Generation Freedom

Bruce Feiler contemplates weighty questions in this very current meditation on the revolutions of the Arab Spring that took place around the Middle East in 2011. Feiler cares about not only the current events but the places that he considers "the birthplace of civilization," and this comes across in the precise, emphatic pace at which he retells the beginning of the Egyptian revolution. The text is a mix of history, first-person interviews, and analysis of social media including Twitter. People's stories are entwined with those of the countries as they grapple with dictators many thought would be toppled only by death. Feiler makes listeners care about both the personal and the political because of his ability to connect them to subjects they may never experience firsthand. M.R. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine