The Essential Middle East: A Comprehensive Guide

Rating:
Summary: A Handy Reference
Review: Newly revised and updated, this volume is a handy reference to the people, policies and issues dominating headlines today, but is lamentably short on cultural entries. Hiro, a prolific author and frequent commentor on Middle Eastern and Islamic affairs, focuses in this work on personalities who reached adulthood around the turn of the 20th century, so readers seeking greater historical depth should look elsewhere. Ar-ranged alphabetically, the more than 1050 entries include succinct, straightforward treatments of topics ranging from religious and political ideologies through languages, the oil and gas industry, international agreements and historical places, to profiles of notable people and of every country in the region, defined here as Iran, the countries of the Fertile Crescent, the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.
-KYLE PAKKA