Product Description

A brilliant overview of the history and politics of the Middle East over the last two centuries, from Napoleon's assault on Egypt, through the slow decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire, to the painful emergence of modern nations, the Palestinian question and the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. With two new chapters on recent developments in the Middle East. This book will be essential reading for anyone wanting to understand what is perhaps the most crucial and volatile nerve centre of the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167906 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Peter Mansfield was born in 1928 in India. In 1955 he joined the British Foreign Office and went to Lebanon to study Arabic at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies. From 1961 to 1967 he was the Middle East correspondent for the Sunday Times. He became one of Britain's foremost experts on the Middle East. Peter Mansfield died in 1996.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
Lacks references/ citations of sources of evidence that one would expect to find in an authoritative work; therefore not really a scholarly work.
Peter Mansfield's narrative is interesting but where, later in the book, it has been 'revised and updated' by Nicolas Pelham it reads like sunday newspaper journalism.

A thourough and interesting approach Middle Eastern history
This book covers the Middle East since 1800 in an fascinating way. Th reader is drawn into facts and expalnations of the differnt views. Peter Mansfield combines the rare talent of total political and cultural understanding of the MIddle East with great narrative skill. This book is a must have for anyone who wants to better understand the Middle East as it is today.

A Primer worth starting from
There is much to admire and a fair bit to be considered a drawback in Peter Mansfield's sweep of the History of the Middle East.
To fit such a swathe of history into a small 400-page paperback is a bit of an art form in itself. Mansfield has a reasonable overview and a clear love of the Arabs throughout the book though he tries to be even handed throughout. There are obvious lacks and missing pieces throughout and it becomes somewhat eurocentric early on but in the age of empires this was the playground of the European empire hunters and the struggles were played out through many territories. There is also some of the old mechanistic line-through view of history and writing about history which comes through into the book as well. However given that this has to be seen as an overview of a vast stage of events then one can excuse this to a degree.
The latter chapters were written by Pelham and what they lack in grandee like writing of Mansfield they give an alternative to his view and style. A reviewer above called it Sunday-paper journalism but his sections read more like closet exiled academic.
This book tries very hard to give the reader the basis from which to look deeper into the areas that it covers. It raised my awareness generally and makes a good start from which to go on into deeper and more detailed studies. It needs to be regarded as a primer for further work. As a primer it does do a decent job but needs to read with a degree of awareness and not devoured as one. Read with a History of the Arab People and maybe Fisk's writing it points you in the right direction and wets your appetite for further understanding. It also does what all good books do and that is to make you reflect.