The Middle East today is undergoing one of the most fundamental changes in its modern history: the empowerment of a new generation of Arabs who reject the world they inherited. In The Arab Uprising, the director of George Washington University's Institute for Middle East Studies maintains that the revolutions that have so far brought down the governments of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya are only the beginning. It is far too soon to know whether these events will produce new democracies or something else entirely. Whatever happens, America must now come to grips with a region where public opinion actually matters, perhaps for the first time in the region's history.

Informed by inside access to the Obama administration's decision-making process and a wealth of knowledge about youth activists and Islamists alike, The Arab Uprising is a necessary guide to the changing lay of the land in the Middle East and North Africa.

Marc Lynch () is associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he is the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and edits the Middle East Channel for ForeignPolicy.com. His most recent book, Voices of the New Arab Public, was selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Book. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland