Kim Ghattas – författare

'Brilliant' PETER FRANKOPAN'Blistering' SUNDAY TIMES'Indispensable' OBSERVER'Fascinating' THE TIMES'Revelatory' LINDSEY HILSUM____________________A timely and unprecedented examination of how the modern Middle East unravelled, and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979. Shortlisted for the Cundhill History Prize 2020'What happened to us?'For decades, the question has haunted the Arab and Muslim world, heard across Iran and Syria, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and in the author's home country of Lebanon. Was it always so? When did the extremism, intolerance and bloodletting of today displace the region's cultural promise and diversity?In Black Wave, award-winning journalist and author Kim Ghattas argues that the turning point in the modern history of the Middle East can be located in the toxic confluence of three major events in 1979: the Iranian revolution; the siege of the Holy Mosque in Mecca; and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Before this year, Saudi Arabia and Iran had been working allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region - but the radical legacy of these events made them mortal enemies, unleashing a process that transformed culture, society, religion and geopolitics across the region for decades to come.Drawing on a sweeping cast of characters across seven countries over forty years, Ghattas demonstrates how this rivalry for religious and cultural supremacy has fed intolerance, suppressed cultural expression, encouraged sectarian violence, birthed groups like Hezbollah and ISIS and, ultimately, upended the lives of millions. At once bold and intimate, Black Wave is a remarkable and engrossing story of the Middle East as it has never been told before.

A work of true crime following one American family’s search for the truth after a 1984 murder in war-torn Beirut, where the Iranian revolution collided with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, setting off the geopolitical conflagration that burns to this day, from acclaimed and bestselling author Kim Ghattas.On January 18, 1984, Malcolm Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut, was assassinated by a pair of gunmen outside his office. His murder, in the wake of the bombing of the U.S. Marines’ barracks, Palestinian guerrilla warfare, and the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, was just one more shocking headline in a city ravaged by chaos. There was no investigation. Four decades later, the question of who killed Malcom and why still haunts Kerr’s family, including his son Steve, a now world-famous basketball player and NBA coach.In The Best Kind of American, Kim Ghattas embarks on a quest to solve Kerr’s assassination, weaving together the family’s story with Lebanon’s warlords and peacemakers, Hezbollah hostage-takers and Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and American presidents from Reagan to Trump. Part nonfiction thriller, part illuminating exploration of the moment the conflict between the U.S. and Iran turned violent, this is a gripping story of survival and resilience, set at the intersection of geopolitics, hubris, and impunity.As Ghattas unravels the murder mystery, she makes the case for 1980s Beirut as the point of origin for the policies and people who continue to drive events in the Middle East today, from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading up to the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in 2026.With the nuance, clarity, and storytelling that made Black Wave an era-defining work on the Middle East, Ghattas delivers a riveting, deeply human saga—a must-read for understanding why this conflict continues to shape today’s world.