{"product_id":"9781477307090","title":"The Scarecrow","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Scarecrow\u003c\/i\u003e is the final volume of Ibrahim al-Koni's Oasis trilogy, which chronicles the founding, flourishing, and decline of a Saharan oasis. Fittingly, this continuation of a tale of greed and corruption opens with a meeting of the conspirators who assassinated the community's leader at the end of the previous novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Puppet\u003c\/i\u003e. They punished him for opposing the use of gold in business transactions—a symptom of a critical break with their nomadic past—and now they must search for a leader who shares their fetishistic love of gold. A desert retreat inspires the group to select a leader at random, but their \"choice,\" it appears, is not entirely human. This interloper from the spirit world proves a self-righteous despot, whose intolerance of humanity presages disaster for an oasis besieged by an international alliance. Though al-Koni has repeatedly stressed that he is not a political author, readers may see parallels not only to a former Libyan ruler but to other tyrants—past and present—who appear as hollow as a scarecrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47129779798256,"sku":"9781477307090","price":9.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781477307090_p0.jpg?v=1763614299","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781477307090","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}