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  • Black Wave

  • Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East
  • Written by: Kim Ghattas
  • Narrated by: Kim Ghattas, Nan McNamara
  • Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (30 ratings)

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Black Wave cover art

Black Wave

Written by: Kim Ghattas
Narrated by: Kim Ghattas, Nan McNamara
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Publisher's Summary

Kim Ghattas delivers a gripping account of the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, born from the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution and fueled by American policy.

With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to Iran's fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS.

Ghattas also introduces us to a riveting cast of characters whose lives were upended by the geopolitical drama over four decades: from the Pakistani television anchor who defied her country's dictator, to the Egyptian novelist thrown in jail for indecent writings all the way to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

©2020 Kim Ghattas (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

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  • 2023-10-22

Great background info on the Middle East

As to the recent and horrifying attacks on Israel and the continuing strife in the Middle East. I was interested to learn more about the region and it’s history.
This is a great story. Very engaging and informative. I wish only the best for the people who are living in all these countries..Thank you and wishing peace and the enlightenment of truth and goodness to all.

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Amazing story - deserves a better reader

If you have any interest in the Middle East and the history of the region this is a must! Wish the reader knew how to pronounce Arabic names which takes away from the experience. Audible please hire readers with an Arabic background or familiar with the dialect for books with so many Arabic nouns

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Kim Ghattas DOES NOT narrate this

It’s difficult enough listening to densely packed information about a politically charged area, without a boring news anchor-come-narrator.

The app falsely says that the author, Kim Ghattas who has an excellent voice and can properly pronounce the names in Arabic, is the narrator. She only does the introduction then hands off to someone that I have sworn in several occasions is a Text-to-speech system.

Very disappointed.

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Really eye opening

This book's really ties a lot of history I've read about this region together. Well written, clear, enjoyable, super informative

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Fascinating

Excellent documentation of yhe last 40 years history of the Middle East.
Highly recommended.
Learn about the political games of two religious giants.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

very informative

As an Iranian Canadian I found this book very informative . It peices together many questions I have had in terms of the turmoil between the Countries.

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