«“I have never read a more enchanting account of disenchantment, just as I have never known a man more independently immersed in his culture than Fouad Ajami. When Magic Failed is an uncanny monument to both love and truth. Lucidly and lyrically, it dotes on the world that it leaves. This is a beautiful and honorable book.”»

Leon Wieseltier

«“In this powerfully written memoir, the late Fouad Ajami tells a story of profound disruption whose central theme is the impact of the modern world on the Shi‘ite villagers of southern Lebanon. The narrative begins with a mother killing her daughter to shield her family from shame, and ends soon after a young man—the author—leaves Beirut to study political science in the United States. In between are a series of intimate portraits of men and women whose lives are variously destroyed, blighted, enlivened, or blessed by winds of change that can reach gale force. The characterization is acute, and the characters are unforgettable.”»

Michael A. Cook