"Essays written for openDemocracy between the start of 2004 and the end of 2009"--Introduction, p. 9.

First published: United Kingdom : Saqi Books, 2011.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-280) and index.

Part 1: Points of departure. Lessons from Ireland ; 1968: the global legacy ; What was communism? ; A lunch with Mario Soares ; The forward march of women halted? ; Feminism in the Middle East: two pioneers -- Part 2: Shadows of cold war. The age of the three dustbins ; Looking back on Saddam Hussein ; Cold war assassinations: solved and unsolved ; A conversation in Havana ; Boadicea in the South Atlantic: the legacies of Margaret Thatcher ; The vagaries of 'Anti-Imperalism': the left and Jihad ; The Dominican Republic: in search of a 'national hero' -- Part 3: Challenges of the Middle East. Crises of the Middle East: 1914, 1967, 2003 ; America and the Arab world after Saddam ; Al Jazeera: a matchbox that roared ; Yemen: murder in Arabia Felix ; Navigating Mare Nostrum: The Barcelona Process after ten years ; In an unholy place: letter from Jerusalem ; Lebanon, Israel and the 'Greater West Asian Crisis' ; Maxime Rodinson: in praise of a ' marginal man' -- Part 4: Iran: revolution in a 'great nation'. Ahmadinejad as president: Iran's revolutionary spasm ; Miscalculations in Tehran ; Sunni, Shi'a and the 'Trotskyists of Islam' ; Iran's revolution in global history ; Reflections on the counter-revolution in Iran -- Part 5: Violence and politics. Terrorism in historical perspective ; A commemoration in Atocha Station ; A visit to 'Ground Zero' ; Two days with Hizbullah ; Reason amid Rockets: moral judgement in time of war ; The attorney general comes to town -- Part 6: Profane agenda: politics and profit in the lands of Islam. A transnational Umma: reality or myth? ; Faith as business: Islam, law and finance ; Finance in the Gulf: the Chimera of 'sovereign wealth funds' ; A state of robbers: the Jamahiriyah at 40 -- Part 7: Universalism imperilled. The crisis of universalism: America and Radical Islam after 9/11 ; Letter from Euskadi ; Post-colonial sequestration syndrome: Tibet, Palestine and the politics of failure ; Georgia's war: on the miscalculations of small nations ; Letter from Yerevan: Armenia's mixed messages ; In the darkest place: a morning in Auschwitz -- Conclusions. The world's twelve worst ideas ; The revenge of ideas: Karl Polyani and Susan Strange ; A time in Barcelona.

"One of the great contrarians of international relations scholarship, Fred Halliday was able to combine his understanding of the broad sweep of modern history with a profound knowledge of modern revolutions, the Middle East, and national movements. This collection of Halliday's political essays written for the online journal openDemocracy between 2004 and 2009 is proof of a subtle worldview that continues to generate questions: What is the relation between religion, nationalism, and progress? Is a new international order possible? When is intervention a force for progress? From the big headline topics such as the Iraq War to the unexpected comparisons of Tibet and Palestine, or Afghanistan and the Falklands, Halliday's writings provide a perennially surprising and enlightened guide to the major issues of international politics." -- Publisher's website.