History - Middle East from I Cannot Live Without Books

Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule by Katherine Pangonis In 1187, Saladin's armies besieged the holy city of Jerusalem. He had previously annihilated Jerusalem's army at the Battle of Hattin, and behind the city's high walls a last-ditch defense was being led by an unlikely trio -- including Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem. They could not resist Saladin, but,… Read more about this item

The Crisis of Islamic Civilization by Ali A. Allawi Islam as a religion is central to the lives of over a billion people, but its outer expression as a distinctive civilization is undergoing a monumental crisis. Buffet by powerful adverse currents, Islamic civilization today is a shadow of its former self. The most disturbing and possibly fatal of these currents --… Read more about this item

Cursed Victory: Israel and the Occupied Territories, A History by Ahron Bregman In a move that would forever alter the map of the Middle East, Israel captured the West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula in 1967's brief but pivotal Six Day War. Cursed Victory is the first complete history of the war's troubled aftermath -- a military occupation… Read more about this item

Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands by Dan Jones THERE IS A RED "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE BOTTOM PAGE EDGES. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between Christianity and Islam in history. The fall of the holy city and the subsequent events have been seen both as an… Read more about this item

Heirs to the Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East by Gerard Russell Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated… Read more about this item

Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History by Saul David THERE IS A BLACK "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE TOP PAGE EDGES. On June 27, 1976, a group of Arab and German terrorists hijacked Air France flight 139 en route from Tel Aviv to Paris. The plane was diverted to Entebbe Airport… Read more about this item

Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel by Matti Friedman THERE IS A BLACK "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE BOTTOM PAGE EDGES. Journalist and award-winning author Matti Friedman's tale of Israel's first spies reads like an espionage novel -- but it's all true. The four agents at the center of this story were part of a ragtag unit known… Read more about this item

Setting the Desert on Fire: T.E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916 - 1918 by James Barr THERE IS A BLACK "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE TOP PAGE EDGES. During World War I, the region now known as the Middle East was a turbulent, violent zone, as warring Western powers scrabbled for resources and influence while the local -- the Arabs… Read more about this item

Ike's Gamble: America's Rise to Dominance in the Middle East by Michael Doran THERE IS A RED "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE BOTTOM PAGE EDGES. The Suez Crisis of 1956 is one of the most important and most studied events in the history of U.S. engagement in the Middle East. In a bold reinterpretation of the story, Ike's Gamble shows how the crisis… Read more about this item

America and Iran: A History -- 1720 to the Present by John Ghazvinian An important, ambitious, urgently needed book -- an illuminating portrait of the two-centuries-long entwined history of America and Iran, and the first to examine, in all its aspects, the rich and fraught relations between these two powers: once allies, now adversaries. For most Americans, the history with Iran begins… Read more about this item

Lords of the Desert: The Battle Between the United States and Great Britain for Supremacy in the Modern Middle East by James Barr After the fall of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, Great Britain sought to establish itself as the dominant imperial power in the Middle East, and by the early 1940s its influence stretched from Cyprus to… Read more about this item

Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City by Andrew Lawler In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and… Read more about this item

The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East by Eugene Rogan In 1914, the Ottoman Empire was depleted of men and resources after years of war against Balkan nationalist and Italian forces. But in the aftermath of the assassination in Sarajevo, the powers of Europe were sliding inexorably toward war, and not even the Middle East could… Read more about this item

The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphsby Marc David Baer The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottoman's domain was multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-religious, reaching deep into Europe's heart. Indeed, as it expanded across Eastern Europe, Asia, and North Africa, the Ottomans saw their empire… Read more about this item

Mecca: The Sacred City by Ziauddin Sardar Mecca is the heart of Islam. It is the birthplace of Muhammad, the direction toward which Muslims turn when they pray, and the site of pilgrimage which annually draws some three million Muslims from all corners of the world. Yet Mecca's importance goes beyond religion. What happens in Mecca and how Muslims think about… Read more about this item