What inspired me to write A History of the Middle Eastside? I’ve left some thoughts on this over at The Propagandist in Dealing with Gangster Nations.
Libyan “rebels” kicking over old Jewish grave stones when they’re taking a break from torturing rival militia groups. An Egyptian government that accepts ransom money for hostages. A Syrian regime that survives by shooting its enemies and pulling out the fingernails of the opposition. This is the modern Middle East; a land of ruthless gangsters that don’t know any other way than violence.
When I wrote A History of the Middle Eastside, I had those ideas firmly in mind. My gangster protagonists were an allegory for Zionists and modern-day Israelis, fighting to survive and stake out their territory despite overwhelming odds. And as in my novel, the Israelis find themselves stuck in a very bad neighborhood, able to cling to their land partly thanks to the gangster-mentality of the rulers across their borders, who can never seem to work together long enough to try to take out their chosen enemy. This is also the story of the wider Middle East region.
A Historian of the Middle Eastside 