One of the required readings for a class on Middle Eastern International Relations. I personally liked this book less than the other required reading, The New Arab Wars by Marc Lynch, but it was still interesting. The authors do a great job at summarizing a lot of history in a relatively small amount of pages and thus are often forced to be VERY dry and factual. I guess what I'm saying is, if you personally are interested in the history and IR of the Middle East, go for it, but be prepared for some really dry information overload at times.