphate. Ghassan Salamé and Fareed Yasseen in Paris, Bassem Awadallah and Khalid al-Shammari in Amman, Anas Bouslamti and Mansour Malik in the Emirates, and Ezzedin al-Hakim in Najaf unwittingly shaped much of this book’s thinking. I am indebted to them all, particularly to Ezzedin, who also gave me a wedding ring. Saad Salloum and Akeel Khuraifi are two walking genizas, who at great personal risk prevent religious bigots from burying Iraq’s waning subcultures. Abbas al-Sarsai and Ali Salami provided exceptional company as they drove me round Iraq. Come the day when the Middle East sheds its walls I hope that they can all meet. They might just like each other.
Above all thank you to my family—Lipika, my wife, and Rishi, Sara, and Arun, my children—each of whom helped me filter the region through their different lenses, and made the journey all the richer by sharing it.