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Lasalle College High School LASALLE COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN SUMMER READING 2012 SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT BOOK: Children of Jihad by Jared Cohen ISBN: 13: 978-1592403998 During your reading you will be responsible for the following. • Have completed the reading of Children of Jihad upon your arrival on the first day of school. • Have typed responses to one (1) question from each of the chapters in the reading guide for Children of Jihad, to be handed in on the first day of school. • An assessment (quiz/test) on Children of Jihad will be given within the first cycle of the school year. • A paper assignment will be given in the first cycle (due 2-3 weeks later on Children of Jihad You will read the following READING GUIDE to the book Children of Jihad. CHILDREN OF JIHAD Defying foreign government orders and interviewing terrorists face to face, a young American tour of hostile lands to learn about Middle Eastern youth---and uncovers a subculture that defies every stereotype. Classrooms were never sufficient for Jared Cohen; he wanted to learn about global affairs by witnessing them firsthand. During his undergraduate years Cohen travelled extensively to Africa--often to war-torn countries, putting himself at risk to see the world firsthand. While studying on a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford, he took a crash course in Arabic, read voraciously on the history and culture of the Middle East, and in 2004 he embarked on the first of a series of incredible journeys to the Middle East. In an effort to try to understand the spread of radical Islamist violence, he focused his research on Muslim youth. The result is Children of Jihad, a portrait of paradox that probes much deeper than any journalist or pundit ever could. Written with candor and featuring dozens of eye-opening photographs, Cohen's account begins in Lebanon, where he interviews Hezbollah members at, of all places, a McDonald's. In Iran, he defies government threats and sneaks into underground parties, where bootleg liquor, Western music, and the Internet are all easy to access. His risky itinerary also takes him to a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, borderlands in Syria, the insurgency hotbed of Mosul, and other frontline locales. At each turn, he observes a culture at an uncanny crossroads: Bedouin shepherds with satellite dishes to provide Western TV shows, young women wearing garish makeup despite religious mandates, teenagers sending secret text messages and arranging illicit trysts. Gripping and daring, Children of Jihad shows us the future through the eyes of those who are shaping it. Prologue Lebanon 2005 1. What does Hezbollah translate to? • What are some of the services this group provides for the people in Lebanon that help increase its popularity? 2. One of the men Cohen meets says the following, "We (Hezbollah) hate the United States government and we hate Israel, but the Jewish and American people have done nothing to us." • What is the distinction he is drawing? Do you believe it is a valid distinction? 3. According to the author how has technology played a role in shaping the values and opinions of youth in the Middle East? 4. In explaining his motivation for the book and his trips in general Cohen claims, "...one day in these regions yielded more knowledge than 6 months in the classroom." • How and why is experience such a powerful teacher? Chapter 1 Destination Iran 1. America and Iran were not always enemies. • What were some of the events that led to the turbulent relationship between these two countries? 2. What was Cohen’s primary reason for traveling to Iran? • What did he wish to accomplish? 3. What is a “police state?” • What are some examples of this as Jared attempted to travel and interview Iranians throughout most of this chapter? 4. What impact did his experience at Behesht-e Zahra martyr’s cemetery have on Jared? 5. What were the results of the Iran-Iraq War that raged throughout the 1980’s? • What result did this have on the current generation of Iranians? • What percentage of Iranians were youths? 6. Describe Cohen’s “weakest moment” which he endures in this chapter. • Why did he feel such fear and helplessness? 7. What was the turning point in Cohen’s first week in Iran? 8. Why does Cohen switch from wanting to interview government officials to wanting to interview the Iranian youth? • How did he plan to do this? Chapter 2 Removing the Shackles 1. How has Iran’s universities served as notorious venues for student resistance in the past? • Give examples why. 2. What militant groups does the government have as part of the police state in Iran and how did they carry out their authority? 3. What stereotypes of Iranian women were unearthed by Cohen during his time at the university and thereafter? • How did they compare to American women? 4. Cohen meets a girl named Gita at the university and she says the following in regards to the September 11th attacks: “You know, on that day, all of Iran wept for America. We felt like our brothers and our sisters were suffering and we really wept.” • Was this a typical feeling of the Iranian youth? 5. Cohen refers to the way the Iranian youth act as social resistance. • What are some examples of this “social resistance?” 6. Describe the scene Cohen encountered when he traveled to Imam Square with Gita. • Did the scenes he encountered and the slogans he read off the walls represent the people of Iran, according to Gita? 7. How did much of the Iranian youth Cohen encountered feel about the government and the Mullah’s in power? Chapter 3 Democracy after Dark 1. Why is Nezam one of the most important people Cohen met in Iran? 2. According to many of the young Iranians that Cohen talked to experienced “brain drain” in the Islamic Republic; why do many of them “want to leave their homes and seek opportunities outside of the country?” 3. “The Internet is their democratic society.” • Explain this quote. 4. How do the youth of Iran resist the “Morals Police” and the brutal government regime? 5. Explain the title of the chapter, “Democracy after Dark.” Why does Cohen choose that title? • Give examples why. Chapter 4 Nuclear Pride 1. What is the origin of the Iranian Nuclear program? 2. According to Cohen, did the majority of people in Iran support or condemn the government’s nuclear program? 3. How did the Iranians Cohen encountered justify the continual defiance of Iranian nuclear program? Chapter 5 Death to America 1. What four factors enabled current Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to win to the June 2005 elections in Iran? 2. According to Cohen’s source, Ahmadinejad did not have the real power in Iran; • If he did not then who did? (According to his sources?) 3. What is indoctrination? • Who were some of the easiest Iranians to indoctrinate? Why? 4. Who are the “True Believers?” • How do they differ from the majority of Iranians? 5. What military organizations does Cohen run into in the chapter? • How are the Basij Forces treated by many Iranians? 6. Cohen hunts for a Synagogue in Iran. • Is he successful? • What was his experience like? Chapter 6 The Calm Before the Storm 1. How does Beirut remind Cohen of Paris? 2. Lebanon is host to a variety of ethnicities and religions. • Identify some of the main groups the Cohen talks about in the chapter. 3. According to Cohen, why did the Lebanese people “lack a true identity?” 4. What are the origins of the Lebanon’s civil war? 5. What led to the birth of Hezbollah? 6. What is the significance of the all-night parties and night clubs in Lebanon in regards to the diverse groups of people coexisting there? 7. Cohen’s friend Hibah tells him “Jared, you must understand. We never knew who we were.” • How did the Lebanese finally become Lebanese? 8. What were some of the general attitudes of the Lebanese Youth leading up to the Cedar Revolution? 9. What kind of society was the current generation of Lebanese Youth born into? • Be as specific as you can. • How did they distract themselves from this bleak life? 10. Nightlife and parties are a big part of the Lebanese youth’s lifestyle. • Do these young people truly enjoy this lifestyle or is this a front put on by many of the youth in Lebanon? • What are most of the young people’s true feelings? 11. Why do so many women (as well as men) choose to come to Lebanon form Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States and across the Middle East? Chapter 7 The All-Night “Party of God” 1. What was the Iranian connection to Hezbollah? • Why was Lebanon a target for Iranian intervention after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982? 2. What were the three purposes that Hezbollah was created for? 3. How is Hezbollah’s global network described? 4. Even those who despise Hezbollah admit they have a charismatic leader and in some ways respect the organization. • What tactics does Hezbollah implore to gain popular support in Lebanon? • Why do many see them as a heroic force? 5. During the day, the members of Hezbollah that Cohen interviewed were religious extremists committed to the establishment of an Islamic Republic. However, according to Cohen, he saw many of these men “after hours.” • According to Jared, how did many of these “religious extremist” spend their time “after hours?” 6. What role do members of Hezbollah play on college campuses in Lebanon? 7. How did the members of Hezbollah discuss the organizations disputes with Israel? • Their view of the Palestinian cause? • What did they believe was the strongest weapon they had to fight Israel with? 8.
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