Forget Othello and Animal Farm; John Egerton’s Ali Dubyiah and the Forty Thieves is the ultimate literary fable when examining the Bush presidency.
In Nicholas D. Kristof’s New York Times column on Tuesday, he posited that perhaps in the classics of literature can be found metaphors for the Iraq war–“Forget the Vietnam analogy that critics of the Iraq war usually toss out,” Kristof writes. “A more trenchant analysis of Iraq-style adventures appears in the histories of Thucydides, written 2,400 years ago.” He goes on to suggest not only The Aeneid and Moby Dick–citing Ahab’s white whale obsession as a symbol of the Bush presidency–before opening his column for suggestions of other appropriate books.
As one commenter writes, “A recent book actually inserts Bush into one of the classics: Ali Dubyiah and the Forty Thieves by the Tennessee journalist John Egerton is a political satire on the misadventures of George W. Fratbush (son of former potentate Wimpbush).” The comment goes on to say that Ali Dubyiah “is riotously funny, yet beyond the barbs it is a keen analysis of how we got into this mess and, worse, what lies ahead for us.”
For more on John Egerton’s tale of political science-fiction, visit http://www.newsouthbooks.com/alidubyiah. Ali Dubyiah and the Forty Thieves is available now from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer.