Rating: 
Summary: "Very Informative--More Than You'd Ever Want to Know!"
Review: It was bound to happen--an idiot's guide to the Middle East! As a theologian and teacher, and with Middle Eastern tensions flaring, I decided to check this one out, and see if Bard had done his research. He had.While there is an unbiased pro-Israeli slant to the book, there is more information than you could probably digest in a year. Bard (rightly) traces the conflict back to Abraham, and follows the history factually and thoroughly. He discusses the Koran, the Bible, Mohammed, Arab oil, Jewish nationalism (1948), as well as Zionistic and Palestinian conflicts up to (nearly) current times. Virtually every cogent subject dealing with the conflict is discussed in a (reasonably) easy-to-read format. I learned much from this book, and despite the rhetoric against it in some of these reviews due to its Jewish bias, the work is well worth the reading if you REALLY want to know all the material packed within its pages...and there's an awful lot there.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing..
Review: I read this book to get some facts about the situation over there in order for me to make my own decision with respect to who is at fault for this conflict. Unfortunately, I got a very pro-Israeli account of the events that occurred and a feeling that the authors thought the Palestinians were sub-human. I am very disappointed in the "Idiot's Guide" publishers for saying that this book is an unbiased account of the Middle East conflict.
Rating: 
Summary: Caveat emptor
Review: I bought this book because I thought it might be a good candidate as a text for a college course I'm teaching next fall. What I was looking for was a straightforward account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that laid the bare essentials on the table so that novices could get a good overview. To a certain extent, Bard does this. In keeping with the "Idiot's Guide" format, he tries his best to reduce huge gobs of information into digestible bites, and he frequently manages to pull it off. But people thinking about buying this book need to be aware that there's a clear pro-Israeli bias reflected in it. Again and again the Palestinians are portrayed as the culprits who break peace agreements and kill Israelis, while the Israelis are viewed for the most part as patient but beleaguered heroes. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not pro-Palestinian in this conflict. The whole mess in the Middle East is just too complicated to take sides in a knee-jerk fashion. There is right on both sides, but both sides also have committed acts that are vile and shameful. My problem with Bard's book isn't, then, that he defends a slant with which I disagree. My problem is that his book isn't the balanced account the publisher leads you to think it is. But since both Bard and a close technical reviewer of the book are associates with pro-Israeli groups, I suppose the slant is predictable. I won't be using this as one of my texts in the fall. But it's still worth taking a quick look at by anyone interested in the Middle East conflict--just so long as you keep in mind that Bard is spinning as well as describing.
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, but, where's the analysis?
Review: I agree, first of all, with reviewers who find it scandalous that Alpha Books would present an "objective" Idiot's book without anywhere stating the author's clear pro-Israeli bias. It took me a few chapters before I realized it, and I suspect some readers will never realize it. That said, on balance I have come to agree with the author's contention that the Palestinians and Arab countries have consistently and repeatedly negotiated in bad faith with Israel, and that the Palestinians, for the most part, are fundamentally irrational. My burning question throughout the book was: "Why?" Unfortunately, the author never provided any discussion about this and other core issues. Which leads to my second major criticism of the book. It's too much of a stream of names, dates, and incidents, most of which I'll probably forget within a few weeks. The "analysis" of each incident mostly consists of legalistic "who started it" and "who was right" types of things, which in the end accumulate into a giant defensive argument about why Isreal is the longsuffering victim. I guess that is as deeply as Mr. Bard likes to think about it. My $.02 about the conflict is that it really should be seen as a case of _class conflict_ more than a conflict of religion, race, or territorial ambition. Like the Mexican laborers in the U.S., Palestinians get the crummier jobs, and little hope of elevating their status, and that makes many of these Palestinians blindingly angry. I must admit, though, that I learned a lot from the book!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, informative, extremely biased
Review: I came to Amazon to order books by Said and Netanyahu to get both sides of the Israel/Palestine question, and happened to notice this one. I figured a book in this series would be a simplified, entertaining, unbiased summary of historical facts, so it would act as kind of a "referee" for the other two books. Well, I was right on one count - it's entertaining (sometimes unintentionally so!) It's organized to be an easy read in spite of the wealth of detail included - I found it very educational. However, the author makes no attempt to hide his extreme pro-Israel, anti-Arab bias. It's more like an extended Op-Ed piece than a "Guide." ... However, that said, if one is aware of the bias (and it's impossible not to be), it's a user-friendly summary of (one version of) history and issues. It just needs to be balanced with propaganda from the other side.
Rating:
Summary: Warning! Not the objective presentation you would expect.
Review: Admit it, those of us who aren't Arabs, who aren't Jewish, are just trying to figure out if one of the groups can be considered the "bad guy." Both sides can seem like terrorists to us, even if one of the sides is wearing official military garb. As a humanitarian searching for the "truth," the facts, and only the facts, I realized after three chapters into this book that I was reading bias in the guise of objectivity. It is subtle, but in no uncertain terms it should be titled "Idiot's Guide from a Jewish/Israeli perspective." The author is very active in Jewish causes, and for those of you who care, he worked on G. Bush Senior's election campaign (this from "about the Author"). Read the book, get a few more facts so you can be a part of that break-room conversation. Each side should be heard, but be ashamed of yourself if this is the last book you read on the subject.
Rating: 
Summary: At last, an historically accurate book on the Middle East
Review: Mitchell Bard presents the roots of conflict between the Arabs and Jews, and follows the historical record through to the present time. It is an easy to read, non-pedantic and well annotated book. He gives a full non-judgemental exposition of the facts, and permits the readers to form their own opinions.I became so engrossed in the reading that I had to fight my impulses to continue reading, rather than moving on to other activities.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, balanced, handy
Review: I enojoyed the sophisticated way such a complex subject was presented, in a manageable, balanced fashion. Facts were useful, graphics were eye-catcing.. I particularly enjoyed historic photographs which enlivened the prose and, for the more curious, there are valuable time
lines and an excellent glossary. Any doubts about the seriousness of Bard's research were dispelled by the 11-page
bibliography of books and Web sites which complement the guide.... Anyone interested in the subject will learn alot and will enjoy doing it with The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict
Rating:
Summary: Straightfoward rhetoric without all the emotions
Review: Very factual. While Jews and Arabs each have their own irreconciable views of who is right and wrong on the issue of Palestinian suffering and Israeli statehood, books such as this point out the facts that can allow others to decide for themselves who is right and wrong about each issue in the conflict.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate
Review: As a former journalist, I undertook long ago to research the history of the Middle East, from both Arab and Israeli perspectives. This book provides a backbone, chock full of events and places referred to elsewhere in more depth. It is also an excellent resource for readers wanting only one book on the subject. It provides a superb outline of the conflict's contours and history, beginning with the Israelites, and continuing through 1948 until the recent past--and will educate even the well educated. Central to that history, as the book shows, has been a pan-Arab policy of non-negotiation with the Jewish state. As the Bards note, Arabs rejected the Peel Commission's proposed partition in 1936 and the UN partition of 1947. Each would have created a second Palestinian Arab state (the first being Jordan) alongside Israel. But within 24 hours of Israel's 1948 declaration of statehood, 7 Arab states invaded, openly declaring plans for a "war of annihilation" to be remembered "like the Crusades." Israel obtained no assistance from Western powers in that war. The book shows that the Arabs did. Israel barely won, and lost 6,373 casualties in the process--nearly 1% of her population of 650,000, proportionately equal to twice US losses in World War II. On an absolute basis, Arab losses were about half as high. The book also outlines how this pattern repeated over the next 50 years. The Israel-Egypt and Israel-Jordan peace accords brought some calm, for example, but those treaties did not eliminate the problem. The principal of non-negotiation remains a pillar of the Fateh constitution, which still calls for "Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence." After reading this fair, balanced and solid piece of reporting, you will have a firm grasp of why the conflict has proved so frustratingly intractable. Alyssa A. Lappen
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