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The Contemporary Middle East: A Westview Reader
The Contemporary Middle East provides an accessible introduction to the region’s most pressing concerns and enduring conflicts. It includes provocative contributions by an impressive array of leading scholars, journalists, and policy advisors. Contributors include notable academic authors Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., the late William L. Cleveland, Shibley Telhami, David W. Lesch, Bernard Reich, and Phebe Marr, complemented by selections from recent general-interest books by Marwan Bishara, Mark Perry, and Eugene Rogan, among others. With twelve new chapters, the third edition is a probing examination of the current affairs of the Middle East. Its multiple readings on strategic pairings of topics (Israel and the Palestinians, Iraq and Iran, Egypt and Syria) illuminate the region’s key issues from a variety of perspectives. Part- and chapter-opening summaries help establish background and context, and a new concluding chapter by Shibley Telhami, written specifically for this volume, candidly addresses fundamental questions about the United States and the Middle East today. Student resources include an annotated table of contents, a select bibliography, a glossary, brief biographies of notable persons, a chronology, and a summary of recent events, in addition to numerous maps.
450 pages, Paperback
First published July 27, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 4, 2015
If you are new to Middle Eastern history and must choose only one, I recommend Yambert's first then Cleveland and Bunton's A History of the Modern Middle East, because the former includes timelines and quicker reading of ancient to early modern history to get up to speed on the background before the book dives into the past hundred years, where it gets going around WWI. It also has similar enough essays for consistency, but also different enough essays to give multiple views on matters due to the 30+ contributors. Then pick up Cleveland and Bunton's book for the full modern treatment.
Yambert's The Contemporary Middle East: A Westview Reader fills in the gaps of some topics, such as coverage of the "Arab Spring" and other less studied Middle Eastern countries. Cleveland and Bunton's, however, explores the 19th century to earlier and the Ottoman Empire in depth while Yambert's doesn't, which is why Yambert's is "contemporary" history. Both books were published in 2013 on the same press. They are great complements to each other.
Both of these books are geared toward a US audience due to its focus at many times on US-Middle Eastern relations, but any English reader will benefit from the information.
It might be useful for those who are familiar with very recent Middle Eastern history to study backward in Cleveland and Bunton to see the connections grow. Otherwise, start with Yambert because of the Arab Spring coverage.
To sum:
Yambert - get up to speed quickly, easier read, less details, broader coverage, multiple perspectives, past 100 years history.
Cleveland and Bunton - detailed, thorough, coverage of the 19th century to earlier history, but some gaps.
Also recommended to supplement the prior two:
The Middle East: A History
Yambert's The Contemporary Middle East: A Westview Reader fills in the gaps of some topics, such as coverage of the "Arab Spring" and other less studied Middle Eastern countries. Cleveland and Bunton's, however, explores the 19th century to earlier and the Ottoman Empire in depth while Yambert's doesn't, which is why Yambert's is "contemporary" history. Both books were published in 2013 on the same press. They are great complements to each other.
Both of these books are geared toward a US audience due to its focus at many times on US-Middle Eastern relations, but any English reader will benefit from the information.
It might be useful for those who are familiar with very recent Middle Eastern history to study backward in Cleveland and Bunton to see the connections grow. Otherwise, start with Yambert because of the Arab Spring coverage.
To sum:
Yambert - get up to speed quickly, easier read, less details, broader coverage, multiple perspectives, past 100 years history.
Cleveland and Bunton - detailed, thorough, coverage of the 19th century to earlier history, but some gaps.
Also recommended to supplement the prior two:
The Middle East: A History
January 12, 2021
It is a comprehensive book with the contribution of authors from different institutions and different fields. The book is written in a very clear and understandable language. It introduces everything in detail and is convenient for everyone even those who know very little about the Middle East. The articles are taken from the books written about different issues and aspects concerning this region, thus if you find the article interesting you can look for the source the extract is taken from. Moreover, the book provides a list of events, people, and additional bibliography based on events and countries. Therefore, it is a kind of political encyclopedia about the Middle East.
A very good recommendation to start learning about the Middle East.
A very good recommendation to start learning about the Middle East.
March 18, 2016
Written before the events of June, 2013 in Egypt, this book reads like a well written US State Department statement with the exception of two chapters: Islamist Perceptions of US Policy in the Middle East by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Impacts of the Iraq War by James DeFronzo.
December 15, 2020
It was too optimistic about the Arab Spring. I'm not too surprised, considering it covers just until 2012. Still, a good read, definitely
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews