On the home front, as I write this particular passage of my introduction to this review, I am listening to the purring of a little orange kitten. My wife practically begged me a couple of days back to let her get a small orange kitten from one of my cousins who had placed it on Facebook as being open to adoption.
Now I'm not crazy about adding "another pathetic life form" (to quote one of the few good lines from The Phantom Menace) to our menagerie. But my dear wife pinky swore that this would be the last time she'd ask for a good long while. And she misses having a cat. To be honest, I miss her cat George too.
So I reluctantly agreed to allow the cat into our home (such as it is, for now). And things have gone fairly well, so far. But now my wife has gone over to school, and I am just waiting for my lunch to cool off before eating. And the kitten sits next to me, purring away. I hope contentedly. The sound is pleasing to me, at least.
Well, I gotta have a bite and then go up to the plasma donation center. Yeah, I do that now. There's a whole story from my first visit. Ask me and I might tell you about it. But for no, I am off. The review, which I jotted down my notes for a week or so back, follows below.
Thanks for reading!
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| Source: Amazon.com |
From the book’s cover:
Over the centuries, the Middle East has confounded the dreams of conquerors and peacemakers alike. In this classic work, Peter Mansfield follows the historic struggle of the region over the last two hundred years. This new edition updates recent developments in the Middle East, including the turbulent events in Afghanistan, the troubled relationship between the U.S. and Iraq, the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict, and the rise of Islamic Jihad.
Incisive and illuminating, A History of the Middle East is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand what is perhaps the most crucial and volatile nerve center of the modern world.
Synopsis:
Note: The version of the audiobook I listened to was not updated with the content by Pelham (as far as I can tell), and so I am unable to comment on his possible inclusions.
A History of the Middle East covers topical material from Middle Eastern History, ranging from just prior to the rise of Islam in the seventh century AD, up to the close of the Gulf War. Specifically, the book covers the major regimes of the region, including Persia/Iran, Arabia, the Levant (now Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel), Egypt, Anatolia, and occasionally parts of north Africa.
Mansfield tends to cover periods of time for specific cultures, or under particular rulers, and then skip backward to cover the same time period for another neighboring region/ruling group. For instance, one period he discussed that interested me was the time of Muhammad Ali, the Albanian-born Muslim ruler of Egypt for half of the early nineteenth century. But after discussing Ali's contribution to Egypt's history, the author then skips over to another subject area and reverts to events that happened concurrently with Ali's reign.
According to a Google search on the author, Mansfield was a British political journalist who had resigned from the British Foreign Service after the events of the Suez Crisis in 1956. This helps to explain much of the book's point of view. The book seems to take quite a bit of its perspective from a British angle. Mansfield's background explains this.
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| Couldn't find a photo of the author, so here is the cover of one of his other works, The British In Egypt. Based on what biographical information I found on the author, his interest in Egypt (which is clearly evident throughout the book), stems from his own personal involvement in the region's history. / Source: Dondammassa.com |
What I liked about it:
In an Amazon.com review I read, the book was praised for being somewhat balanced on the subject of the Middle East. The review stated that the author was pretty fair in covering the subject of the Middle East without casting political aspersions upon any particular group, which could be easy to do with a subject ;like the Middle East.
I tend to disagree. The book was pretty fair-handed, in my estimation, but the text did lean toward the British side of events. As noted above, the author's background plays to that. I wouldn't say that Mansfield was pro-British, but the book does tend to reflect more on a British perspective, which is understandable since he is writing from that side of the coin. From my own point of view, I think he did a fair job of it.
I liked the material he covered, though I think he gave shorty shrift to some subjects (see "What I Didn't Like..."). Perhaps most impressive, there were some notes that Mansfield made in the concluding chapter that seem fairly prescient to me. They weren't made as predictions per-se, but as observations that might happen in the years to come (mind you, this was written in 1991).
For instance? Well, Mansfield sparks on the idea of the Arab Spring, to a certain extent. This was the most impressive idea that I took away. The rise of oil prices was also accounted for, though it is clear that the rate they have gone up recently wasn't distinctly in mind when the author noted it. He just pointed out the trend, as he also did with the Arab Spring idea and some other notes about Israel and such. Of course, 9/11 wasn't predicted, nor was the fall of Mubarak or Qaddafi, but if he'd made those sort of calls, you could call the book prophetic, and no doubt.
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| A portrait of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Though he was Albanian by birth, Muhammad Ali and his descendents ruled Egypt for 147 years. In fact, it wasn't until the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser that a native Egyptian once more ruled Egypt since ancient times. / Source: TourEgypt.net |
What I didn’t like about it:
Well, Mansfield tends to throw out a lot of names, places and dates. It's the history that most layman find boring. Maybe he is of the old school, where social history was less emphasized. I don't know. According to the snippets of info I read through, he died in 1996. This would suggest either an untimely death or an older viewpoint. Based on further readings, I'd think it was definitely the latter.
What else? The book is full of very interesting information on the development of the region, but only covers adequately from the advent of Islam. As mentioned before, the periods prior to that (approx 700 AD) are given short shrift. This may be OK for most readers, but I was left feeling a bit cheated. The Middle East, as it is referenced as a region, has been active in human history since the very beginning. But this text only covers the last 1300 years or so, and only really emphasizes since the colonial period.
What I learned, if anything:
It is unfortunate that I can't point to a specific item and say "I learned this," or "that." The book was informative, but the problems I noted in "What I Didn't Like..." made the book a bit less approachable, and thus less memorable. It didn't help that i just came off reading Crime and Punishment (I'll do the review for that soon), and so a book that was a bit slow made my mind fell... well, slow. Not to say Crime and Punishment was bad. Just... well, read the review, when I put it out.
My point: The book has much to teach. It just didn't do a ton for me personally. But that should in no way be construed as an indictment against it. Lots of good stuff here for the lay Middle Eastern history enthusiast.
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| The book also covers the long and arduous conflict between Israel and the Arab states that surround it. This photo shows the early days of the Six Day War, which occurred in mid-1967. Israeli aircraft struck at Egyptian airbases, crippling the aircraft and creating air superiority that helped the Israelis win an incredibly decisive, though short-lived, victory. / Source:MiddleEast.About.com |
Recommendation:
The modern history from A History of the Middle East was the most approachable for me, but that is because I have the most steady foothold there already. The book is well written, for the most part. I still agree that it seems a fairly neutral delivery, though the chapters on the British and French colonial periods seem weighted toward the Europeans, in my opinion. Then again, this may be because I understand that side of the perspective better, and so have observer bias working against me. Take it with a grain of salt.
Otherwise, this is a good book to read if you want to understand more fully the reason the Middle East is as it is today. Of course, the issues that have come up since the book left off would require additional chapters of coverage. There's the U.S. occupation of Iraq since 2004, the Arab Spring, the fall of numerous regional dictatorships, and the continuing conflict in Syria, not to mention the withdrawal of Israelis from Lebanon and the emerging crisis with Iran. And of course, the predictions made about the oil-rich states bringing back economic dominance, as made by the author, are also accomplished. He wasn't sure if this would happen in the 90s or in the early 2000s, but he also mentioned the emerging economies of China and India, and we've certainly seen their thirst for oil bring about a spike in the market.
Anyway, I'll sum it up by saying that this makes a decent primer for the events that have shaped the Middle East since the Prophet Muhammad's time. For more info on the Middle East prior to that, you'll need to look elsewhere.
Learn more about A History of the Middle East, by Peter Mansfield and Nicolas Pelham, on Amazon.com
The parting comment:
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| Source: LolSnaps.com |
Speaking of wars... The look on the guy's face is the best part. "Like, that's an easy one!"
I love our new orange kitten!
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