A REPLY TO HILAL KHASHAN

Extract

Rather than respond in any meaningful way to the substance of my review of his recent book Arabs at the Crossroads, Hilal Khashan instead prefers to launch a series of personal attacks against me cloaked by knavish misrepresentations of my review. It is certainly true, as he repeatedly asserts, that he is older than I—although I am not at all clear about how that is relevant. In any event, it is never too late for anyone to learn the ethics of academic debate and dialogue. As to whether my interpretation of his analysis and methodological assumptions is valid or not, this I leave for readers to judge.