What We’re Reading: The Exceptional and the Unexceptional

American War By Omar El Akkad I almost don’t want to describe the backdrop of “American War” because it may be triggering for American readers and distract from the book’s message. (Not to mention my colleague Valentina Jovanovski did it well on this site two years ago.) But let’s just get it out of the way: Yes, it’s a novel about a civil war in America, set half a century and more in the future and brought about by climate change. And yes, it was written by a foreigner – Egyptian-born Canadian journalist Omar El Akkad. But in spite of the title, “American War” isn’t really about America or even war, and to dismiss it as anti-Trump or a Muslim man’s anti-American wish fulfillment – as it often is – not only would be lazy but also would miss the point. “American War” could have been set in any country; it just so happens that the United States is the world’s superpower and a place where the prospect of total social breakdown and civil conflict is hard to contemplate. Its events – suicide bombings, massacres at refugee camps, torture – could happen anywhere, and as El Akkad stresses in interviews […]