Middle East Sources

This unique primary source reader provides first-hand accounts of the events described in Middle Eastern history survey texts. The text is organized into ten chapters featuring chapter introductions and headnotes. The primary source documents cover the late 18th century through the beginning of the 21st, exploring political, social, economic, and cultural history and infusing the volume with the voices of real people. From a well-known scholar in Lebanese history, this supplementary text provides first-hand accounts of events described in major textbooks on modern Middle Eastern history.

This text takes thematic and multidisciplinary approaches that integrates regional experiences into a whole. Major themes include political development, economic development, international relations, Islam - mainstream and jihadist, colonialism and post-colonialism; and recent political changes, with particular emphasis on the U.S. intervention in Iraq and the rising interest in democracy regionally.

Politics and Change in the Middle East presents the politics of this area by discussing the economic, historical, social science, popular culture, and religious issues. It incorporates historical perspectives with contemporary material, giving readers the necessary background to make informed judgments on the politics of the region today. Comprehensive in its scope, this book covers traditional cultures of the region, the foundations of Islam, issues and events in the region from A.D. 632 to 1990, religious politics, culture, and social life, political leaders, the economic setting, and the events of 9/11/2001. For employees in corporations that deal with the region of the Middle East, where an understanding of the history and culture is necessary.

The Modern Middle East is a collection of translated sources covering the period from 1700 to the present. Sources include official and private archives, the periodical press, memoirs, western journalists' and travellers' accounts, literature, and official reports (including statistical data). Each document has been prefaced, translated and annotated by a specialist in the particular history and culture from which it was drawn. Enough information is provided so that every student can appreciate the value of a document and begin a further exploration either of its specific historical context or its relationship to broader themes in modern Middle Eastern history, whilst scholars will find it of value for its use in teaching and discussion. Themes covered include the expansion of state power, changing gender roles, religious revival, nationalist mobilization, increasing participation in a wider global culture and economy, and the redefinition of traditions and identities.

Many students learn about the Middle East through a sprinkling of information and generalizations deriving largely from media treatments of current events. This scattershot approach can propagate bias and misconceptions that inhibit students’ abilities to examine this vitally important part of the world. Understanding and Teaching the Modern Middle East moves away from the Orientalist frameworks that have dominated the West’s understanding of the region, offering a range of fresh interpretations and approaches for teachers. The volume brings together experts on the rich intellectual, cultural, social, and political history of the Middle East, providing necessary historical context to familiarize teachers with the latest scholarship. Each chapter includes easy- to-explore sources to supplement any curriculum, focusing on valuable and controversial themes that may prove pedagogically challenging, including colonization and decolonization, the 1979 Iranian revolution, and the US-led “war on terror.” By presenting multiple viewpoints, the book will function as a springboard for instructors hoping to encourage students to negotiate the various contradictions in historical study.

Offers a complete reference to the hydrological as well as social, economic, political and legal issues in the region. It shows how water shortages threaten the renewal of conflict and disruption in the Euphrates, Tigris, Nile and Jordan basins.

This book is a collected volume that crosses traditional boundaries between methodologies. Each of its sixteen articles is based on imaginative combinations of data provided by excavations, artifacts, monuments, urban topography, rural layouts, historical narratives and/or archival records. The volume as a whole demonstrates the effectiveness of interdisciplinary research applied to historical, cultural and archaeological problems. Its five sections - Economics and Trade, Governmental Authority, Material Culture, Changing Landscapes, and Monuments – bring forth original studies of the medieval, Ottoman and modern Middle East, amongst others, of voiceless and silenced social groups. Contributors are: Nitzan Amitai-Preiss, Jere L. Bacharach, Simonetta Calderini, Delia Cortese, Katia Cytryn-Silverman, Miriam Frenkel, Haim Goldfus, Hani Hamza, Stefan Heidemann, Miriam Kühn, Ayala Lester, Nimrod Luz, Yoram Meital, Daphna Sharef-Davidovich, Oren Shmueli, Yasser Tabbaa, Daniella Talmon-Heller, and Bethany Walker.