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This thread is dedicated to the history of the Middle East, its people, countries, locations, groups, etc.

Please assist in the development of this thread and make recommendations of non fiction books which you feel should be read by the members.

Additionally, if fiction books are added; please make sure that this distinction is made for the group. We realize that there are also some fine historical fiction books that may be of interest to the membership even though the group is primarily a non fiction group.

We look forward to your recommendations (please include both the book cover and the photo and/or link to the author's page).

Discussion regarding Middle Eastern history is welcome on this thread.

'Aussie Rick' wishing to mention what I think is one of the best books covering the Middle East for some time but I am sure some people won't agree with me:

by Robert Fisk

I'd be interested to hear from other readers out there if they loved or hated this book.

The above book looks quite all encompassing. Why did folks say they either loved it or hated it. Was there a particular slant to it.

Bentley wrote: "The above book looks quite all encompassing. Why did folks say they either loved it or hated it. Was there a particular slant to it. "

The author is British and writes for the UK newspaper ‘The Independent�� (I think) and he lives in Lebanon (he wrote a great book covering that as well) and I found him to be very fair in his reporting but he doesn't hold back in his criticism of UK, US and Israeli policy and actions in the Middle East. However I have read three of his books and I think he is mostly fair and balanced in his views but others may not think so.



Fisk, Robert

Yes, that is what I thought the reason might be. There are those who do not want to be criticized. But there is a fair amount of criticism that should go around.

History of the Islamic People by Carl Brockelman is an excellent basic book for a grounding..... how it all happened and what dynasties, what made what happen. Fairly academic but an essential read. For more modern stuff in the Gulf, Edmund O'Sullivan's The New Gulf - How Modern Arabia is Changing the World for Good is an excellent primer. I designed the cover for it too!

Thank you for your recommendations. Try to get use to using the add book and author buttom. We add the book cover first and then the author's photo and or link. We also indicate any that are fiction (we are primarily a non fiction group) although we accomodate all of our historical fiction enthusiasts as well (but we do note if the book is fiction).

Carl Brockelman (no cover available but links provided)

Edmund O'Sullivan

Did you design the cover? Well good for you..you should want to show it off then.

We are big on posting all book covers and all author links...it helps with everyone's research. Also, if you look at the white area to the side, there are a list of all authors mentioned on this thread (only available when you post the author's photo or link) and a list of all books (with links). So when you do post the covers and author's links..it also populates these fields. So we ask for all recommendations to have those additions.

Any others that you can recommend would also be very much appreciated.

Bentley

Ahhhh great! I wondered how it was done! I use computers (of course) for publishing but sometimes I'm daft for some stuff!

Here's a few more books to consider although they are a bit of a mixed bag and range through the historical period:


by Max Rodenbeck (read)

Paul Fregosi (read)

by Albert Hourani (read)


& by Hugh Kennedy

by Barnaby Rogerson by John Keay

Cairo - Cairo: The City Victorious -(Qahra - Al Nasser) is BRILLIANT!!! Rodenbeck really knows and loves Cairo, he combines history with the present, it is anecdotal yet he does not stint on scholarship. 10 out of 10!
One review said that every great city deserves a book like this and I agree.

Max Rodenbeck

Thank you for the recommendation Harvey.

This is a very touching story:

A Mideast Bond, Stitched of Pain and Healing (New York Times)

Very touching story Bentley but what hit me more reading it was how tragic the hurt in their lives is. How can two countries who have seen so much pain ever reconcile? When I think of shielding a child with my body only to get up . . . I think it is too easy for me here in my comfortable house to think "They just need to . . ." Easy to say. I must know more of this situation.

N

I think that there is more of a chance for reconciliation when two countries have suffered as much...especially from the sufferers and the mothers of those who have died or have been maimed for life. I think that these folks know the outcome of these conflicts and know that peace is the only alternative. Why continue to do the same things in the same way and expect a different outcome. I cannot like you even begin to understand or know their suffering..I hope that none of us ever has that opportunity. It really is tragic what these families have gone through. And to think that they are all getting comfort and support from each other is the remarkable part of this story...these folks understand the other's pain.

I have mentioned in a few different threads at the History Book Club that I am currently reading a very engaging book by Hugh Kennedy; “The Great Arab Conquests��. I wanted to share this quote from the chapter ‘Into the Maghreb�� with other lovers of history:

“It was at the end of his raid in the Sus that Uqba reached the Atlantic. The moment has passed into legend. He is said to have ridden his horse into the sea until the water came up to its belly. He shouted out, ‘O Lord, if the sea did not stop me, I would go through the lands like Alexander the Great [Dhul-Qarnayn:], defending your faith and fighting the unbelievers.�� The image of the Arab warrior whose progress in conquering in the name of God was halted only by the ocean remains one of the most arresting and memorable in the whole history of the conquests."

by Hugh Kennedy

Can I offer another decent book covering the Middle East:


by Bernard Lewis

Here is a recent new release that is getting some good reviews to date; "The Arabs: A History" by Eugene Rogan


by Eugene Rogan
Publishers blurb:
Eugene Rogan has written an authoritative new history of the Arabs in the modern world. Starting with the Ottoman conquests in the sixteenth century, this landmark book follows the story of the Arabs through the era of European imperialism and the Superpower rivalries of the Cold War, to the present age of unipolar American power. Drawing on the writings and eyewitness accounts of those who lived through the tumultuous years of Arab history, The Arabs balances different voices �� politicians, intellectuals, students, men and women, poets and novelists, famous, infamous and the completely unknown �� to give a rich, complex sense of life over nearly five centuries. Rogan’s book is remarkable for its geographical sweep, covering the Arab world from North Africa through the Arabian Peninsula, and for the depth in which it explores every facet of modern Arab history. Charting the evolution of Arab identity from Ottomanism to Arabism to Islamism, it covers themes including the conflict between national independence and foreign domination, the Arab-Israeli struggle and the peace process, Abdel Nasser and the rise of Arab Nationalism, the political and economic power of oil and the conflict between secular and Islamic values. This multilayered, fascinating and definitive work is the essential guide to understanding the history of the modern Arab world and its future.

Reviews:
"Anyone who seeks to understand why the Islamic world bears a grudge against the West should read The Arabs. Few scholars know their subject better than Eugene Rogan, while even fewer are capable of rendering so complex a subject so engagingly readable. It is a joy to open, and a deprivation to put down." - Sir Alistair Horne, (author of A Savage War of Peace)

"With eloquence, verve, and understanding, Eugene Rogan rightly reminds us that the world, and the Arabs themselves, need to remember the past. If we are to build a better relationship between the Arab world and the West, if we are to avoid making the same mistakes again and again, we need to know Arab history from its many high points to its low ones. I can think of no better guide on this crucially important journey than The Arabs." - Margaret MacMillan, (author of Paris 1919 and Nixon and Mao )

"It is a fascinating [story:], and exceedingly well told. Mr Rogan manoeuvres with skilful assurance, maintaining a steady pace through time, and keeping the wider horizon in view even as he makes use of a broad range of judiciously chosen primary sources to enrich the narrative." - The Economist

"A rich, galloping narrative that spans the Arab world...outstanding, gripping and exuberant...full of flamboyant character sketches, witty asides and magisterial scholarship, that explains much of what we need to know about the world today." - Simon Sebag Montefiore (Financial Times)

"Rogan gives a lucid account of political developments throughout the Arab lands, unpicking messy tangles such as the Lebanese civil war or the fragmentation of Palestinian political movements�� One of the special features of this book is that it draws on Arab writings (by memoirists, journalists and others) to give an idea of how the Arabs have experienced their own history��.one senses Rogan’s underlying sympathy with his subject." - Noel Malcolm (Sunday Telegraph)

"engrossing and capacious�� compulsively readable." - Robert Irwin (The Guardian)

Great adds Aussie Rick - the ones here and on the other threads - very much appreciated.

My pleasure :)

[image error] Kai Bird

Middle East Boyhood




An Israeli at the Mandelbaum Gate, 1956.


[image error]

Kai Bird at Giza, above, 1958.

Book Review: (New York Times)



The book is called: Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978

This looks like a pretty interesting book Bentley!

I thought it looked good too.

Here are a couple of good books I read last year:

Mark Bowden

Yaroslav Trofimov

Publisher's Weekly:
Trofimov, a Wall Street Journal writer and observer of the Muslim world (Faith at War), tackles an incident unreported in the West: the violent takeover of Islam's holiest shrine by Muslim fundamentalists in 1979. Carrying out his investigations in one of the world's most closed societies, Trofimov has crafted a compelling historical narrative, blending messianic theology with righteous violence, and the Saudi state's sclerotic corruption with the complicity of the official religious institutions. Trofimov aptly points out endemic regional problems with enduring repercussions for fighting terror, but is hampered by his sensationalist style (The world was twelve months away from the tumultuous events that would cover the mosque's marble courtyard with blood, spilled guts and severed limbs). In 1979, the Saudi intelligence services apparently had no accurate blueprints of the Grand Mosque, and knew nothing of the underground labyrinth where many of the militants took shelter; they eventually received plans to the site from Osama bin Laden's older brother. Ringleader Juhayman and his followers have inspired al-Qaeda and countless other Islamic revivalist movements to ever greater acts of violence, even though they were mesmerized by their limited understanding of an obscurantist theology and were convinced that that one of their unassuming members was the Messiah. Casual readers will be well served by this introduction to Muslim fundamentalist terrorism.

Thank you Bryan.

Hi Bryan,

Some good selections there, I have both his books sitting un-read in my library! What did you think of "The Siege of Mecca"?


and by Yaroslav Trofimov

Hey A.R.:

The Siege of Mecca was a very interesting book. I was about 10 when it happened, and it is not really talked about, so it was all new. The Bin Laden family did the renovations on the Grand Mosque. I highly recommend it.

Yaroslav Trofimov

Hi Bryan, it sounds pretty good, thanks for that. I will have to bump it up to the top in my 'to-read' list. Interesting to see the Bin Laden family did the renovations on the Grand Mosque.

I have just ordered a book that Bentley mentioned earlier; "Crossing the Mandelbaum Gate".

by Kai Bird

Another new book that looks interesting covering this part of the world is "Beware of Small States" by David Hirst.

by David Hirst
Publishers blurb:
A former Middle Eastern correspondent for the Guardian, Hirst (The Gun and the Olive Branch) chronicles the travails of modern Lebanon in this provocative polemic that doubles as a history of the Arab-Israeli struggle. Given Lebanon's tiny size, sectarian polity, and strategic location in a volatile region, Hirst observes that it was almost designed to be the everlasting battleground for others' political, strategic and ideological conflicts. Lebanon's role in the struggle for Palestine, however, is the author's primary interest. Displaced Palestinians flooded into southern Lebanon following the first Arab-Israeli War (1948) and spawned a guerilla 'state-within-a-state' on Israel's northern border. Hirst is solidly in the Palestinians' corner throughout; he inveighs against Israeli policies of ethnic cleansing and blocking progress toward a settlement of the Palestinian issue. The author also faults the United States for its deference to all things Israeli; takes to task Israel and the Israeli lobby in the U.S. for provoking the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and anoints the Iranians as the only true victor of America's war in Iraq. Hirst's is a passionately partisan and eloquent recounting of the tragic fate of modern Lebanon and the Palestinian people.

Let me know how you enjoy it.

Here are a couple of books covering the British years:

Leonard Stein

by Tom Segev

They look like good books Bryan, I actually think I have a copy of "One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate" in my library somewhere (yet to read of course). I better check when I get home!

by Tom Segev

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "They look like good books Bryan, I actually think I have a copy of "One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate" in my library somewhere (yet to read of course). I better chec..."

I'm getting my copy from our university library soon.

Just started reading by Mosab Hassan Yousef. I know little about Hamas it should be a educational read.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Can I offer another decent book covering the Middle East:


by Bernard Lewis"

An excellent book.

I am currently reading



by Mark Tessler


I have read Tessler in the past and I have found him to be very informative. This book is proving to be interesting as well.[

Hi Julie, let us all know what you think of Mark Tessler's book once you have finished, I am sure a few people here will be interested to know.

by Mark Tessler

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Hi Julie, let us all know what you think of Mark Tessler's book once you have finished, I am sure a few people here will be interested to know.

[bookcover:A History of the Israeli-palestinian Co..."

I certainly will. I am taking a graduate course in Modern Middle East history, which requires building a bibliography of works related to Middle East history from the rise of Zionism to the present; therefore, I will be posting quite a few books in this thread over the next 5 months.

Hi Julie, The Middle East is an amazing place in regards to history and I have always found Robert Fisk to be an amazing and very interesting author.

& by Robert Fisk

I still have "Beware of Small States" by David Hirst to read, I better get around to it soon!

by David Hirst

I have just read a book review in my local paper on a new book offering a perspective of the Palestinian-Israeli issue that is attracting a lot of attention; "I Shall Not Hate" by Izzeldin Abuelaish.


by Izzeldin Abuelaish
Description:
By turns inspiring and heart-breaking, hopeful and horrifying, I Shall Not Hate is Izzeldin Abuelaish's account of an extraordinary life. A Harvard-trained Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and "who has devoted his life to medicine and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians" (New York Times), Abuelaish has been crossing the lines in the sand that divide Israelis and Palestinians for most of his life - as a physician who treats patients on both sides of the line, as a humanitarian who sees the need for improved health and education for women as the way forward in the Middle East. And, most recently, as the father whose daughters were killed by Israeli soldiers on January 16, 2009, during Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip. His response to this tragedy made news and won him humanitarian awards around the world. Instead of seeking revenge or sinking into hatred, Abuelaish called for the people in the region to start talking to each other. His deepest hope is that his daughters will be "the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis."

Review:
Born in a refugee camp in 1955, Palestinian physician Abuelaish suffers a catastrophic loss when three of his daughters are killed in their home by Israeli fire in 2009. An Israeli television journalist's live broadcast of his call for help captures Israeli public and world press attention. "Most of the world has heard of the Gaza Strip," as Abuelaish says, "but few know what it's like to live here, blockaded, impoverished, year after year, decade after decade." Abuelaish portrays everyday life in Gaza and tells the remarkable story of how he came to be "the first Palestinian doctor to be on staff at an Israeli hospital." The "tortured politics of Palestine, Israel, and the Middle East" are rendered graphic by his personal accounts of "the humiliation, the fear, the physical difficulty" of border checkpoints and bulldozed homes. Abuelaish tells of the "satisfying, even wonderful" moments, "the good chapter of a bad story," as well; an infertility specialist, he is as "thoroughly smitten" with his research as he is appalled that "Gaza hospitals are rundown and can't be repaired because of an embargo is preposterous." Abuelaish knows anger, but in this impassioned, committed attempt to show the reader life on the sliver of land that is Gaza, he demonstrates that "anger is not the same as hate." - Publishers Weekly

Here is another more detailed review of the same book:


by Izzeldin Abuelaish
Review:
“Izzeldin Abuelaish first caught international attention during the Gaza War of 2008-09. The Israeli military had banned foreign media from entering Gaza, and so Abuelaish, a resident of Jabalia refugee camp at the time, became an essential source for the daily goings-on inside the war zone. He would regularly give live reportage via cellphone to news anchorman Shlomo Eldar on Israel's Channel Ten.

Two days before the ceasefire, an Israeli tank launched several shells at his apartment, one of which landed in the bedroom containing three of his daughters and his niece �� Bessan, Mayar, Aya and Noor. They instantly perished. His phone call with Eldar immediately after their deaths was broadcast live on Israeli television and later on YouTube. The urgent and harrowing emotional response by Abuelaish became the human face of suffering in the war. It transcended political and religious boundaries. Who can't empathize with the loss of another's children?

Abuelaish is a Palestinian obstetrician and gynecologist who specializes in infertility. A well-respected doctor with an international career that has spanned several decades (he lives and works in Toronto at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health), he is also known as a promoter of peace. In spite of his enormous loss, Abuelaish, a Muslim, was not transformed into a hateful, vengeful man. Instead, the loss of his daughters made him more adamant about the need for co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians. The result is, in part, this book, I Shall Not Hate

The book is about that tragic day in Gaza. It also outlines his philosophy of peace, which is deeply rooted in his medical practice. Medicine, for Abuelaish, transcends political and cultural borders and focuses on the human need to end disease and suffering. Importantly, he has held staff positions as a doctor in several Israeli hospitals. This brought him in close contact with Israelis, forging deep, personal bonds with them. These relationships are, he believes, essential for peace in the region, as important as political re-drawings on the map: People need to relate to each other as individuals and not hide behind walls of hate that generalize the other under banners of nationalism.
The strength of this book �� and there are many reasons why it is one of the most affecting I have read on the subject of Israel and Palestine �� is its personal angle. It tells the story of a man who grew up and raised eight children in the most densely populated, and one of the most impoverished, parts of the world: Gaza. His story is important not only for its message of peace, but for the fact that it personalizes the Palestinian experience.

During the war in 1948, his family voluntarily left their farm in southern Israel for Gaza, planning to return when matters settled. They never returned (Abuelaish still has the papers for his grandfather's farmland; it became part of Ariel Sharon's ranch).
Born in Jabalia in 1955, Abuelaish witnessed the transformation of the refugee camp from tent community to permanent apartment blocks. He lived in Gaza for nearly six decades, through four wars and two intifadas.

The daily, personal stories are moving. He describes the humiliating process of crossing the checkpoint so he can work at an Israeli hospital. He writes about the time Sharon ordered his family's house to be bulldozed in the 1970s so Israeli tanks could fit through the narrow roads of Gaza. Impressively, he conveys these stories as facts of experience; he presents them without getting angry and with the same patience he endures the daily tribulations of occupation. He also balances this with stories of good relations he has with Israelis, like the Sephardis who employed him when he was 15 and treated him like a son. It was thanks to their employment that he was able to buy his family a new house in Gaza.

The book is not a political solution to the conflict, it is a human cry for peace. But the political and the humane are not mutually exclusive. He writes, “If I could know that my daughters were the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis, then I would accept their loss.�� Urged on by the spirits of those he lost, his belief in medicine and his deep faith in Islam, Abuelaish offers practical ways of bridging the gaps between two peoples he believes have more similarities than differences. He has opened a foundation in honour of his daughters that he says will “empower the women and girls of the Middle East through health and education.��

This gripping memoir suggests the best solutions for peace are emerging from the grassroots; time and again, politicians on both sides of the wall have let us down. If only a politician in Palestine or Israel had the courage to forgive, as Abuelaish has forgiven, and to commit, as he has, to understanding the other, to listening, to respect, to the realization that peace is not a liberal's dream but an existential reality: The patient will simply not survive without it.�� - Jonathan Garfinkel is the author of a book of poetry and several plays. His memoir, Ambivalence: Crossing the Israel/Palestine Divide, was published in 2007.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I have just read a book review in my local paper on a new book offering a perspective of the Palestinian-Israeli issue that is attracting a lot of attention; "I Shall Not Hate" by Izzeldin Abuelais..."

Thanks for posting this. It looks like a very interesting read, and I believe I will check it out!

My pleasure Julie, it has been receiving some very good reviews and it sounds like an interesting story although somewhat sad as well.

I just completed

by: Rollin Armour

This book covered a large time frame (from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to the present) in less than 200 pages. The main focus of the book was to discuss the misinformaion and misunderstandings between Christianity and Islam with a little Judaism thrown in for good measure. It's a good book for anyone who seeks to learn a little more about the the rise of Islam in the Middle East and the conflicts that have occurred in the centuries since, especially if you are unfamiliar with the history of the region.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I have mentioned in a few different threads at the History Book Club that I am currently reading a very engaging book by Hugh Kennedy; “The Great Arab Conquests��. I wanted to share this quote from ..."

I have read a similar account in my years of reading on Arab History. What a great group this is!

Hi Julia, glad you are enjoying the group :)

Below are some details for a new release due out in a few months time covering the conflict in South Oman in the 1970's; "SAS Operation Storm" by Roger Cole.


by Roger Cole
Description:
'How many are they?' The reply came in the finest traditions of accurate situation reporting, 'f***ing hundreds of them!' Marbat, South Oman, 19 July 1972 is one of the least-known yet most crucial battles of modern times. OPERATION STORM is the inside story - told by those who took part - of the greatest secret war in SAS history. The tipping point was Marbat, a secret battle which defines the world we all live in today. If the SAS had been defeated at Marbat, the Russian and Chinese plan for a communist foothold in the Middle East would have succeeded, with catastrophic consequences for the oil-hungry West. OPERATION STORM is a page-turning account of courage and resilience. Marbat was a battle fought and won by nine SAS soldiers and a similar number of brave local people - some as young as ten years old - outnumbered by at least twenty five to one. Thousands of heavy calibre bullets, rockets, shells, mortars and grenades were fired in a six hour fire-fight of staggering intensity, the tipping point in a clandestine war which went unreported at the time. Roger Cole, one of the SAS soldiers who took part, and writer Richard Belfield have interviewed every SAS survivor who fought in the battle from the beginning to the end - the first time every single one of them has revealed their experience. The authors have also talked to many other survivors from both sides, including the pilots who flew with the SAS, the SAS soldiers who joined the battle towards the end and some of the insurgents who fought against them. OPERATION STORM is a classic story of bravery against impossible odds, minute by minute, bullet by bullet.

Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East by Jared Cohen

This is a really interesting modern take on what the youth in the region are like, it predates the recent Arab Spring and is written by a Rhodes Scholar who travels around the region and just chills with kids in different settings from different nations in the region.

Terrance, the book cover is available on goodreads.

by Jared Cohen

Good try overall. Sounds like an interesting perspective. Thank you for the add.

Good add Terrence I have place it on my TBR.

Video on Powerful Women of the Ottoman Empire: