Children of Jihad

October 29, 2007
Rather than globetrotting for pleasure like many post-collegiate backpackers, Cohen charms his way through Middle Eastern countries typically thought of as unfriendly to the West. This type of travel is not without its problems: he suffers intimidation, unauthorized searches and other threats over the course of his two years spent among the twentysomethings of Lebanon, Syria and Iran. While gamboling across the region, Cohen drops in on Palestinian refugee camps, chats up Hezbollah members at a McDonalds, talks nuclear power with Iranians over illegal moonshine and meets "Iraqis who like us" in Iraqi Kurdistan. It is often repeated that the colorful and gifted youth immortalized in this book are surprisingly similar to their class of American counterparts, valuing education, dreaming of the future, and tooling with emerging technologies to broaden their sense of the world. Cohen's accounts are sharp and his intentions admirable.

September 17, 2007
Rather than globetrotting for pleasure like many post-collegiate backpackers, Cohen charms his way through Middle Eastern countries typically thought of as unfriendly to the West. This type of travel is not without its problems: he suffers intimidation, unauthorized searches and other threats over the course of his two years spent among the twentysomethings of Lebanon, Syria and Iran. While gamboling across the region, Cohen drops in on Palestinian refugee camps, chats up Hezbollah members at a McDonalds, talks nuclear power with Iranians over illegal moonshine and meets "Iraqis who like us" in Iraqi Kurdistan. It is often repeated that the colorful and gifted youth immortalized in this book are surprisingly similar to their class of American counterparts, valuing education, dreaming of the future, and tooling with emerging technologies to broaden their sense of the world. Cohen's accounts are sharp and his intentions admirable.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2007
An intrepid solo traveler, Cohen journeyed to Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq in 2004 and 2005 and herecollects his adventures. Financed bya Rhodes Scholarship, Cohens trips had the purpose of tuning into people his age (early 20s)to see if they are the death-to-America fanatics of American imagination. To be sure, he discovered denunciations of the U.S., but Cohen found them to be routine and down on the list of his new friends concerns, whichrevolved primarily around the quality of their educations, their career prospects, and resentment at restrictions on their personal freedom. The lack of liberty and the formulaic character of anti-Americanism were most striking to Cohen in Iran. Under occasional police-state surveillance, Cohen persevered and connected with many young Iranians, who seem to dislike the theocracy but approved of its drive for the nuclear bomb. The Lebanese he found to be friendly, except for Hezbollah members, while theSyrians he encountered ranged from amiable to crazy.Cohens chronicle is fine fieldwork for students of the Middle East.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)