Middle East

Guides readers through the sometimes labyrinthine corridors of Egypt's past, from the mysterious predynastic kingdoms to the post-modern nation-state of the twenty-first century.

This second edition of Robins' accessible and succinct survey of Jordanian political history is an account of a century of events within a country whose fortunes are closely identified with its heads of state. Beginning in the early 1920s in the Mandate years, and now benefiting from new material on the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, attempts at democratisation, the collapse of the economy, the Jordan Spring and refugee crisis, this new edition featuring original research brings Jordan's political history into the twenty-first century.

hile the borders of most Middle East states were defined by colonial powers after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, a single Yemeni state was not formed until 1990. In fact, much of Yemen's twentieth-century history was taken up constructing such a state, forged after years of civil war between the North and the South. The story is a complex one, but the author handles it masterfully, employing his skills as an anthropologist to re-enact the experiences of those involved through personal encounters and a first-hand knowledge of the region.

With impartiality and precision, Picard traces the evolution of Lebanon from its founding to the present. She analyzes the causes and effects of the civil war - what and who have been destroyed, which powers have predominated and to whose benefit - and she explores realistic solutions to the conflict. Picard also provides a remarkably revealing account of the PLO, Israeli, and Syrian interventions in Lebanese politics.

Lebanon's population possesses no common identity strong enough to resolve internal struggles pitting tribe against tribe, religion against religion, sect against sect, or region against region. Adding to the instability of the state is virulent discord resulting from the clash of modernity with centuries of tradition, the gaping divide between rich and poor that drives the disenfranchised to seek social justice through political Islam, and the essential need to turn a fragile conglomerate of shifting alliances within the boundaries of a state into an economically and politically viable nation. It is this tumult in Lebanon that illuminates not only the challenges that Arabs pose to themselves but also the fear and hostility that arise in response to perceived threats from the West.

To this day, Turkey denies the genocide, instead claiming that the victims died of starvation or the violence of isolated gangs or the unintended effects of legitimate deportation. These ongoing denials and evasions have generated enormous debate, criticism, and controversy within and without Turkey all of which is laid out here for readers to sift through and evaluate and within which they may pursue and locate the truth.

Nujood Ali's childhood came to an abrupt end in 2008 when her father arranged for her to be married to a man three times her age. With harrowing directness, Nujood tells of abuse at her husband's hands and of her daring escape. With the help of local advocates and the press, Nujood obtained her freedom—an extraordinary achievement in Yemen, where almost half of all girls are married under the legal age.

Born from the ashes of genocide and a long history of suffering, Israel was conceived to be unique, a model society and the heart of a prosperous new Middle East. It is this paradox, says historian Michael Brenner--the Jewish people's wish for a homeland both normal and exceptional--that shapes Israel's ongoing struggle to define itself and secure a place among nations.

In Inside the Mirage, veteran Middle East journalist Thomas W. Lippman shows that behind the official proclamations of friendship and alliance lies a complex relationship that has often been strained by the mutual aversion of two very different societies. Today the U.S.-Saudi partnership faces its greatest challenge as younger Saudis, less enamored of America, rise to prominence and Americans, scorched by Saudi-based terrorism, question the value of their ties to the desert kingdom.

From 1980 to 1988, Iran and Iraq fought the longest conventional war of the twentieth century. The tragedies included the slaughter of child soldiers, the use of chemical weapons, the striking of civilian shipping in the Gulf, and the destruction of cities. Pierre Razoux shows why this war remains central to understanding Middle Eastern geopolitics, from the deep-rooted distrust between Sunni and Shia Muslims, to Iran’s obsession with nuclear power, to the continuing struggles in Iraq

This essential guide to Islam covers every aspect of the Muslim faith and its history - from the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the teachings of the Koran to Islam in the 21st century. It offers insight into terms like Sharia law, the Caliphate, and jihad; Sunni and Shia divisions; and Sufi poetry and music. Modern issues such as fundamentalism are discussed in context alongside the work of peaceful traditionalists, modernizers, and women's rights campaigners, among others.

Numbering between 25 and 35 million worldwide, the Kurds are among the largest culturally and ethnically distinct people to remain stateless. A People Without a State offers an in-depth survey of an identity that has often been ignored in mainstream historiographies of the Middle East and brings to life the historical, social, and political developments in Kurdistani society over the past millennium.

'Quicksilver war' is a panoramic political history of the wars that coursed through Syria and Iraq in the wake of the 'Arab Spring' and eventually merged to become a regional catastrophe: a kaleidoscopic and constantly shifting conflict involving many different parties and phases.

Dawn Chatty explores how modern Syria came to be a refuge state, focusing first on the major forced migrations into Syria of Circassians, Armenians, Kurds, Palestinians, and Iraqis.

In Women and the Egyptian Revolution, Nermin Allam tells the story of the 2011 uprising from the perspective of the women who participated, based on extensive interviews with female protestors and activists. The book offers an oral history of women's engagement in this important historical juncture; it situates women's experience within the socio-economic flows, political trajectories, and historical contours of Egypt.