Yemen in Crisis: Road to War

The first half of the book was interesting. It gave a good summary of the different powers at play in the region. The second half, however, was too sociology-heavy for me personally. It spent too much time breaking down every tribe and subgroup in Yemen - their economic outlook, jobs, social aspects of life - but I feel when I finished I still didnt have a good grasp of the conflict in Yemen itself. I would have liked a deeper explanation on the Huthis as well.

The book depicts Yemen up until mid 2017, and was published before the death of Ali Abdullah Saleh. First, let me say what this book doesn’t do. Despite the title “Yemen in crisis”, it is not an account of the current war in Yemen. It has hardly any discussion of the bombardments, the blockade, the famine, or the cholera crisis. It doesn’t discuss in any depth the devastating role of “Saudi-led coalition", the complicity of the USA, or the complacency of European counties. Neither does it discuss the inadequacies of Western media coverage, and only brief mention is made of the common claim that the Huthis are backed by Iran. What it does do is discuss several fundamental internal Yemeni issues, and it does so with great clarity. Another excellent book, "Yemen Endures”, by Ginny Hill, appeared recently. Hill’s presentation is essentially historical, covering developments up to early 2016. Lackner adopts a different approach. Her first chapter gives a brief historical review of recent years. The subsequent chapters are then each devoted to analyzing a particular important issue, such as: Islamism in Yemen, the Huthi movement, Southern separatism, social transformations, natural resources, the urban-rural nexus, etc. Each chapter provides a coherent and insightful study. I think this book is an excellent resource, and in many ways, it looks beyond the crisis of the current war. It should be compulsory reading for all Western journalists.

Incredibly accessible and comprehensive. So grateful for this text!

I was interested in the history of Middle East and this book has give a very balanced view of this region.