The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War

by Mehran Kamrava

Book Overview

Since it was first published in 2006, this concise overview of the making of the contemporary Middle East has become essential reading for students and general readers who want to gain a better... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520267753
• ISBN13: 9780520267756
• Release Date: January 2011
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 520 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

This Book Will Make Clear a Very Complex Topic

My brother recommended this book for me as a highly informative volume on modern middle eastern history. I must say that I am glad that he did. After reading it I felt that I gained a more clear view on the history of the middle east, was better able to understand current events and policies there and their ramifications, and got a decent sense of the social, political, and economic forces that continue to shape the region. Here is how Kamrava has created such an effective book. First, Kamrava is always uses appropriate academic language and defines terms for the reader when new concepts are introduced. Complicated topics like nationalism, pan Arabism, and Islam are introduced, defined, and discussed in relation to the history being presented at each stage of the book. Kamrava is also effective in delineating the Arab, Muslim, and national identities and how each have grown and diminished, overlapped and separated during various periods in the middle east. Understanding these dynamics are critical to analyzing the middle east past and present. If learning about the middle east and it's people from a socio-political perspective is a goal of yours, "The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War" should be a stop along the way.

Involved, very scholarly work on the 20th Cent. MidEast

This is the sort of book I have been looking for a long time. I've read other books on the Middle East which purport to have a similar focus, but which are instead incomplete, notably "Sowing the Wind". This book, by contrast, maintains the focus rather carefully and provides a concise history of the whole region. It looks as if the book was written as a textbook for (I would presume) grad students studying the subject, but really any intelligent person can pick it up and learn a great deal. An issue with a book like this is the tone of the work, how well the author writes. Kamrava isn't the second coming of Hemingway, but he's not too bad, either. The book is divided into two portions: first, a historical section that gives you an overview of the region's history, and second a topical section that looks at various issues that impact the region currently. The first section is very readable, the second less so (who actually enjoys reading about economics?). The author, however, does a good job (for the most part) of not sounding like a university professor telling you about something, though he does occasionally use words that are obscure, especially in terms of sub-regions of the Mid East. I still enjoyed this book, thought I got a lot out of it, and would recommend it. The author seems to be a hair more optimistic about the prospects for peace and prosperity in the region than I am, but he makes a good case for his point of view, and the result is interesting.