The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq - Paperback

by Derek Gregory (Author)

In this powerful and passionate critique of the 'war on terror' in Afghanistan and its extensions into Palestine and Iraq, Derek Gregory traces the long history of British and American involvements in the Middle East and shows how colonial power continues to cast long shadows over our own present.

• Argues the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11 activated a series of political and cultural responses that were profoundly colonial in nature.
  
• The first analysis of the "war on terror" to connect events in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq.
  
• Traces the connections between geopolitics and the lives of ordinary people.
  
• Richly illustrated and packed with empirical detail.

Back Jacket

In this powerful and passionate critique of the "war on terror" in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq, Derek Gregory traces the long history of British and American involvements in the Middle East. He argues that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11 activated a series of political and cultural responses that mapped a profoundly colonial perimeter of power. The Colonial Present traces the connections between political, military, and economic power - the grand strategies of geopolitics - and the spatial stories told by the lives of ordinary people. It also shows the intimate connections between events in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq. Packed with empirical detail, and shot through with arresting arguments, The Colonial Present is indispensable reading for anyone seeking to understand a world riven by a war on terror that is also a war of terror.

Author Biography

Derek Gregory is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.