iBooks Top Middle East History Ebooks

Chart of the most popular and best selling Middle East history ebooks at the Apple iBookstore.

Chart list of the top Middle Eastern history ebook ebook best sellers was last updated:

History Ebook Best Sellers

Top Middle East History Ebook Best Sellers

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While Israel Slept - Yaakov Katz & Amir Bohbot Cover Art

While Israel Slept

While Israel Slept How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East by Yaakov Katz & Amir Bohbot

NOW A NATIONAL BESTSELLER! "Crisply written... draws on excellent sources within Israel’s military and intelligence services." — The Wall Street Journal A powerful indictment of the political and military decisions that led to October 7 While Israel Slept tells the gripping inside story of how Hamas, Israel’s weakest enemy, succeeded in launching a surprise attack on one of the world’s most powerful militaries. Through a detailed examination of the events leading up to October 7, 2023, the book exposes the intelligence and strategic failures that enabled this devastating invasion. It takes readers back in time, showing how years of complacency, mistaken intelligence analysis, and a misguided policy of containment enabled Hamas to prepare for an assault that Israel did not believe was possible and that would change the Middle East. The book unveils the dramatic events of the night before the attack, highlighting the cracks in Israel’s military and political leadership. It provides unprecedented details on how key warnings were missed, and how Israel ignored the growing threat from Hamas, believing that the group was weak and deterred. By exposing these failures, While Israel Slept offers a stark, sobering account of how overconfidence and complacency paved the way for disaster, while underscoring the critical lessons Israel must embrace to safeguard its future.

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Ghosts of a Holy War - Yardena Schwartz Cover Art

Ghosts of a Holy War

Ghosts of a Holy War The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Yardena Schwartz

An award-winning journalist presents an even-handed, thoroughly researched examination of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and illustrates how a shocking yet little-known massacre one century ago in what was then Palestine became ground zero of a war that continues to devastate. "[A] compelling story. . . . If you are going to read one book to help you understand the current Middle East tragedy, this is it." —Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, and author of the New York Times bestseller Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor When a family in Memphis, Tennessee, discovers a box of century-old letters in their attic, a journey begins: not only to learn about the young man who wrote the letters from the holy city of Hebron in British Mandate Palestine, but about the massacre that took his life in 1929. Award-winning journalist Yardena Schwartz draws from these letters, along with extensive research and wide-ranging interviews of Israelis and Palestinians now living in Hebron, to tell a timely, captivating narrative. By illuminating the echoes of 1929 in Hamas’s massacre of October 7, 2023, Schwartz vividly illustrates how little has changed—and how much of our perspective must change if peace is ever to come to this tortured land and its people, who are destined to share it. This meticulously researched and balanced examination of the Arab-Israeli conflict's origins interweaves historical analysis with contemporary insights, providing crucial context for understanding today's Middle East tensions. Perfect for anyone who has read Yossi Klein Halevi, Matti Friedman, or Nathan Thrall, Schwartz's work is a riveting exploration of the complex background of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the ongoing struggle for peace in the region.

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Rise and Kill First - Ronen Bergman Cover Art

Rise and Kill First

Rise and Kill First The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first definitive history of Israel’s targeted killing programs, which have shaped the Israeli nation, the Middle East, and the larger world—from the man hailed by David Remnick as “arguably [Israel’s] best investigative reporter.” “An exceptional work, a humane book about an incendiary subject . . . full of shocking moments, surprising disturbances in a narrative full of fateful twists and unintended consequences.”— The New York Times WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD IN HISTORY • ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Economist, The New York Times Book Review, BBC History Magazine, Mother Jones The Talmud says: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel’s DNA. From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, protecting the nation from harm has been the responsibility of its intelligence community and armed services, and there is one weapon in their vast arsenal that they have relied upon to thwart the most serious threats: Targeted assassinations have been used countless times, on enemies large and small, sometimes in response to attacks against the Israeli people and sometimes preemptively. In this page-turning, eye-opening book, journalist and military analyst Ronen Bergman—praised by David Remnick as “arguably [Israel’s] best investigative reporter”—offers a riveting inside account of the targeted killing programs: their successes, their failures, and the moral and political price exacted on the men and women who approved and carried out the missions. Bergman has gained the exceedingly rare cooperation of many current and former members of the Israeli government, including Prime Ministers Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as high-level figures in the country’s military and intelligence services: the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), the Mossad (the world’s most feared intelligence agency), Caesarea (a “Mossad within the Mossad” that carries out attacks on the highest-value targets), and the Shin Bet (an internal security service that implemented the largest targeted assassination campaign ever, in order to stop what had once appeared to be unstoppable: suicide terrorism). Including never-before-reported, behind-the-curtain accounts of key operations, and based on hundreds of on-the-record interviews and thousands of files to which Bergman has gotten exclusive access over his decades of reporting, Rise and Kill First brings us deep into the heart of Israel’s most secret activities. Bergman traces, from statehood to the present, the gripping events and thorny ethical questions underlying Israel’s targeted killing campaign, which has shaped the Israeli nation, the Middle East, and the larger world.

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Tomorrow Is Yesterday - Hussein Agha & Robert Malley Cover Art

Tomorrow Is Yesterday

Tomorrow Is Yesterday Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine by Hussein Agha & Robert Malley

A Best Book of 2025 The New Yorker • Foreign Affairs • NPR • Foreign Policy • Responsible Statecraft Two insiders explain why the Israeli – Palestinian peace process failed, and anticipate what lies ahead. On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters killed more than eleven hundred Israelis and took more than two hundred hostages, prompting an Israeli response that has in turn taken tens of thousands of lives and devastated the Gaza Strip. Why did this happen, and can anything be done to grant peace and justice to Israelis and Palestinians alike? In Tomorrow Is Yesterday , veteran negotiators Hussein Agha and Robert Malley offer a personal and bracing perspective on how the hopes of the Oslo Peace Process became the horrors of the present. Drawing on their experience advising the Palestinian leadership (Arafat and Abbas) and US presidents (Clinton, Obama, and Biden) and their participation in secret talks over decades, Agha and Malley offer candid portraits of leading figures and an interpretation of the conflict that exposes the delusions of all sides. They stress that the two-state solution became a global goal only when it was no longer viable; that U.S. officials preferred technical schemes to a frank reckoning with the past; that Hamas’s onslaught and Israel’s war of destruction were not historical exceptions but historical reenactments; and that the gaps separating Israelis and Palestinians have less to do with territorial allocation than with history and emotions.

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The Israel-Arab Reader - Walter Laqueur & Dan Schueftan Cover Art

The Israel-Arab Reader

The Israel-Arab Reader A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict: Eighth Revised and Updated Edition by Walter Laqueur & Dan Schueftan

An essential resource, completely revised and updated for the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of Israel In print for forty years, The Israel-Arab Reader is a thorough and up-to-date guide to the continuing crisis in the Middle East. It covers the full spectrum of the Israel-Arab conflict, including a new chapter recounting the Gaza withdrawal, the Hamas election victory, and the Lebanon-Israel War. Featuring a new introduction that provides an overview of the past 115 years of conflict, and arranged chronologically and without bias, this comprehensive reference includes speeches, letters, articles, timelines, and reports dealing with all the major interests in the area.

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Sword and Scimitar - Raymond Ibrahim & Victor Davis Hanson Cover Art

Sword and Scimitar

Sword and Scimitar Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West by Raymond Ibrahim & Victor Davis Hanson

A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities. The West and Islam—the sword and scimitar—have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Roman emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad’s order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the decisive battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian territory in 636, through the Muslim occupation of nearly three-quarters of Christendom (prompting the Crusades), followed by renewed Muslim conquests by Turks and Tatars, and the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat—until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic and Greek, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains how these wars and the larger historical currents of the age reflect the cultural fault lines between Islam and the West. The majority of these landmark encounters—including the battles of Yarmuk, Tours, Manzikert, the sieges at Constantinople and Vienna, and the crusades in Syria and Spain—are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, Sword and Scimitar provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world, and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history.

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All the Shah's Men - Stephen Kinzer Cover Art

All the Shah's Men

All the Shah's Men An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer

With a thrilling narrative that sheds much light on recent events, this national bestseller brings to life the 1953 CIA coup in Iran that ousted the country’s elected prime minister, ushered in a quarter-century of brutal rule under the Shah, and stimulated the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism in the Middle East. Selected as one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and The Economist , it now features a new preface by the author on the folly of attacking Iran.

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Six Days of War - Michael B. Oren Cover Art

Six Days of War

Six Days of War June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael B. Oren

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first comprehensive account of the epoch-making Six-Day War, from the author of Ally —now featuring a fiftieth-anniversary retrospective   Though it lasted for only six tense days in June, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war never really ended. Every crisis that has ripped through this region in the ensuing decades, from the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to the ongoing  intifada , is a direct consequence of those six days of fighting. Writing with a novelist’s command of narrative and a historian’s grasp of fact and motive, Michael B. Oren reconstructs both the lightning-fast action on the battlefields and the political shocks that electrified the world. Extraordinary personalities—Moshe Dayan and Gamal Abdul Nasser, Lyndon Johnson and Alexei Kosygin—rose and toppled from power as a result of this war; borders were redrawn; daring strategies brilliantly succeeded or disastrously failed in a matter of hours. And the balance of power changed—in the Middle East and in the world. A towering work of history and an enthralling human narrative,  Six Days of War  is the most important book on the Middle East conflict to appear in a generation. Praise for Six Days of War “Powerful . . . A highly readable, even gripping account of the 1967 conflict . . . [Oren] has woven a seamless narrative out of a staggering variety of diplomatic and military strands.” —The New York Times “With a remarkably assured style, Oren elucidates nearly every aspect of the conflict. . . . Oren’s [book] will remain the authoritative chronicle of the war. His achievement as a writer and a historian is awesome.” — The Atlantic Monthly “This is not only the best book so far written on the six-day war, it is likely to remain the best.” — The   Washington Post Book World “Phenomenal . . . breathtaking history . . . a profoundly talented writer. . . . This book is not only one of the best books on this critical episode in Middle East history; it’s one of the best-written books I’ve read this year, in any genre.” — The Jerusalem Post “[In] Michael Oren’s richly detailed and lucid account, the familiar story is thrilling once again. . . . What makes this book important is the breadth and depth of the research.” — The New York Times Book Review “A first-rate new account of the conflict.” — The Washington Post “The definitive history of the Six-Day War . . . [Oren’s] narrative is precise but written with great literary flair. In no one else’s study is there more understanding or more surprise.” —Martin Peretz, Publisher, The New Republic “Compelling, perhaps even vital, reading.” — San Jose Mercury News

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The Israel-Palestine Conflict - James L. Gelvin Cover Art

The Israel-Palestine Conflict

The Israel-Palestine Conflict A History by James L. Gelvin

Now in its fourth edition, James L. Gelvin's award-winning account of the conflict between Israel and Palestine offers a compelling, accessible and current introduction for students and general readers. The book traces the struggle from the emergence of nationalism among the Jews of Europe and the Arab inhabitants of Ottoman Palestine through to the present, exploring the external pressures and internal logic that have propelled it. Placing events in Palestine within the framework of global history, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A History skilfully interweaves biographical sketches, eyewitness accounts, poetry, fiction, and official documentation into its narrative. This updated edition features new material on the fate of the two-state solution during the Trump/Netanyahu era, alongside an expanded glossary and suggestions for further reading.

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"They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else" - Ronald Grigor Suny Cover Art

"They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else"

"They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else" A History of the Armenian Genocide by Ronald Grigor Suny

A definitive history of the 20th century's first major genocide on its 100th anniversary Starting in early 1915, the Ottoman Turks began deporting and killing hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the first major genocide of the twentieth century. By the end of the First World War, the number of Armenians in what would become Turkey had been reduced by 90 percent—more than a million people. A century later, the Armenian Genocide remains controversial but relatively unknown, overshadowed by later slaughters and the chasm separating Turkish and Armenian interpretations of events. In this definitive narrative history, Ronald Suny cuts through nationalist myths, propaganda, and denial to provide an unmatched account of when, how, and why the atrocities of 1915–16 were committed. Drawing on archival documents and eyewitness accounts, this is an unforgettable chronicle of a cataclysm that set a tragic pattern for a century of genocide and crimes against humanity.

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The Shadow Commander - Arash Azizi Cover Art

The Shadow Commander

The Shadow Commander Soleimani, the U.S., and Iran's Global Ambitions by Arash Azizi

‘An excellent contribution to our knowledge of Iran and Soleimani.’ Kim Ghattas, author of Black Wave When the US assassinated Qassem Soleimani, he was one of the most powerful men in Iran. Known as ‘the shadow commander’, he enacted the wishes of the country’s Supreme Leader across the Middle East, establishing the Islamic Republic as a major force in the region. But all this was a long way from where he began – on the margins of a nation whose ruler was seen as a friend of the West. Through Soleimani, Arash Azizi examines how Iran came to be where it is today. Providing a rare insight into a country whose actions are often discussed but seldom understood, he reveals the global ambitions underlying Iran’s proxy wars, geopolitics and nuclear programme.

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The Cauldron - Simon Sebag Montefiore Cover Art

The Cauldron

The Cauldron The Making of the Modern Middle East by Simon Sebag Montefiore

An essential guide to the making of the modern Middle East from 1900 to the present: a spellbinding history by the New York Times bestselling author of Jerusalem and The Romanovs Renowned historian Simon Sebag Montefiore wades into the ideological battles and geopolitical tensions of the Middle East with a comprehensive and nuanced chronicle that situates the region in the context of its last one hundred and twenty-five years. Few understand the real history of the Middle East; fewer still understand its variety and cosmopolitanism, its complexity and interconnectedness. The Cauldron is a fresh and unique survey of the region in all its diversity. Taking the reader on a spectacular journey from the Ottoman sultanate to the Trump presidency, from Morocco to Iran, this is a dazzling panorama of faith and fanaticism, creativity and tolerance, dictatorship and democracy brought to life by an extraordinary cast of kings, warriors, poets, terrorists, and peacemakers. With his signature style of voice-driven history that made Jerusalem a national bestseller, Montefiore reveals a stunning portrait of the world we have inherited and interrogates the prevailing historical narratives. This is the essential story of how the Middle East of 1900 led to the Middle East of today—and tomorrow.

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The Holy Land in the Era of the Crusades - Helena P Schrader Cover Art

The Holy Land in the Era of the Crusades

The Holy Land in the Era of the Crusades Kingdoms at the Crossroads of Civilizations, 1100–1300 by Helena P Schrader

"Dispels several of the misconceptions that still so often appear in the more popular accounts of the crusades and the Latin East . . . commendable."—Adrian Boas, author of The Crusader World The Near East in the era of the Crusades was home to diverse populations Orthodox and Latin Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Jews and Samaritans. It was the meeting-point for Arab, Turkish, Byzantine and Frankish culture, the latter itself a mixture of Western traditions adapted to circumstances in the crusader states by the Europeans who had settled in the Holy Land. While the Crusades have become a synonym for brutality and bigotry, the crusader states represented a positive example of harmonious coexistence across two centuries. Likewise, while scholars from a wide range of disciplines including archaeology, art history, and medicine have shed light on diverse aspects of the crusader states, to date there is no single introductory source that provides a comprehensive overview of these unique states as a starting point for the uninitiated. The Holy Land in the Era of the Crusades aims to fill this gap while correcting common misconceptions by bringing together recent scholarly research on a range of topics to create a comprehensive description. It covers the history, demography, state institutions, foreign policy, economy, art, architecture, and lifestyle of the people who lived in the crusader states in the period from 1100 to 1300. It is organized in two main parts: a chronological historical overview, and a topical discussion of key features of these unique kingdoms. An additional, final chapter describes the rise and fall of the House of Ibelin to give the entire history a human face.

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Reflections on Exile - Edward W. Said Cover Art

Reflections on Exile

Reflections on Exile And Other Essays by Edward W. Said

From one of the world's most beloved and respected public intellectuals comes a collection of essays examining culture, the literary canon, and the ever-shifting terrain of history "This is surely a major work, among the most provocative and cogent accounts of culture and the humanities that America has produced in recent years."―Martha C. Nussbaum, The New York Times Book Review Edward W. Said’s writings have transformed the field of literary studies. In this bracing collection of essays, one of the most beloved and respected public intellectuals of our time examines culture, the literary canon, and the ever-shifting terrain of history. Said’s topics are many and diverse, from the Hollywood heroics of Tarzan to the machismo of Ernest Hemingway to the shades of difference that divide Alexandria and Cairo. In the title essay, the widely admired "Reflections on Exile," he weighs his own estrangement from his home country and the fate of the Palestinian people against the literary canon’s most romanticized fugitives. “What could be more intransigent than the conflict between Zionist Jews and Arab Palestinians?” Said asks. “Palestinians feel that they have been turned into exiles by the proverbial people of exile.” The culmination of thirty-five years of scholarship, Reflections on Exile and Other Essays is an invigorating and life-affirming achievement, a work of intellectual, emotional, and moral rigor.

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Osama bin Laden Files - The Combating Terrorism Center Cover Art

Osama bin Laden Files

Osama bin Laden Files Letters and Documents Discovered by SEAL Team Six During Their Raid on bin Laden's Compound by The Combating Terrorism Center

“An intriguing glimpse into the aging al-Qaeda leader’s thoughts as his life neared its end.” —Washington Post “A sort of anthropology of a terror network.” —The New York Times “A rare, often fascinating glimpse of al-Qaeda and its leadership.” —BBC News On May 2, 2011, US Navy SEALs and CIA operatives raided the secret compound of Osama bin Laden, killing the founder of the jihadist militant group al-Qaeda, which was responsible for the tragedies of September 11, 2001. A year after his death, documents and personal correspondence by bin Laden found in the compound have been made public for the first time, offering a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most infamous terrorists in world history. A treasure trove of documents, including correspondence between bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders, have been translated from Arabic, accompanied by analysis and background information from members of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. The Osama bin Laden Diaries details the decision making behind one of the most nefarious terrorist organizations of all time.

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The Wars of the Jews - Flavius Josephus Cover Art

The Wars of the Jews

The Wars of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

The Wars of the Jews (also titled The Jewish War) is a history by Roman-Jewish author Flavius Josephus, who chronicles a series of conflicts, skirmishes and events between the Jews, Romans, and other influential groups in the Middle East in the 1st century AD. Comprised of seven books, Josephus' account of the fraught and conflicted period of Judeo-Roman history is written with an urgency expected of a man who personally witnessed and lived through the tumultuous events he describes. Josephus commences his work with an overview of Jewish history from the Maccabees through to the Roman conquest. Rome's victory celebrations, and the temporary transition of the Roman military from a conquering to an occupying force, is detailed. The subsequent suppression of the Jewish revolt and the stages of the First Jewish-Roman war are detailed. The Emperor Vespasian oversaw the renewed conflict: his son Titus proved his personal capabilities as a military commander in the Judean theater. Subsequent to Josephus's history, Titus would succeed his father as Roman Emperor with a reputation of a decorated veteran. Having personally observed the shocking destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. , Josephus felt moved to write his own interpretation of the conflicts which ultimately led to the temple's demise. Having traveled throughout the Middle East and to Rome personally, Josephus had a strong grasp of Jewish and Roman cultures. Rather than echo other historians of the era by condemning the Jews for agitating the Roman forces, Josephus instead asserts that the war and consequent damage were the result of fanatical zealots. Their charisma led to swathes of the masses lending their support, leaving the traditional Jewish aristocracy - of which Josephus was a member - unable to rein in the popular fury against Rome. This edition of The Wars of the Jews contains all seven books of Josephus' history in their entirety, together with complete sets of notes which clarify certain passages and terms used in the text, appended at the conclusion of each book. The translation to English is by the respected 18th century scholar, historian and theologian William Whiston.

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Days of Love and Rage - Anand Gopal Cover Art

Days of Love and Rage

Days of Love and Rage A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution by Anand Gopal

From Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist Anand Gopal, an epic and enthralling account of six Syrians fighting for a better world, in the tradition of classic works by Philip Gourevitch and Katherine Boo. In 2011, in a northern Syrian city, a small group of men and women began a movement that overthrew a brutal dictatorship. For the next eighteen months, many of the citizens of Manbij carried out one of the most remarkable experiments in democracy in modern times. Days of Love and Rage details the powerfully intimate narratives of the men and women who led this struggle, and who experienced the highs of camaraderie and the lows of betrayal. Among them: a pair of best friends torn apart by political polarization, a mother who stands up to male dominance, and a worker who risks everything for the dream of equality. Anand Gopal immerses you in the world of a single city in the throes of revolution, and lays bare the danger that inequality poses to democracy. But this book transcends the particulars of one terrible conflict to tell the broader story of rising authoritarianism in our times. Days of Love and Rage has the force, sweep, and artistry of a great novel, and is ultimately a story of our enduring human need for dignity and hope.

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The River War - Winston Churchill Cover Art

The River War

The River War Historical & Autobiographical Account of the Reconquest of Sudan by Winston Churchill

In "The River War," Winston Churchill presents a compelling narrative of the Sudan Campaign, combining his firsthand experiences as a soldier and war correspondent. Written in a vivid and evocative prose style, the book captures the intricacies of military strategy, the complexities of colonial politics, and the cultural tapestry of Sudanese society during the late 19th century. Churchill's critical eye and engaging storytelling create a multifaceted portrayal of warfare that transcends mere battle descriptions, emphasizing the human experience within the chaos of conflict. This work is not only a historical account but also reflects the imperialist sentiments of its time, offering insight into the ideological mindset of the British Empire. Winston Churchill, renowned primarily for his leadership during World War II, was also deeply involved in military affairs as a young officer during the late Victorian era. His experiences in various conflicts, including his time in Sudan, undoubtedly shaped his perspectives on leadership, courage, and moral responsibility in the context of imperialism. The River War serves as both a recounting of personal courage and a critique of colonial endeavors, illustrating the complex nature of warfare and governance. Recommended for historians and literary enthusiasts alike, "The River War" is an essential read that illuminates the challenges and ethical dilemmas faced during a pivotal moment in British history. Churchill's unique voice and perspective provide a rich exploration of both the battlefield and the broader implications of empire, making it a significant addition to any historical library.

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We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled - Wendy Pearlman Cover Art

We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled

We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman

LONG-LISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL Reminiscent of the work of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, an astonishing collection of intimate wartime testimonies and poetic fragments from a cross-section of Syrians whose lives have been transformed by revolution, war, and flight. Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. The government's ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past five years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times. Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard, while the stories told about them have been distorted by broad brush dread and political expediency. This fierce and poignant collection changes that. Based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians conducted over four years across the Middle East and Europe, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a breathtaking mosaic of first-hand testimonials from the frontlines. Some of the testimonies are several pages long, eloquent narratives that could stand alone as short stories; others are only a few sentences, poetic and aphoristic. Together, they cohere into an unforgettable chronicle that is not only a testament to the power of storytelling but to the strength of those who face darkness with hope, courage, and moral conviction.

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King of Kings - Scott Anderson Cover Art

King of Kings

King of Kings The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR NONFICTION • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • From the author of the landmark bestseller Lawrence in Arabia comes a stunningly revelatory narrative history of the Iranian Revolution, one of the most momentous events in modern times. This groundbreaking work exposes the jaw-dropping stupidity of the American government and traces the rise of religious nationalism, offering essential insights into today's global unrest. “A masterful and propulsive account that chronicles a devastatingly transformative series of events whose aftereffects reverberate to this day.” —The Kirkus Prize 2025 Jury “An exceptional and important book. Scrupulous and enterprising reporting rarely combine with such superb storytelling.” — The New York Times Book Review “A masterful and gripping account. Anderson gives us a page-turning history lesson that is more relevant than ever.” —Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a finalist for the National Book Award On New Year’s Eve, 1977, on a state visit to Iran, President Jimmy Carter toasted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King of Kings, Light of the Aryans, Shadow of God on Earth, praising Iran as “an island of stability “ due to “your leadership and the respect and admiration and love which your people give to you.” Iran had the world’s fifth largest army and was awash in billions of dollars in oil revenues.  Construction cranes dotted the skyline of its booming capital, Tehran.  The regime’s feared secret police force SAVAK had crushed communist opposition, and the Shah had bought off the conservative Muslim clergy inside the country.  He seemed invulnerable, and invaluable to the United States as an ally in the Cold War.  Fourteen months later the Shah fled Iran into exile, forced from the throne by a volcanic religious revolution led by a fiery cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini. The ensuing hostage crisis forever damaged America’s standing in the world.  How could the United States, which had one of the largest CIA stations in the world and thousands of military personnel in Iran, have been so blind? The spellbinding story Scott Anderson weaves is one of a dictator blind to the disdain of his subjects and a superpower blundering into disaster. Scott Anderson tells this astonishing tale with the narrative brio, mordant wit, and keen analysis that made his bestselling Lawrence of Arabia one of the key texts in understanding the modern Middle East.  The Iranian Revolution, Anderson convincingly argues, was as world-shattering an event as the French and Russian revolutions.  In the Middle East, in India, in Southeast Asia, in Europe, and now in the United States, the hatred of economically-marginalized, religiously-fervent masses for a wealthy secular elite has led to violence and upheaval – and Iran was the template.  King of Kings is a bravura work of history, and a warning.

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Worlds of Islam - James McDougall Cover Art

Worlds of Islam

Worlds of Islam A Global History by James McDougall

A sweeping global history of Islam, tracing the 1,400-year evolution of a diverse community of faith and its place in the modern world “Anyone who wants to understand not just the past of Islam but its present and future should read  Worlds of Islam .”—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to new nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others. As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself. In Worlds of Islam , historian James McDougall explores Islam’s origins and transformations as Muslims adapted to changing times and conditions, from Late Antiquity to the digital age. In the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice. Sweeping and authoritative, Worlds of Islam narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.

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Lawrence in Arabia - Scott Anderson Cover Art

Lawrence in Arabia

Lawrence in Arabia War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A New York Times Notable Book • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography • From the author of King of Kings comes a thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history – the Arab Revolt and the secret “great game” to control the Middle East, including the infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement, that set the stage for decades of conflict. “A fascinating book, the best work of military history in recent memory and an illuminating analysis of issues that still loom large today."— The New York Times "Brilliant. . . . A dazzling accomplishment that combines superb historical research with a compelling narrative.” —The Seattle Times The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War I was, in the words of T. E. Lawrence, “a sideshow of a sideshow.” As a result, the conflict was shaped to a remarkable degree by a small handful of adventurers and low-level officers far removed from the corridors of power. At the center of it all was Lawrence himself. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist excavating ruins in Syria; by 1917 he was riding into legend at the head of an Arab army as he fought a rearguard action against his own government and its imperial ambitions. Based on four years of intensive primary document research, Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, The Seattle Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chicago Tribune

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The Lemon Tree - Sandy Tolan Cover Art

The Lemon Tree

The Lemon Tree An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan

A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST "Extraordinary … A sweeping history of the Palestinian-Israeli conundrum … Highly readable and evocative." – The Washington Post The tale of a simple act of faith between two young people, one Israeli and one Palestinian, that symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East – with an updated afterword by the author. In 1967, Bashir Khairi, a twenty-five-year-old Palestinian, journeyed to Israel with the goal of seeing the beloved stone house with the lemon tree behind it that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family left Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next half century in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, demonstrating that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and transformation.

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Raid on the Sun - Rodger Claire Cover Art

Raid on the Sun

Raid on the Sun Inside Israel's Secret Campaign that Denied Saddam the Bomb by Rodger Claire

The first authorized inside account of one of the most daring—and successful—military operations in recent history From the earliest days of his dictatorship, Saddam Hussein had vowed to destroy Israel. So when France sold Iraq a top-of-the-line nuclear reactor in 1975, the Israelis were justifiably concerned—especially when they discovered that Iraqi scientists had already formulated a secret program to extract weapons-grade plutonium from the reactor, a first critical step in creating an atomic bomb. The reactor formed the heart of a huge nuclear plant situated twelve miles from Baghdad, 1,100 kilometers from Tel Aviv. By 1981, the reactor was on the verge of becoming “hot,” and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin knew he would have to confront its deadly potential. He turned to Israeli Air Force commander General David Ivry to secretly plan a daring surgical strike on the reactor—a never-before-contemplated mission that would prove to be one of the most remarkable military operations of all time. Written with the full and exclusive cooperation of the Israeli Air Force high command, General Ivry (ret.), and all of the eight mission pilots (including Ilan Ramon, who become Israel’s first astronaut and perished tragically in the shuttle Columbia disaster), Raid on the Sun tells the extraordinary story of how Israel plotted the unthinkable: defying its U.S. and European allies to eliminate Iraq’s nuclear threat. In the tradition of Black Hawk Down , journalist Rodger Claire re-creates a gripping tale of personal sacrifice and survival, of young pilots who trained in the United States on the then-new, radically sophisticated F-16 fighter bombers, then faced a nearly insurmountable challenge: how to fly the 1,000-plus-kilometer mission to Baghdad and back on one tank of fuel. He recounts Israeli intelligence’s incredible “black ops” to sabotage construction on the French reactor and eliminate Iraqi nuclear scientists, and he gives the reader a pilot’s-eye view of the action on June 7, 1981, when the planes roared off a runway on the Sinai Peninsula for the first successful destruction of a nuclear reactor in history.

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Our Man in Tehran - Robert Wright Cover Art

Our Man in Tehran

Our Man in Tehran The True Story Behind the Secret Mission to Save Six Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis & the Foreign Ambassador Who Worked w/the CIA to Bring Them Home by Robert Wright

For the true story behind Argo , read Our Man in Tehran The world watched with fear in November 1979, when Iranian students infiltrated and occupied the American embassy in Tehran. The Americans were caught entirely by surprise, and what began as a swift and seemingly short-lived takeover evolved into a crisis that would see fifty-four embassy personnel held hostage, most for 444 days. As Tehran exploded in a fury of revolution, six American diplomats secretly escaped. For three months, Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran—along with his wife and embassy staffers—concealed the Americans in their homes, always with the prospect that the revolutionary government of Ayatollah Khomeini would exact deadly consequences. The United States found itself handcuffed by a fractured, fundamentalist government it could not understand and had completely underestimated. With limited intelligence resources available on the ground and anti-American sentiment growing, President Carter turned to Taylor to work with the CIA in developing their exfiltration plans. Until now, the true story behind Taylor’s involvement in the escape of the six diplomats and the Eagle Claw commando raid has remained classified. In Our Man in Tehran , Robert Wright takes us back to a major historical flashpoint and unfolds a story of cloak-and-dagger intrigue that brings a new understanding of the strained relationship between the Unites States and Iran. With the world once again focused on these two countries, this book is the stuff of John le Carré and Daniel Silva made real.

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Jerusalem 1913 - Amy Dockser Marcus Cover Art

Jerusalem 1913

Jerusalem 1913 The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Amy Dockser Marcus

A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter examines the true history of the discord between Israel and Palestine with surprising results Though the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict have traditionally been traced to the British Mandate (1920-1948) that ended with the creation of the Israeli state, a new generation of scholars has taken the investigation further back, to the Ottoman period. The first popular account of this key era, Jerusalem 1913 shows us a cosmopolitan city whose religious tolerance crumbled before the onset of Z ionism and its corresponding nationalism on both sides-a conflict that could have been resolved were it not for the onset of World War I. With extraordinary skill, Amy Dockser Marcus rewrites the story of one of the world's most indelible divides.

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Occidentosis - Jalal Al-E-Ahmad Cover Art

Occidentosis

Occidentosis A Plague from the West by Jalal Al-E-Ahmad

Suppressed in Iran during the reign of the Shah, this book for the first time in a careful, annotated translation was published after the Islamic Revolution. It is a strong and emotional statement by an Iranian intellectual deeply concerned with what he saw as his country’s succumbing to “A Plague from the West" or "Occidentosis." Offering observations, insights, reasons for pride in Iran’s past and culture, and critical analyses of the Western role in the world. Jalal Al-e-Ahmad expresses many of the concerns that agitated the intelligentsia during the two decades before the Islamic Revolution.

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Iran - Abbas Amanat Cover Art

Iran

Iran A Modern History by Abbas Amanat

A masterfully researched and compelling history of Iran from 1501 to 2009 This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense but an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. The book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.   Abbas Amanat combines chronological and thematic approaches, exploring events with lasting implications for modern Iran and the world. Drawing on diverse historical scholarship and emphasizing the twentieth century, he addresses debates about Iran’s culture and politics. Political history is the driving narrative force, given impetus by Amanat's decades of research and study. He layers the book with discussions of literature, music, and the arts; ideology and religion; economy and society; and cultural identity and heritage.

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The Wars of the Maccabees - John D. Grainger Cover Art

The Wars of the Maccabees

The Wars of the Maccabees by John D. Grainger

An "extraordinary" account of the wars conducted by and against the Maccabean family of rulers in Palestine in the second and first centuries BC ( Midwest Book Review ). By the early second century BC, Israel had long been under the rule of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. But the policy of deliberate Hellenization and suppression of Jewish religious practices by Antiochus IV, sparked a revolt in 167 BC which was led initially by Judah Maccabee and later by his brothers and their descendants. Relying on guerrilla tactics the growing insurrection repeatedly took on the sophisticated might of the Seleucid army with mixed, but generally successful, results, establishing the Maccabees as the Hasmonean Dynasty of rulers over a once-more independent Israel. (It is Judah Maccabee's ritual cleansing of the Temple after his victories over the Seleucids that is celebrated by Jews every year at Hannukah). Internal disputes weakened the revived state, however, and it eventually fell victim to the Romans who replaced the Seleucids as the local superpower.  John D. Grainger explains the causes of the revolt and traces the course of the various campaigns of the Maccabees, first against the Seleucids and then the Romans who captured Jerusalem in 63BC and partitioned the kingdom. The last chapters consider the continued Jewish resistance to Roman rule and factional fighting, until the crowning of Herod, marked the end of the Hasmonean dynasty. "By writing this book, John Grainger took on an almost impossible challenge. This is to summarize 130 years of wars and political conflicts between the Jews themselves and between the Jews and all their neighbours from BC 167 to BC 37 within a single volume." — Israel Book Review

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Fractured Lands - Scott Anderson Cover Art

Fractured Lands

Fractured Lands How the Arab World Came Apart by Scott Anderson

From the bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia , a piercing account of how the contemporary Arab world came to be riven by catastrophe since the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq. In 2011, a series of anti-government uprisings shook the Middle East and North Africa in what would become known as the Arab Spring. Few could predict that these convulsions, initially hailed in the West as a triumph of democracy, would give way to brutal civil war, the terrors of the Islamic State, and a global refugee crisis. But, as New York Times bestselling author Scott Anderson shows, the seeds of catastrophe had been sown long before. In this gripping account, Anderson examines the myriad complex causes of the region’s profound unraveling, tracing the ideological conflicts of the present to their origins in the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003 and beyond. From this investigation emerges a rare view into a land in upheaval through the eyes of six individuals—the matriarch of a dissident Egyptian family; a Libyan Air Force cadet with divided loyalties; a Kurdish physician from a prominent warrior clan; a Syrian university student caught in civil war; an Iraqi activist for women’s rights; and an Iraqi day laborer-turned-ISIS fighter. A probing and insightful work of reportage, Fractured Lands offers a penetrating portrait of the contemporary Arab world and brings the stunning realities of an unprecedented geopolitical tragedy into crystalline focus.

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Master Builders of the Middle Ages - David Jacobs Cover Art

Master Builders of the Middle Ages

Master Builders of the Middle Ages by David Jacobs

Today, the great cathedrals of Europe stand as beautiful, imposing monuments - the pride of parishioners and the wonder of tourists. It is difficult for us now, even with all our engineering and architectural skills, to imagine the extraordinary ways these medieval houses of worship were constructed. Midway through the twelfth century, the building of cathedrals became a crusade to erect awe-inspiring churches across Europe. In their zeal, bishops, monks, masons, and workmen created the architectural style known as Gothic, arguably Christianity’s greatest contribution to the world’s art and architecture. The style evolved slowly and almost accidentally as medieval artisans combined ingenuity, inspiration, and brute strength to create a fitting monument to their God. Here are the dramatic stories of the building of Saint-Denis, Notre Dame, Chartres, Reims, and other Gothic cathedrals.

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The Invention of the Jewish People - Shlomo Sand & Yael Lotan Cover Art

The Invention of the Jewish People

The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand & Yael Lotan

A historical tour de force, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a groundbreaking account of Jewish and Israeli history. Exploding the myth that there was a forced Jewish exile in the first century at the hands of the Romans, Israeli historian Shlomo Sand argues that most modern Jews descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In this iconoclastic work, which spent nineteen weeks on the Israeli bestseller list and won the coveted Aujourd’hui Award in France, Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel’s future.

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The Eve of Destruction - Howard Blum Cover Art

The Eve of Destruction

The Eve of Destruction The Untold Story of the Yom Kippur War by Howard Blum

On October 6, 1973—Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar—the Arab world launched a bold and ingeniously conceived surprise attack against Israel. After three days of intense, bloody combat, an unprepared Israel was fighting for survival, while the Arabs, with massive forces closing in on the Jewish heartland, were poised to redeem the honor lost in three previous wars. Based on declassified Israeli government documents and revealing interviews with soldiers, generals, and intelligence operatives on both sides of the conflict, The Eve of Destruction weaves a suspenseful, eye-opening story of war, politics, and deception. It also tells the moving human tale of the men and women who fought to maintain love and honor as their lives and destinies were swept up in the Yom Kippur War.

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The Question of Palestine - Edward W. Said Cover Art

The Question of Palestine

The Question of Palestine by Edward W. Said

This original and deeply provocative book was the first to make Palestine the subject of a serious debate--one that remains as critical as ever. • With a new foreword by Saree Makdisi "A compelling call for identity and justice." —Anthony Lewis "Books such as Mr. Said's need to be written and read in the hope that understanding will provide a better chance of survival." — The New York Times Book Review With the rigorous scholarship he brought to his influential Orientalism and an exile's passion (he is Palestinian by birth), Edward W. Said traces the fatal collision between two peoples in the Middle East and its repercussions in the lives of both the occupier and the occupied--as well as in the conscience of the West. He has updated this landmark work to portray the changed status of Palestine and its people in light of such developments as the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the intifada, the Gulf War, and the ongoing MIddle East peace initiative. For anyone interested in this region and its future, The Question of Palestine remains the most useful and authoritative account available.

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Seven Pillars of Wisdom - T E Lawrence Cover Art

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Seven Pillars of Wisdom A Triumph (The Authorized Doubleday/Doran Edition) by T E Lawrence

In his classic book, T.E. Lawrence—forever known as Lawrence of Arabia—recounts his role in the origin of the modern Arab world. At first a shy Oxford scholar and archaeologist with a facility for languages, he joined and went on to lead the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks while the rest of the world was enmeshed in World War I. With its richly detailed evocation of the land and the people Lawrence passionately believed in, its incisive portraits of key players, from Faisal ibn Hussein, the future Hashemite king of Syria and Iraq, to General Sir Edmund Allenby and other members of the British imperial forces, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an indispensible primary historical source. It helps us to understand today’s Middle East, while giving us thrilling accounts of military exploits (including the  liberation of Aqaba and Damascus), clandestine activities, and human foibles.

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A History of Zionism - Walter Laqueur Cover Art

A History of Zionism

A History of Zionism From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel by Walter Laqueur

From one of the most distinguished historians of our time comes the definitive general history of the Zionist movement.

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Lebanon - William Harris Cover Art

Lebanon

Lebanon A History, 600 - 2011 by William Harris

In this impressive synthesis, William Harris narrates the history of the sectarian communities of Mount Lebanon and its vicinity. He offers a fresh perspective on the antecedents of modern multi-communal Lebanon, tracing the consolidation of Lebanon's Christian, Muslim, and Islamic derived sects from their origins between the sixth and eleventh centuries. The identities of Maronite Christians, Twelver Shia Muslims, and Druze, the mountain communities, developed alongside assertions of local chiefs under external powers from the Umayyads to the Ottomans. The chiefs began interacting in a common arena when Druze lord Fakhr al-Din Ma'n achieved domination of the mountain within the Ottoman imperial framework in the early seventeenth century. Harris knits together the subsequent interplay of the elite under the Sunni Muslim Shihab relatives of the Ma'ns after 1697 with demographic instability as Maronites overtook Shia as the largest community and expanded into Druze districts. By the 1840s many Maronites conceived the common arena as their patrimony. Maronite/Druze conflict ensued. Modern Lebanon arose out of European and Ottoman intervention in the 1860s to secure sectarian peace in a special province. In 1920, after the Ottoman collapse, France and the Maronites enlarged the province into the modern country, with a pluralism of communal minorities headed by Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims. The book considers the flowering of this pluralism in the mid-twentieth century, and the strains of new demographic shifts and of social resentment in an open economy. External intrusions after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war rendered Lebanon's contradictions unmanageable and the country fell apart. Harris contends that Lebanon has not found a new equilibrium and has not transcended its sects. In the early twenty-first century there is an uneasy duality: Shia have largely recovered the weight they possessed in the sixteenth century, but Christians, Sunnis, and Druze are two-thirds of the country. This book offers readers a clear understanding of how modern Lebanon acquired its precarious social intricacy and its singular political character.

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The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East - Michael Provence Cover Art

The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East

The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael Provence

The modern Middle East emerged out of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, when Britain and France partitioned the Ottoman Arab lands into several new colonial states. The following period was a charged and transformative time of unrest. Insurgent leaders, trained in Ottoman military tactics and with everything to lose from the fall of the Empire, challenged the mandatory powers in a number of armed revolts. This is a study of this crucial period in Middle Eastern history, tracing the period through popular political movements and the experience of colonial rule. In doing so, Provence emphasises the continuity between the late Ottoman and Colonial era, explaining how national identities emerged, and how the seeds were sown for many of the conflicts which have defined the Middle East in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This is a valuable read for students of Middle Eastern history and politics.

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The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth - Andreas Malm Cover Art

The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth

The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth by Andreas Malm

Malm unearths the shared roots of colonial adventurism in Palestine and fossil fuelled warfare. Israel’s pulverization of Gaza since October 7, 2023 is not only a humanitarian crisis, but an environmental catastrophe. Far from the first event of its kind, the devastation Israel has inflicted on Palestine since October 2023 has merely ushered in a new phase in a long history of colonization and extraction that reaches back to the nineteenth century. In this urgent pamphlet, Andreas Malm argues that a true understanding of the present crisis requires a longue durée analysis of Palestine's subjugation to fossil empire. Returning to the British empire’s first use of steam-power in war, in which it destroyed the Palestinian city of Akka, Malm traces the development of Britain’s fossil empire and shows how this enduring commitment to fossil energy continues to drive Western support for the destruction of Palestine today.

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Il divano di Istanbul - Alessandro Barbero Cover Art

Il divano di Istanbul

Il divano di Istanbul by Alessandro Barbero

L'impero Ottomano. Un impero immenso, bellicoso e dispotico, un regime tirannico; eppure una straordinaria invenzione di governo multietnico e multinazionale a cui alcuni in Occidente guardarono addirittura come a una desiderabile alternativa.

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Intoxicating Zion - Haggai Ram Cover Art

Intoxicating Zion

Intoxicating Zion A Social History of Hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel by Haggai Ram

"Masterfully illuminates the social and cultural fissures left by colonialism in the Levant as hashish trade transgressed new national borders." —Paul Gootenberg, Stony Brook University, author of  Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug   When European powers carved political borders across the Middle East following World War I, a curious event in the international drug trade occurred: Palestine became the most important hashish waystation in the region and a thriving market for consumption. British and French colonial authorities utterly failed to control the illicit trade, raising questions about the legitimacy of their mandatory regimes. The creation of the Israeli state, too, had little effect to curb illicit trade. By the 1960s, drug trade had become a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and drug use widespread.  Intoxicating Zion  is the first book to tell the story of hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel. Trafficking, use, and regulation; race, gender, and class; colonialism and nation-building all weave together in Haggai Ram's social history of the drug from the 1920s to the aftermath of the 1967 War. The hashish trade encompassed smugglers, international gangs, residents, law enforcers, and political actors, and Ram traces these flows through the interconnected realms of cross-border politics, economics, and culture. Hashish use was and is a marker of belonging and difference, and its history offers readers a unique glimpse into how the modern Middle East was made.   "A fascinating and revelatory tale." —Ted R. Swedenburg, University of Arkansas "[A] singular, original work of research." —Yossi Melman, Haaretz "Informative, though (pun intended) sobering, this book is suited for academic libraries." —Hallie Cantor,  Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews

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Blowing up the Danube - Bernard O'Connor Cover Art

Blowing up the Danube

Blowing up the Danube British intrigue in the Balkans during the Second World War by Bernard O'Connor

After years of economic depression, when Adolph Hitler came to power in the 1930s, he re-armed Germany’s army, navy and air force. French and Polish intelligence requested British assistance in restricting German imports of oil from Romanian oilfields. They wanted help to sabotage the barge ‘tankers’ carrying oil up the River Danube to Austria and then down the River Rhine to Germany’s industrial heartland. Reducing oil reaching German refineries would mean less fuel for their warplanes, their submarines, warships, tanks, trucks and military transport. The British Ministry of Economic Warfare devised plans for Section D, the sabotage organisation of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), to blow up the cliffs of the Iron Gates gorge, and block the Danube by sinking barges carrying cement and scrap iron. Bernard O’Connor’s ’Blowing up the Danube’, is a documentary history which includes declassified correspondence between the Foreign Office, SIS, the War Office, Section D, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force operating in the Mediterranean and, from July 1940, the Special Operations Executive (a top secret subversive organisation ordered by Winston Churchill to ‘set Europe ablaze by sabotage.’ It also uses contemporary newspaper reports and post-war historical research, biographies and autobiographies to provide a day-to-day account of the successes and failures of British intrigues in the Balkans during the Second World War.

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The Hundred Years' War on Palestine - Rashid Khalidi Cover Art

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective. Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists— The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process. Original, authoritative, and important , The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.

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Fall of Civilizations - Paul Cooper Cover Art

Fall of Civilizations

Fall of Civilizations Stories of Greatness and Decline by Paul Cooper

"A treasure trove of myths and terror… Atmospheric as hell… Immersive."―The Times Based on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse. Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in West Africa; from Byzantium to the Maya, Inca and Aztecs of Central America; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui. With meticulous research, breathtaking insight and dazzling, empathic storytelling, historian and novelist Paul Cooper evokes the majesty and jeopardy of these ancient civilizations, and asks what it might have felt like for a person alive at the time to witness the end of their world.

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My Promised Land - Ari Shavit Cover Art

My Promised Land

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “ A deeply reported, deeply personal history of Zionism and Israel that does something few books even attempt: It balances the strength and weakness, the idealism and the brutality, the hope and the horror, that has always been at Zionism’s heart.”—Ezra Klein, The New York Times Winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Ari Shavit’s riveting work, now updated with new material, draws on historical documents, interviews, and private diaries and letters, as well as his own family’s story, to create a narrative larger than the sum of its parts: both personal and of profound historical dimension. As he examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, Shavit asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can it survive?    Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is facing , My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. Shavit’s analysis of Israeli history provides a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.

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Jerusalem - Simon Sebag Montefiore Cover Art

Jerusalem

Jerusalem The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore

FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED FOR 2024 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL BOOK OF THE YEAR "Spectacular. [Montefiore] really tells you what the life of the city has been like and why it means so much. You fall in love with the city. It’s a treasure. It’s a wonderful book." —Bill Clinton "Impossible to put down. . . . Vastly enjoyable." — The New York Times Book Review The history of Jerusalem is the story of the world: Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths. The Holy City and Holy Land are the battlefields for today’s multifaceted conflicts and, for believers, the setting for Judgment Day and the Apocalypse. How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the “center of the world” and now the key to peace in the Middle East? Why is the Holy Land so important not just to the region and its many new players, but to the wider world too? Drawing on new archives and a lifetime’s study, Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city and turbulent region through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the kings, empresses, amirs, sultans, caliphs, presidents, autocrats, imperialists and warlords, poets, prophets, saints and rabbis who created, destroyed, chronicled, and believed in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. A classic of modern literature, this is not only the epic story of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism, co-existence, power and myth, but also a freshly updated, carefully balanced history of the Middle East, from King David to the new powers of the twenty-first century, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict. This is how today’s Middle East was forged, how the Holy Land became sacred and how Jerusalem became Jerusalem—the only city that exists twice—in heaven and on earth. “Magnificent. . . . Montefiore barely misses a trick or a character intaking us through the city’s story with compelling, breathless tension.” — The Wall Street Journal

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The Story of the Jews, - Simon Schama Cover Art

The Story of the Jews,

The Story of the Jews, Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD by Simon Schama

In this magnificently illustrated cultural history—the tie-in to the PBS and BBC series The Story of the Jews —Simon Schama details the story of the Jewish experience, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492. It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds. This epic of world history spans the millennia and the continents—from India to Andalusia and from the bazaars of Cairo to the streets of Oxford. It takes you to unimagined places: to a Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia; a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings; the palm groves of the Jewish dead in the Roman catacombs. And its voices ring loud and clear, from the severities and ecstasies of the Bible writers to the love poems of wine bibbers in a garden in Muslim Spain. In The Story of the Jews, the Talmud burns in the streets of Paris, massed gibbets hang over the streets of medieval London, a Majorcan illuminator redraws the world; candles are lit, chants are sung, mules are packed, ships loaded with spice and gems founder at sea. And a great story of Jewish history unfolds. Not—as often imagined—of a culture apart, but of a Jewish world immersed in and imprinted by the peoples among whom they have dwelled, from the Egyptians to the Greeks, from the Arabs to the Christians. Which makes the story of the Jews everyone’s story, too. Ancient and Medieval History: From a surprising Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia to the burning of the Talmud in the streets of Paris. Art and Culture: Discover a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings, love poems from Muslim Spain, and the work of a Majorcan illuminator who redrew the world. Stories of Resilience: An epic of endurance against destruction, of joy amidst grief, and the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds. Companion to the PBS/BBC Series: Go deeper into the magnificently illustrated cultural history seen in the acclaimed documentary series, The Story of the Jews .

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Dereliction of Duty - H. R. McMaster Cover Art

Dereliction of Duty

Dereliction of Duty Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff by H. R. McMaster

"The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C."  —H. R. McMaster (from the Conclusion) Dereliction Of Duty is a stunning analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out and disastrous war in Southeast Asia. Fully and convincingly researched, based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations and decisions, it is the only book that fully re-creates what happened and why. McMaster pinpoints the policies and decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the published theories of other historians and excuses of the participants. A page-turning narrative, Dereliction Of Duty focuses on a fascinating cast of characters: President Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, General Maxwell Taylor, McGeorge Bundy and other top aides who deliberately deceived the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Congress and the American public. McMaster’s only book, Dereliction of Duty is an explosive and authoritative new look at the controversy concerning the United States involvement in Vietnam.

49

A Peace to End All Peace - David Fromkin Cover Art

A Peace to End All Peace

A Peace to End All Peace The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin

Published with a new afterword from the author—the classic, bestselling account of how the modern Middle East was created The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts—including the hostilities between Arabs and Israelis, and the violent challenges posed by Iraq's competing sects—are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. In A Peace to End All Peace , David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time, showing how the choices narrowed and the Middle East began along a road that led to the conflicts and confusion that continue to this day. A new afterword from Fromkin, written for this edition of the book, includes his invaluable, updated assessment of this region of the world today, and on what this history has to teach us.

50

Mossad - Michael Bar-Zohar & Nissim Mishal Cover Art

Mossad

Mossad The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service by Michael Bar-Zohar & Nissim Mishal

"This book tells what should have been known and isn't—that Israel's hidden force is as formidable as its recognized physical strength." — Israeli President Shimon Peres For decades, Israel's renowned security arm, the Mossad, has been widely recognized as the best intelligence service in the world. In Mossad , authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal take us behind the closed curtain with riveting, eye-opening, boots-on-the-ground accounts of the most dangerous, most crucial missions in the agency's 60-year history. These are real Mission: Impossible true stories brimming with high-octane action—from the breathtaking capture of Nazi executioner Adolph Eichmann to the recent elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists. Anyone who is fascinated by the world of international espionage, intelligence, and covert "Black-Ops" warfare will find this electrifying narrative non-fiction reading. Mossad unveils the defining and most dangerous operations, unknown heroes, and mysterious agents of the world's most respected—and most enigmatic—Israeli secret service. Here are the thrilling true spy stories of daring top secret missions, including the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the eradication of Black September, the destruction of the Syrian nuclear facility, and the elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists. Drawn from intensive research and exclusive interviews with Israeli leaders and Mossad operatives, this riveting history brings to life the brave agents, deadly villains, and major battlegrounds that have shaped Israel and the world at large for more than sixty years. This definitive account of the Israeli secret service reveals: Top Secret Missions: Go inside the breathtaking capture of Nazi executioner Adolf Eichmann, the country-by-country hunt for the masterminds of Black September, and the daring eradication of the Syrian nuclear facility. Shadow War with Iran: Uncover the story behind the elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists and the sabotage of enemy nuclear programs through fearless covert operations. Unprecedented Access: Drawn from intensive, confidential research and exclusive interviews with the brave agents, Mossad operatives, and Israeli leaders who were actually there. High-Stakes Espionage: Discover the real-life stories of clandestine operatives, deadly villains, and mysterious agents who shaped the fate of Israel and the modern Middle East.

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