The story of a British woman travelling
through a Middle East in revolt; it reveals how the Iraq war and the Arab
Spring led to ISIS and the Syrian civil war, and caused the flood of refugees
into Europe, contributing to the rise of populism in the West.
Returning to the UK in September 2010
after serving in Iraq as the political adviser to the top American general,
Emma Sky felt no sense of homecoming. She soon found herself back in the Middle
East travelling through a region in revolt.
In A Time of Monsters bears witness to
the demands of young people for dignity and justice during the Arab Spring; the
inability of sclerotic regimes to reform; the descent of Syria into civil war;
the rise of the Islamic State; and the flight of refugees to Europe. With deep
empathy for its people and an extensive understanding of the Middle East, Sky
makes a complex region more comprehensible.
A great storyteller and observational
writer, Sky also reveals the ties that bind the Middle East to the West and how
blowback from our interventions in the region contributed to the British vote
to leave the European Union and to the election of Donald Trump as president of
the United States.