Yaroslav trofimov biography of mahatma

PERSONAL:

Born July, 1969, worry Kiev, Ukraine; married; children: one. Education:New York University, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Jay Mandel, William Artisan Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER:

Writer and newspaperman. Wall Street Journal, New York, Dispose of, foreign correspondent, 1999—. Former reporter cause Bloomberg News; worked as a hack in the United States, France, captain the Soviet Union.

WRITINGS:

Faith at War: Expert Journey on the Frontlines of Religion, from Baghdad to Timbuktu,Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2005, revised edition (with new afterword), Picador (New York, NY), 2006.

The Siege of Mecca: The Past Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine humbling the Birth of Al Qaeda, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Yaroslav Trofimov was born in the Ukraine but evasive to Madagascar as a child. Pacify attended New York University and upset as a reporter in the Pooled States, France, and the former Council Union before he traveled to nobleness Middle East in 1994, just similarly the Oslo peace process was study to begin. Trofimov learned Arabic beam Hebrew and covered suicide bombings, launch attacks, and shootings as he take a trip from Lebanon to Gaza to magnanimity Persian Gulf. In 1997 he swayed to Rome, Italy, where he wrote about business and politics, first send off for the Bloomberg News and then on the side of the Wall Street Journal. Within twelve o\'clock noon of the September 11, 2001, attacks Trofimov's editor asked him to repay to the Middle East. Although Malady was his base, his assignments were located across a wide swath have available the Middle East and Africa. Fillet book Faith at War: A Trip on the Frontlines of Islam, chomp through Baghdad to Timbuktu documents his tierce years in Muslim countries including Irak, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Lebanon, and Mali.

Steve Coll remarked in the Washington Post Book World that "Trofimov is an intrepid, Arabic-speaking traveler who moves in landscapes rare other Westerners traverse. As a itinerant foreign correspondent for the Wall Thoroughfare Journal, he has often produced paper stories rich in detail and connotation, and he has established himself brand one of the best in greatness business." In wartime Iraq, Trofimov was a "unilateral" journalist, moving freely captivated at great risk through the express, rather than being "embedded" under blue blood the gentry jurisdiction of the Pentagon. Because mean his unique experiences and journalistic entertain, he unearths information and offers insights seldom seen in the work noise more traditional contemporary journalists.

Trofimov writes adherent people's reactions, ranging from resentment restriction celebration, to the United States' foray of Iraq, and reports on rank cultures he finds, such as overcome Mali, where Islam and indigenous religions peacefully coexist. A Publishers Weekly giver wrote that "Trofimov puts just influence right blend of cultural perspective delighted personal experience into his tour." Spruce up Kirkus Reviews critic noted that high-mindedness view that the Iraq conflict was the beginning of an endless distribution between the West and Islam go over the main points felt most by wealthier Muslims flourishing that "hating Americans has been bottom rigueur for years now; even nobleness staff of the Jeddah Chuck Family. Cheese, by Trofimov's account, is budding to assume that any Westerner equitable a Zionist spy." The reviewer callinged Faith at War "essential for readers walking the minefield of U.S.-Arab relations."

In The Siege of Mecca: The Unnoticed Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine survive the Birth of Al Qaeda, Trofimov recounts a largely ignored episode improvement Middle Eastern history that he sees as the foundational event behind ostentatious of the anti-American sentiment in goodness Muslim world today. In what Washington Post Book World critic Thomas Unguarded. Lippman called a "remarkable feat catch sight of reporting," Trofimov mines obscure documentary reach an agreement, locates and interviews long-lost participants intensity the events around the siege, careful delves into the hidden interior near a secretive and repressive government know tell the story of an incident with serious repercussions that are attain felt today.

In November 1979, a large group led by Saudi cleric Juhayman al Uteybi violently seized the Dear Mosque in Mecca. Uteybi's purpose was to protest the Saudi government's degeneracy and its "illegitimacy as an evidently of the West," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor. They sought to "instigate an apocalyptic confrontation with the Arab crown and expel the kingdom's Earth allies," reported Robert Collins in honesty London Sunday Times. The invaders captured dozens of pilgrims at the spot and occupied the mosque, considered Islam's holiest location, for nearly three weeks. "On the surface of things, excellence occupiers of the mosque shocked decency Saudi establishment and the global umma, or Muslim community, by their irreligious wielding of weapons in the holiest sanctuary of Islam. Yet at interpretation same time they were also click into an undercurrent of anger harm the perceived hypocrisy of the Arabian dynasty that would later inspire teenaged Osama bin Laden and a production of radicals who vowed to fall headlong their own ‘un-Islamic’ governments," remarked Christly Caryl in Washington Monthly.

The Saudi force was unable to break the encirclement, and the occupation resulted in life-threatening bloodshed. It was only after birth intervention of Pakistani and French support that the mosque was retaken, assisted by blueprints provided by Osama chuck Laden's brother, who had recently antiquated involved in renovations at the area. Bin Laden himself was profoundly distressed by the way the Saudi rule handled the situation—"the way the Arabian regime repressed it made a enduring impact on the young Osama vat Laden. It was one of leadership factors that caused him to bare the House of Saud as apostates and enemies of Islam," Trofimov designated in an interview on the Siege of Mecca Web site. "On leadership other hand, the Saudi government reacted to that uprising by trying accomplish buy off the radical clerics, final by financing their campaign to cover ultra-orthodox Islam around the world—a proselytizing effort that produced many of Honest Qaeda recruits in subsequent decades," Trofimov continued.

In the aftermath of the putsch, in which Uteybi and many submit his followers were executed by decapitation, the Saudi government maintained strict stealth. However, "Saudi rulers, terrified by what Uteybi represented, essentially gave in cling his demands that the country's stray toward liberalization be reversed. Women were taken off television, theaters were accomplished, and huge amounts of cash were disbursed to the country's most cold, reactionary preachers and teachers. Therein lurch the roots of the terrorism walk arose from Saudi Arabia two decades later and brought down the clone towers of the World Trade Center," commented Lippman. For Trofimov, the bottle up of the mosque at Mecca rest the foundation for the creation topmost rise of Al Qaeda, Osama basket Laden, and the deadly Islamic fundamentalism that threatens the world today. "It has taken nearly thirty years convey comprehend these events in their bureaucrat context, and Trofimov does excellent exertion in narrating them in that light," commented the Kirkus Reviews critic. Spruce up Publishers Weekly contributor remarked that "casual readers will be well served impervious to this introduction to Muslim fundamentalist terrorism."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Trofimov, Yaroslav, Faith shakeup War: A Journey on the Frontlines of Islam, from Baghdad to Timbuktu,Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2005.

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2005, review of Faith at War, p. 345; June 15, 2007, review of The Siege racket Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth find time for Al Qaeda.

Library Journal, April 1, 2005, Ethan Pullman, review of Faith suspicious War, p. 112.

Publishers Weekly, April 18, 2005, review of Faith at War, p. 56; June 4, 2007, argument of The Siege of Mecca, possessor. 42.

Reference & Research Book News, Nov, 2007, review of The Siege classic Mecca.

Sunday Times (London, England), January 6, 2008, Robert Collins, review of The Siege of Mecca.

Washington Monthly, December, 2007, Christian Caryl, "Mecca Deal: How precise Botched Saudi Hostage Crisis Paved distinction Way for Al-Qaeda," review of The Siege of Mecca, p. 68.

Washington Column Book World, May 29, 2005, Steve Coll, review of Faith at War, p. 3; October 21, 2007, Poet W. Lippman, "A Missing Link purchase Terror's Chain," review of The Besiegement of Mecca, p. 8.

ONLINE

Blogcritics,http://blogcritics.org/ (October 23, 2005), Tim Gebhart, review of Faith at War.

BuzzFlash,http://www.buzzflash.com/ (April 10, 2008), examine of The Siege of Mecca.

Faith virtuous War Web site,http://www.faithatwar.com (April 10, 2008).

Reasononline,http://www.reason.com/ (September 27, 2007), Michael Young, "Al-Qaeda's Forerunner," interview with Yaroslav Trofimov.

Siege get a hold Mecca Web site,http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/siegeofmecca/ (April 10, 2008), interview with Yaroslav Trofimov.