Cairo: The City Victorious
by Max Rodenbeck
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Reporter Max Rodenbeck has lived much of his life in Cairo
and gives a sweeping and highly enjoyable overview
of the city in a style that is a wonderful mixture of history and storytelling.
Mixing historical facts, personal experiences, and anecdotes, he paints a
picture of a city that in many ways is a microcosm of the entire Middle East.
One walks away from this book having felt a sense of what it was like to live in
ancient Egypt's capital of Memphis with the same sort of intimacy one gets to
know the medieval city and today's boisterous developing-world metropolis. Pious and lecherous, ancient yet constantly renewing,
full of beautiful artistic expression and hundreds-of-years-old refuse, Cairo
is a city that overwhelms the senses while invigorating them. In many ways
the book defies description and categorization. It is perhaps enough to
say that it is an extremely enjoyable read from which you will walk away having
truly learned what makes one of the greatest cities in the Middle East (and the
world) tick.
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Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar
by Jill Crystal
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Jill Crystal uses Kuwait and Qatar as case studies in state formation and
development, with a particular emphasis on the impact of oil revenues. The
relationships between ruling families and merchants is laid out and contrasted
in the two countries, with the differences and the impact they have had on the
two countries very stark. Of particular note is that given the lack of
primary sources available on Qatar, this book is one of the very few reliable
histories of the country available. More importantly, the book is an
excellent look at how two different pre-existing societies were transformed by oil,
how various elites tried to capture the revenues, and the problems and successes
that a new state faces as a result. A must-read for those wishing to
better understand the Persian Gulf region and the development of rentier states
in general.
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Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on US Middle East
Policy
by Kathleen Christison
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Former CIA analyst Kathleen Christison looks at the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict from an often ignored but vital angle: how the
conflict is viewed by US policymakers. Starting in the late 19th century
and going US administration by US administration, she examines how Washington's
policies have been a critical factor in the development of the conflict.
In effect, she lays out how this is not a binary Israeli-Palestinian problem, but in
fact a triangle involving the Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans. A
century of deep sympathy for the Israeli perspective, but near constant ignoring
and denigration of the Palestinian viewpoint in Washington has helped to fuel
rather than calm the conflict in the Holy Land. For American readers
who wonder why the United States often gets so much blame in the Arab world for
what happens to the Palestinians, this book is a clear-eyed explanation of the
issue.
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Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study of
Iraq's Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of its Communists, Ba'thists and
Free Officers
by Hanna Batatu
Out of Print -
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The late Hanna Batatu's masterpiece, this book published in 1978 is almost
the only comprehensive, primary source-based history of any Arab country ever
written. In the course of pursuing research in Iraq, Batatu happened to
meet Abdul Karim Qassem who later went on to lead Iraq after the overthrow of
the Hashemite monarchy in 1958. The prior friendship resulted in Batatu
gaining access to otherwise secret state archives. Combined with extensive
interviews and on-the-ground research, "Old Social Classes" catapulted Iraq from
one of the least understood Arab countries to nearly the best understood.
At nearly 1300 pages the work is dense with detail including large numbers of
tables and raw data to illustrate his analytical points.
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Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East
edited by Donna Lee Bowen and Evelyn A. Early
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With all the attention politics and war receive in the Middle
East, this work is a refreshing collection of essays documenting the ordinary
ebbs and flows of life that are the actual reality of everyday life for most
people in the region. Edited by political science professor Donna Lee
Bowen of Brigham Young University and anthropologist Evelyn A. Early, the book
is an excellent primer that provides a more balanced perspective of the Middle
East.
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The Journey of Ibn Fattouma
by Naguib Mahfouz, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies
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A work of fiction might seem a strange way to introduce
readers to the Middle East, but in The Journey of Ibn Fattouma Nobel prize
winning author Naguib Mahfouz gives more insights into the Arab view of the
world than many textbooks manage. Utilizing the metaphoric journeys of a
young man struck with the travel bug, we see Ibn Fattouma travel through various
countries representing different corners of the world and socio-political
systems. From societies representing tribal Africa, to Eastern Europe, to
America, and several other locations, Ibn Fattouma learns much but never seems
quite able to find where the utopian land of Gebel can be found. The book
is short, entertaining, and a fascinating insight into how Arab society sees the
rest of the world. From Ibn Fattouma's perspective, no society escapes
criticism or praise, all have their benefits and drawbacks, and all leave him
hungrier than ever for the ideal society that always seems just beyond his
reach.
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The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World
by Avi Shlaim
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By Israeli "New Historian" Avi Shlaim, this book traces the history of
Israel's relations with the Arab world. Through the 1960's Shlaim had
access to declassified Israeli records, a fact which shows in his more
authoritative coverage of the period. Even beyond the period of available
declassified material, however, Shlaim shows remarkable insight into the driving
factors behind Israel's policies with the Arab world. The term "Iron
Wall", made famous by revisionist Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky, is shown to be
the bedrock of Israeli policy towards the Arab world throughout the state's
history and to this very day. While both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian
readers will be able to find items to fault in this book, Shlaim has clearly
written a well-researched and documented work that should serve as a
basic text for readers wishing to better understand the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power
by Daniel Yergin
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Daniel Yergin's masterful epic history of the global oil
industry naturally includes extensive history from the Middle East and North
Africa. While this is a much broader work written in a more engaging
style, it touches on many of the same issues of the difficulties of managing oil
wealth that are found in Jill Crystal's "Oil and Politics in the Gulf".
The book takes a very personality-centered approach, so many technical and
geological details important to the oil industry are not covered, but this
remains essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the oil industry
and its effects on nation states.
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In Plain Arabic: A Play in Two Acts
by Lenin El-Ramly, translated by Esmat Allouba
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This sharp and hilarious play utilizes characters who each
represent an Arab country to poke fun at the contradictions of the Arab world.
While the translation results in the loss of much of the subtlety of utilizing
different countries' Arabic dialects, the flavor of the satire comes through
loud and clear. With jabs at the political and social situation throughout
the Arab world and the ultimate betrayal of the Palestinians, the play offers
rare and humorous insights into how the Arab world perceives many of its own
problems.
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Blood Brothers
by Elias Chacour
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The true story of a Palestinian who lived through the
tumultuous events that led to the founding of the state of Israel. A Christian
Palestinian, Elias Chacour's family was displaced by Israeli forces but found
refuge in the town of Gish in the Galilee which became part of the state of
Israel. His eyewitness account of those events and what it was like to live as
an Arab in a Jewish state are illuminating. From his boyhood to his ordination
to the Priesthood and finally culminating in a fight for equal rights within
Israeli society, Blood Brothers is essential reading for those seeking to gain a
deeper understanding of Israeli Arabs, a group not fully accepted in either
Israeli or broader Arab societies.
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