Middle East
Explore the Middle East Through the Pages of Books!
The Middle East is a fascinating region, full of ancient history, vibrant cultures and complex conflicts. Whether you want to understand the roots of civilizations, unravel the mysteries of religions or delve into the political issues that shape the world today, books about the Middle East are your passport to this unique journey.
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Why read about the Middle East?
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Ancient history: Discover the empires, dynasties and events that defined one of the most important regions in the world.
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Rich and diverse culture: Explore the traditions, art, music and literature that have enchanted for centuries.
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Religions and spirituality: Understand the role of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and other faiths in shaping the region's identity.
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Current conflicts and challenges: Understand the geopolitical complexities that impact not only the Middle East, but the entire world.
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Who are these books for?
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Students and researchers: Reliable and in-depth sources for your studies.
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Travelers and the curious: Prepare for an unforgettable trip or explore the region through the pages of these books.
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History and culture lovers: Immerse yourself in rich and engaging narratives that bring the Middle East closer to you.
Transform your view of the world!
Each book is a window into a universe of wisdom, challenges and discoveries. Let yourself be carried away by stories that will broaden your horizons and enrich your understanding of one of the most intriguing regions on the planet.
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The Middle East is waiting for you. Start your journey today! Choose your next book and embark on a literary adventure.
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Below are some of the great classics of books about the Middle East. Those interested can purchase them on Amazon. Simply click on the “Buy on Amazon” button below the book cover and you will be directed to the purchase page.
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THE ARABS: A HISTORY
English | Eugene Rogan (author)
The internationally bestselling definitive history of the Arab world, named a best book of the year by the Financial Times, the Economist, and the Atlantic.
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In this groundbreaking and comprehensive account of the Middle East, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan draws extensively on five centuries of Arab sources to place the Arab experience in its crucial historical context. This landmark book covers the Arab world from North Africa through the Arabian Peninsula, exploring every facet of modern Arab history. Starting with the Ottoman conquests of the sixteenth century, Rogan follows the story of the Arabs through the era of European imperialism and the superpower rivalries of the Cold War to the present age of American hegemony, charting the evolution of Arab identity and the struggles for national sovereignty throughout.
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The Arabs is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the modern Arab world
Pages
608
Language
English
Publisher
Basic Books
Publication Date
November 7, 2017
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
English | Ranulph Fiennes (author)
A vivid and illuminating biography of the famed T. E. Lawrence, written by "the world's greatest living explorer," Ranulph Fiennes.
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As a young British intelligence officer in Cairo, archaeologist and adventurer Thomas Edward Lawrence became involved in the 1916 Arab Revolt, fighting alongside rebel forces against the Ottomans. He made a legendary 300-mile journey through blistering heat; he wore Arab dress; and he strongly identified with the people in his adopted lands.
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By 1918, he had a £20,000 price on his head. ​Despite readers' long fascination in his story, Lawrence - one of history's most enigmatic adventurers - has long remained unknowable, But with in-depth knowledge of what it takes to venture into the unknown, this authoritative biography from famed explorer Ranulph Fiennes at last brings enthralling insight and clarity to this remarkable life.
Pages
253
Language
English
Publisher
Frontline Books
Publication Date
June 30, 2024
SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM
English | T.E. Lawrence (author)
T.E. Lawrence’s peerless masterpiece, the “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”, is his account of his experiences and leadership of the ‘Arab revolt’ agains the Ottoman Empire in 1916-18, during the First World War. The events of the book were popularised by the famous 1962 film "Lawrence of Arabia".
As well as providing a truly unique insight into the lifestyle and customs of the Beduin Arabs, the “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” also became renowned as the first true guide to pursuing ‘asymmetric’ or ‘guerrilla’ warfare with light, fast moving forces against a much more powerful opponent, and has been studied in military academies ever since it was written.
This unabridged ebook contains over a dozen original photographs and illustrations of Lawrence and his contemporaries in the Arab revolt.
Pages
359
Language
English
Publisher
eBook Kindle
Publication Date
June 24, 2013
A HISTORY OF JERUSALEM: ONE CITY, THREE FAITHS
English | Karen Armstrong (author)
Due to the level of detail, maps are best viewed on a tablet. ‘A History of Jerusalem should be read, not only by travellers and potential travellers in Jerusalem, but by all of us.’ Stephen Tummin, Daily Telegraph. Jerusalem has probably cast more of a spell over the human imagination than any other city in the world.
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Held by believers to contain the site where Abraham offered up Isaac, the place of the crucifixion of Christ and the rock from which the prophet Muhammed ascended to heaven, Jerusalem has been celebrated and revered for centuries by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Such is the symbolic power of this ancient city that its future status poses a major obstacle to a comprehensive regional peace in the Middle East.
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In this comprehensive and elegantly written work, Karen Armstrong traces the turbulent history of the city from the prehistoric era to the present day.
Pages
638
Language
English
Publisher
Harper Perennial
Publication Date
January 30, 2014
JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY
English | Simon Sebag Montefiore (author)
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.
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“Magnificent. . . . Montefiore barely misses a trick or a character intaking us through the city’s story with compelling, breathless tension.” — The Wall Street Journal.
Pages
964
Language
English
Publisher
Vintage
Publication Date
October 25, 2011
SIX DAYS OF WAR
English | Michael B. Oren (author)
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.
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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.
Pages
456
Language
English
Publisher
Presidio Press
Publication Date
June 6, 2017
IRAN: A MODERN HISTORY
English | Abbas Amanat (author)
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.
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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.
Pages
1008
Language
English
Yale University Press
Publication Date September 17, 2019
THE IRON WALL: ISRAEL AND THE ARAB WORLD
English | Avi Shlaim (author)
Avi Shlaim's The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World is the outstanding book on Israeli foreign policy, now thoroughly updated with a new preface and chapters on Israel's most recent leaders.
In the 1920s, hard-line Zionists developed the doctrine of the 'Iron Wall': negotiations with the Arabs must always be from a position of military strength, and only when sufficiently strong Israel would be able to make peace with her Arab neighbours.
This doctrine, argues Avi Shlaim, became central to Israeli policy; dissenters were marginalized and many opportunities to reconcile with Palestinian Arabs were lost. Drawing on a great deal of new material and interviews with many key participants, Shlaim places Israel's political and military actions under and uncompromising lens.​ His analysis will bring scant comfort to partisans on both sides, but it will be required reading for anyone interested in this fascinating and troubled region of the world.
Pages
903
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin
Publication Date
July 30, 2015
FROM BEIRUT TO JERUSALEM
English | Thomas L. Friedman (author)
This revised edition of the number-one bestseller and winner of the 1989 National Book Award includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's new, updated epilogue.
One of the most thought-provoking books ever written about the Middle East, From Beirut to Jerusalem remains vital to our understanding of this complex and volatile region of the world. Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman drew upon his ten years of experience reporting from Lebanon and Israel to write this now-classic work of journalism. In a new afterword, he updates his journey with a fresh discussion of the Arab Awakenings and how they are transforming the area, and a new look at relations between Israelis and Palestinians, and Israelis and Israelis.
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Rich with anecdote, history, analysis, and autobiography, From Beirut to Jerusalem will continue to shape how we see the Middle East for many years to come.
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"If you're only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it." - Seymour M. Hersh.
Pages
572
Language
English
Farrar, Straus
and Giroux
Publication Date
April 1, 2010
THE LOOMING TOWER
English | Lawrence Wright (author)
THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR NEW TV SERIES STARRING JEFF DANIELS AND ALEC BALDWIN.
This is the definitive account of the run-up to 9/11: from the man who lit the spark of radical Islam in 1948, to those who built up a terror network, and to the FBI agent whose warnings of 'something big' coming were ignored until the Twin Towers fell.
'The Looming Tower is a thriller. And it's a tragedy, too' The New York Times.
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'The most detailed (and thrilling) account we have of the events that led to the destruction of the Twin Towers' Observer, Books of the Year.
'Possibly the best book yet written on the rise of al-Qaeda ... beautifully written and wonderfully compelling' William Dalrymple.
'We meet some formidable schemers and killers ... fabulists crazed with blood and death' Martin Amis.
Pages
576
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin
Publication Date
March 22, 2018
BLACK FLAGS: THE RISE OF ISIS
English | Joby Warrick (author)
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE - In a thrilling dramatic narrative, the award-winning reporter traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents.
"Gripping. . . . For readers interested in the roots of the Islamic State and the evil genius of its godfather, there is no better book to begin with than Black Flags" - Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times.
Drawing on unique high-level access to CIA and Jordanian sources, Warrick weaves gripping, moment-by-moment operational details with the perspectives of diplomats and spies, generals and heads of state, many of whom foresaw a menace worse than al Qaeda and tried desperately to stop it. Black Flags is a brilliant and definitive history that reveals the long arc of today's most dangerous extremist threat.
Pages
384
Language
English
Publisher
Anchor Books
Publication Date
September 6, 2016