Rating: 
Summary: Required reading
Review: Whether we think of the people that live in the Middle East as friends or enemies (or both), it's pretty certain there's an awful lot we don't know, and therefore, don't understand where they're coming from. While this doesn't excuse a lot of behavior, at least knowing their rationalization will help prevent blind prejudice from taking over. This book does a lot to help reach that goal. Of course, the core of Middle East behavior is Islam. While religion is important in cultures all over the world, there is probably not another land mass of this size on earth where it so totally dominates every facet of the everyday lives of those that live there. This work goes through great lengths to explain how it was formed, and how it has evolved. Much time is spent to try and explain what the original intentions of the faith were, and how it is interpreted today. I would have preferred more time being spent on the 20th century but to be fair, the title does say 2,000 years, and true to this, it does give all those 2,000 years a real workout. We see how relentless cruelty and oppression dominate much of these years, but it is important to note that Western culture was just as barbaric (i.e. the Crusades). We also get to see the influences East and West had upon each other, and how Islam, Christianity, and Judaism interacted. The author ends with a somewhat positive note, showing how progress in rights had been at least a bit achieved in the last hundred years. Unfortunately, the book was finished before the Taliban emerged, which might have altered the his conclusions. What he needs to do next is start a new project, begin with the start of the twentieth century, and produce as lengthy a work on just this period. That would be great reading.
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