Understanding the Contemporary Middle East

This study treats the crucial issues facing this complex region at the beginning of the 21st century. Designed as a core text for Introduction to the Middle East and Middle East Politics courses, it can also be used effectively as a supplemental reader in a wide variety of discipline-oriented curriculums. The geographical domain of the volume is the Arab world (including North Africa), Iran, Israel and Turkey. politics and economics, but also geography, international relations, the roles of religion, class and ethnicity, the status of women, changing demographics and literature. Each topic is covered with reference to the latest available scholarship. there is an additional chapter on the political economy of oil. Maps, photographs and a table of basic political data enhance the text.

Understanding the Contemporary Middle East is an interdisciplinary book designed for use both as a core text for "Introduction to the Middle East" courses and as a supplement in a variety of discipline-oriented curriculums. The geographical domain of the volume is the Arab world (the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa), Iran, Israel, and Turkey; its temporal focus is post-World War II, with a particular emphasis on the 1990s.

There are very few books for classroom use that introduce students to the Middle East as a whole rather than focusing on a specific discipline. Understanding the Contemporary Middle East fills this gap. The fifteen authors, writing with clarity and precision, address a range of crucial issues facing the region in the twenty-first century: there are chapters addressing geography, history, politics, economics, international relations, the israeli-Palestinian conflict, the status of women, religion, class and ethnicity, patterns of population growth, and the literature of the region. Each chapter provides up-to-dateand engagingdescription and analysis, along with sugestions for further reading. Numerous maps and photographs help the reader gain a feel for the region.