Best of Enemies: A History of US and Middle East Relations, Part Two: 1953-1984

Les meilleurs ennemis. Une histoire des relations entre les Etats-Unis et le Moyen-Orient. #2

by Jean-Pierre Filiu, David B.

The second volume of Jean-Pierre Filiu and David B.’s graphic novel history of US–Middle East relations begins in the 1950s with the Eisenhower Doctrine and ends with the Lebanese War of 1982. A perceptive and authoritative account of this turbulent historical period, Best of Enemies provides an overview of the Six-Day War between Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria; the Iranian Revolution of 1979; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; and other Middle Eastern conflicts involving the United States. A beautifully drawn account of the time period, Best of Enemies is a milestone of graphic novel reportage and of great relevance to the current political situation in the Middle East.

Genres: History, Comics, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Politics, Middle East, Bande Dessinée

102 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Jean-Pierre Filiu (1961) is a French professor of Middle East studies at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs, an Orientalist and an Arabist.

Reviews

[Sardonyx · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one more confusing to follow, but it was also quite good! I am utterly amazed at the artwork and how he finds ways to describe the caption with pictures that are riddled with symbolism.
I think I might need to re-read this with some maps beside me.

[Paul Dembina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2nd instalment of this fascinating and informative overview of the recent history of conflicts in the Middle East.

This time round I'm impressed with David B"s illustrations.

Still, it's depressing to realise how little has changed in the past few decades. If anything it's even worse

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume continues the story of US and Middle East, this time getting right into the Oil issues and Israel's politics.

David B.'s artwork continues to be fantastic. I wish Filiu's writing had a bit more narration or personality. It's literally just short factoid blurbs. It feels manic with all the crazy things that happen throughout the book, and without context it's hard to decipher what's hard fact, what's opinion, and what's still in dispute.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first volume because it has more to tackle and it's not quite as clear. It jumps from conflict to conflict and some of the artwork is repetitive, but it really does hone in on the fact that so much of how the Middle East is set up today is because of now-defunct Cold War alliances that were about checking Marxist expansion over everything else.

[Özge · Rating 3 out of 5]

As rest of the comments found it a lot more confusing, jumping from date to date and country to country. It was not an enjoyable reading it was really hard to follow.

[Noelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part Two: 1953-1984 was illustrated very well(black ink drawings)-almost along the same style as Marjane Setrapi's Perseopis. However, in all honesty, I found myself falling asleep at times while reading this book, simply because, sadly, all the Middle East does is fight. One war meshed into another after another. Also, there was one major historical landmark that was not mentioned: The Assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in October the 6th, 1981. Another minor mistake: the statement that Tehran announced the release of the Iranian hostages ten minutes after Reagan's nomination was announced, was INCORRECT: (I found this crossed out and rewritten in my copy of the book, btw). The correct fact should have been: "Tehran announced their release ten minutes after Reagan's inauguration."
So although superbly illustrated, the facts should be straightened out.

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful overview of developments in the Middle East.

I was struck by faint echos of events from my lifetime — apparently as a self-absorbed teenager the Middle East seemed far away and not that important, yet the news of the day still infiltrated by consciousness, lingering as faint background noise.

Together with the first book, these volumes offer a lot of history and context, with dada-inspired graphics. It's a challenge to maintain a sense of perspective with events in the so-called "Middle East" but these books do help provide context.

[Jurij Fedorov · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not like the first book which is a work of art. This is a just a very, very good book. But nothing here feels amazing or groundbreaking. It's deep history with potent art, but the first one as just levels above my expectations.

This feels jarring. It jumps all over the place. From country to country mainly focused on Israel and USA. But Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iran all feel too similar. Without colors there is no clear marker for any of them and without maps we often gets lost in the story. Where are we? What year? What are we doing? The history is complex, but this needed 40 more pages for the story it tries to tell. The first book carefully moved us along from place to place. Here we just turn up a new spot on the next page. Again, still an amazing book compared to most comic book history. But it desperately needed more pages. Even 200 more pages would have been fine here.

It also stops using dialogue and deep moral ideas from each side. This just feels like war. The first book clearly showed us who is anti-Semitic so it was easy to spot the bad guys. Here it's hard to recall who is evil. But with the rise of PLO and USSR supporting them a new bad guy appears. An evil force ready to harm and kill civilians. Mainly to attack Israel to get at USA. Yet in many places USA is suing for peace yet are still blamed for everything Israel does. In other places USA is actually attacking a rebel force and here the Arabs don't react much at all. Like all the oil embargo that was against USA. Yet in those cases USA didn't help Israel, they actually helped Saudi Arabia where they could. So why react this way? Just fake news. And fake news culture USA knows about as they used them there to gain an upper hand.

[Thomas Perscors · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book in David B’s three part graphic novel history of US-Middle East relations. I found this one more difficult to get through than Vol. 1. What I unduly feared for the first volume - a long procession of events - ended up being true for this volume. I actually went back and read it a second time and I do feel it gains coherence on a closer reading. I probably just miss the pirates from volume 1. Anyways, it’s a tough read in terms of content and density. I didn’t always feel like David B’s style matched the content. It seemed a bit arbitrary. Still recommend the book.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. It's hard not to feel overwhelmed by the dark history between the middle east and the west. In contrast to volume 1, volume 2 is more convoluted. But it can be hard to tell whether that's because of the narrative of the graphic novel or just the confusion of the history itself.

[Ty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly easier to follow than the first volume, probably because they've abandoned the bizarre Epic of Gilgamesh remix motif, and they're focusing on three decades instead of trying to explain two hundred years of complex regional history in a hundred pages. Still feels pretty convoluted at times. David B's art is excellent as always.

[Ali E9 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated summary of historical events from 1953 to 1984. It feels like scrolling through a Wikipedia page with just the headlines—great as an introduction but not an in-depth analysis. The artwork is masterful, making each page engaging. I started this series from the middle, but now I’m eager to get the first and third books as well.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as convincing at the first one. The story is just : "and this happened, then this happened, then this happened." David B's art and imagination is still on point though.

[Ahmed Salem · Rating 4 out of 5]

بسيط و سلس و جميل

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just an incredible series and David B's art is always mega eye candy

[Jay Westermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished. Really good.

[Ewa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 bo przysiegam, ze jak sie ktos nie orientuje w historii bliskiego wschodu to bedzie dosc zagubiony

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Volume 2 is shorter than Best of Enemies: A History of US and Middle East Relations, Part One: 1783-1953 and the brief length makes how much it tries to cover exceedingly confusing. This volume covers things like the establishment of Israel, the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the Six Days War, the Yom Kippur War, and Lebanon in the 1980s. There are so many things that do not get enough length to properly cover, especially rivalries between nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. These nations constantly are oscillating between cooperation and competition for influence. The events become very murky, and this makes it very tricky to follow.

[Ty Keith]

A roller coaster ride through the late 20th century history of the Middle East and U.S. Relations. These graphic novels serve as great primers on the subject. Hopefully, they will leave the reader with an appetite to dig deeper into the subject.

[Emilia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle Eastern politics remain complicated! America makes some dumb and dangerous decisions! Nothing to see here, move along! Same good stuff and frustratingly labrythine stuff as Vol. 1. What lies ahead?

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y'all mofos forgot about Alfred Mahan! BAM
And Kermit mothafucking Roosevelt Fuck that asshole and his memory seriously I'm glad I found this crap.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A depressing read that highlights that nothing has changed in that region.

[The Laughing Man · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the first one the story telling suffers and timelines are a little out of shape, but still helps you get a general idea of what happened, how happened.