On Tunisia - Culture Smart!

Most of this book is really good and a helpful thing to have. The history section was super rushed, but it mostly matches the history you’ll see in the Bardo (but, this is to be expected given that less than 50 pages are spent on it). I took off a star because there are some really weird, essentializing statements like references to the “Tunisian psyche.” Much of the content on censorship and perceived contentedness with authoritarianism are out of date, as it was published just one year before the Arab Spring kicked off with the immolation of Muhammad Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid. Take the line below:

Nonetheless, Tunisians are generally proud of their country’s reputation for stability and economic success in a volatile and largely impoverished region. A glance west toward Algeria—still struggling with Islamist violence after fifteen years of civil strife in which at least 150,000 people have died—or east to Libya—led for four decades by the erratic Muammar Gaddafi—convinces many Tunisians that Ben Ali’s antidemocratic tendency is not of major concern.

Nonetheless, this book is definitely worth a look for travelers to Tunisia.