Can anyone suggest a book on the history of the Middle East? One that contains some political and religious history so that I can have a base line to TRY to make some sense of this? I don’t care how long or deep it is, as long as I get a broad understanding? If possible (ask a lot, why don’t you?) I’d like something middle of the road.
I’ve got a good one that I’ll cite when I get home. Meantime, also check out anything by Bernard Lewis, a Western scholar on the Middle East.
Very broad topic.
What are you specifically trying to understand? Islam, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq? Narrow it down slightly and I can probably recommend something or several somethings.
Speculatively I’ll throw out a couple of titles:
If you are looking for an overview of the political, religious, and cultural history of Islam, try Ira Lapidus’ A History of Islamic Societies ( 1988, Cambridge University Press ). A very large book, but probably the best single-volume treatment of the topic.
If you are interested in the origins of modern Iraq and the more immediate roots of much of the current conflict in Middle East, you might try ( just for starters ) A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin ( 1989, Avon Books ), which obviously covers the key WW I period when much of the region was colonialized and most of our modern Middle Eastern countries were essentially created.
- Tamerlane
The only caveat I’ll give about Bernard Lewis, is that while he is a very good medieval historian ( I have a half dozen of his books, maybe more ), I’m less impressed with his attempts at modern political analysis.
- Tamerlane
I like Lewis’s modern stuff…maybe not as much as his historical stuff, but it’s still a good read.
I’d recomend Albert Hourani’s “A History of the Arab Peoples”.
I often disagree with his views/conclusions. Yet I also often can agree with his approach. It depends completely on the issues. However I would not recommend him all that much for someone who just “get started” and wants to gain first of all a general overview and insight.
For having the whole history covered in one single book I would most certainly recommend this as the best recent work - first edition was 1991 - I know of.
As standard work on the Ottoman period I would recommend
“History of the Ottoman Empire and Mordern Turkey” volume I and II.
Stanford J. Shaw and Ezel Kural Shaw, (Cambridge University Press, 1977).
For sociological insights I would recommend the works of Fatima Mernissi.
For the rest, when it comes to books in English or an English translation I think Tamerlane and some of the other members may have a much larger amount of them in their library then I have.
Salaam. A
All,
Thanks much for the help and suggestions.
Tamerlane,
I'm a naval Officer with a limited understanding of the basis of the tension between the Middle East and the west, so I was hoping to get some history on the Middle East to help me figure it out. So I figure I need to better understand Islam and the history of the region, to understand what it going on today.After you get through the first book or two, you might want to check out *Tamerlane’s past thread on this subject:
“Reading List: Islam and the Islamic World”
That ought to keep you busy for a while. 
A Concise History of the Middle-East
-Arthur Goldschmidt Jr.
The Middle-East: 2000 years of history…
-Bernard Lewis
And if you desire a brief history of Islam I would suggest;
Islam: a short history
-Karen Armstrong
Here are a few books that I would recommend to learn more about the Israeli & Palestine:
Benny Morris-
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited
Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001
Edward W. Said
The Politics of Dispossession: The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination : 1969-1994
The Question of Palestine
**Thomas Friedman **
From Beirut to Jerusalem
My apologies if they are repeated in the other thread, I scanned through but may have missed them.