The Modern Middle East: A History - Tapa dura

"An important and much needed conceptual approach to the modern history of the Middle East."--Edmund "Terry" Burke III, University of California, Santa Cruz"Gelvin's book is without doubt the most exciting survey of modern Middle Eastern history that I have read. The author is masterful in his use of historical anecdotes and the fates of individuals to illustrate broader points about the events and transformations that he describes. Most importantly, the book presents the history of the region in the form of a coherent, intelligible, and convincing narrative. Thanks to its flowing narrative and lively style, the book can also be read without a teacher's guidance by students and other interested readers."--Ahmed El Shamsy, Harvard University"The greatest strength of Gelvin's text . . . is its conceptual and thematic approach. [His] conceptual framework places the history of the modern Middle East in a global context and shows how it was and is affected by the same global processes that were/are affecting other parts of the world. Thismoves us away from the 'exceptionalism' and 'what went wrong' approaches that are still pervasive in many histories of the modern Middle East."--Marlee Meriwether, Denison University"By far the most engaging survey of the history of the modern Middle East that I have read in a long time . . . clearly written, often humorous, accessible to students and non-specialists and theoretically sophisticated."--Dina Rizk Khoury, George Washington University

In the wake of 11 September 2001, there has been much talk about the inevitable clash between 'East' and 'West.' This book presents an alternative approach to understanding the genealogy of contemporary events. By taking students and the general reader on a guided tour of the past five hundred years of Middle Eastern history, this book examines how the very forces associated with global "modernity" have shaped social, economic, cultural, and political life in the region. Beginning with the first glimmerings of the current international state and economic systems in the sixteenth century,The Modern Middle East explores the impact of imperial and imperialist legacies, the great nineteenth-century transformation, cultural continuities and upheavals, international diplomacy, economic booms and busts, the emergence of authoritarian regimes, and the current challenges to those regimes on everyday life in an area of vital concern to us all.