 | |
 View Larger |
The Everything Middle East Book: The Nations, Their Histories, and Their Conflicts (Everything Series) By Jacob M. Fellure ( Adams Media Corporation )
Release Date: 2004-07
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $14.95
| |
|
|
Product Description
With the continuing flurry of news concerning the Middle East, there is a great need for an easy-to-follow reference to the region and its people. The Everything® Middle East Book is an up-to-date guide to to the rich history, heritage, and cultures of the area of the world known as the "cradle of civilization." Designed with the average Westerner in mind, this compelling book takes an objective look at the history of the Middle East as a means for providing insights into the long history of discord that continues today. Chapters cover the ethnicities and languages, the politics of religion, and the origins of Islamic militancy. This authoritative and objective work explains: · The countries and geography of the Middle East
· The first civilizations and the rise of empires
· Early Islam and the lasting effects of European colonization
· The roots of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict
· America’s war against terrorism and Iraq Packed with straightforward information and fascinating insights, The Everything® Middle East Book is a must-read for anyone interested in following the headlines.
|
|
 The Everything Midele East Book ( nszy9 )
More up to date than the Dummies Guide to the Middle East. Very informative.
|
Finally Some Level Headed Good Information!
Wow! I have read many books on Israel and the Middle East, but I have never found one to be so open minded, level headed, factual, and user friendly. It is obvious Jacob M. Fellure has a genuine desire to see western people educated about this misunderstood region.
Though extremists from the right and left may try to make their opinions heard through propaganda and ignorant stereotyping, this book takes a productive middle ground, allowing the reader to make up their own mind on issues such as the WAR IN IRAQ and the ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to begin to understand the MIDDLE EAST. Don't be confused and manipulated by those who want to sell books through sensationalism or desire to propel their own radical views. Pick up the EVERYTHING MIDDLE EAST BOOK to get the real scoop!
|
A good basic survey in an easy to read format ( wwatson40 )
This is a good basic survey in an easy to read format recommended for the general reader, who is not well-informed on Middle East issues. It is impossible to find any text on the Middle East which doesn't illicit strong feelings one way or another. I do feel the author has tried to be fair to all sides. Those who contend the author is biased in one direction or another are themselves most likely a partisan for one faction or the other. I know of few books written for the general reader that are more balanced in their approach. Being written more on the high school level, I would not use them in the courses I teach on the Middle East, but they would be ideal for those outside the academic setting.
|
 Not very helpful ( jillmalter )
I picked up this book with great curiosity: I know quite a bit about the history of Israel. Would this book discuss it? Would it be reasonably accurate? Well, it did discuss it, and it was not accurate.
Oh, it mentioned the fact that there was a Mandate in the region. But it explained that the land had been promised to two different peoples. Um, I wonder which two? Maybe the Byzantines and the Mongols? No, it turned out to be the Jews, given that Jerusalem was, after all, their capital and even in 1914 had a big Jewish majority. And the Arabs, who had a vast Empire.
Now, in reality, whether this promise was made or not, the Arabs were land-rich with or without little Israel. And the Jews were land-poor whether they were asked to fit millions of people into a few thousand square miles or permitted to live on even less land than that.
But this book implied that the Arabs and Jews were fighting over the same land. That we all had to forget the millions of square miles of Arab land. That was already spoken for. And that we had to worry only about Jewish land, all of which was disputed! And that allowing the Jews to have any land was a crime against the Arab people (but not allowing the Jews to have any land was unfair to the Jews... that was why the situation was so tough).
However, all that is simply a falsehood. It is unfair to you to let a criminal steal your property. It is not unfair to the criminal to let you keep your property. And in the case of Israel, the Jews bought land at high prices while their Arab opponents demanded the right to steal it back. That is one thing this book ought to have made clear but did not.
The book explains that at the end of World War Two, the Jews "created a homeland." What a choice of words! That region was the Jewish homeland since before World War Two. For years before. Actually, millenia, if I am not mistaken. Anyway, Fellure implies that this "homeland" was "created" by unfairly taking land from the People there, 750,000 of whom were made homeless. Um, weren't there several hundred thousand Jews in Arab lands that were not busy trying to destroy their nations who were simply expelled from Arab lands? I didn't seem to see much about that in this book! In any case, it is more than a bit arbitrary to focus exclusively on the Arabs who left their homes, during a war that they started, and blame the Jews for their present plight over fifty years later.
It gets worse. After all, there has to be some mention of the Six-day war. In this book, it seems that no one knows who started it. Fellure mentions that some say one thing, some say another. Yes, but there are excellent histories of this war. The author owes it to us to tell the truth, not lies. And he didn't do that.
I guess the final straw was the stuff about UN resolution 242. While it says that Israel has to withdraw from territories as part of a final peace, Israel certainly did that when it withdrew from all of Sinai. The West Bank is disputed land. So is Gaza. But Fellure comes right out and says that the West Bank and Gaza are occupied territroy from which Israel must withdraw, according to this resolution. It looks like a little detail. But it is a repeat of a Big Lie, which is part of an excuse for ethnically cleansing Jews from their homes in the West Bank. And it isn't funny. It doesn't give me much confidence in the rest of the book, by the way!
After reading this book, I thought for quite a while about it. Why was the book so bad? Why did it parrot some outrageous untruths about Israel? Moreover, why is it that these lies tend to be defended with great passion while truth often tends to be defended weakly if at all?
I think part of the answer is power. That is, suppose you stand up in front of powerful people and proclaim that two plus two is four. And that you will stake your life, your fortune, your honor, and your mathematics grade on it! Well, a powerful person may have you killed for saying it. But more likely, the powerful people will shrug and say, "So what? Everyone knows that two plus two is four." You will have accomplished nothing.
On the other hand, suppose you make the same statement, except instead of saying that two plus two is four, you say it is seventy. Not everyone knows that! If you get away with it, you may become famous and powerful! No wonder such outrageous claims are defended so passionately!
The same sort of power is available to those who commit crimes. You accomplish nothing by withdrawing thousands of dollars from your own bank account, quite legally. You accomplish a great deal by robbing a bank and stealing the money. If you get away with it.
What we all have to do is demand honesty in accounts of the Middle East. The reason there is a conflict between the Arabs and the Jews is that some reactionary Arabs can't stand the fact that former dhimmis have been liberated. Since telling the truth won't help matters, the Arab case has been based primarily on terror and lies. And the more we all put up with getting our information from books that repeat such lies, the worse off all people will be.
|
Very informative but has slight liberal slant ( jaiaisrael )
I really like the presentation of this book. it was a ease to read and if your are really interested it kept you from getting bored as much of history is boring. It did have a liberal slant that was quick to criticize the west but simply stated the facts about the middle east and its many problems. He should have criticized Arab tendency to ally with Germany in WW1&2 because of their hatred for the Jews. He should have also criticized their rejection of modernity because of the radicals among them. And their tendency to favor dictatorial governments because anytime any moderate voice arose they saw it as weakness to be toppled not people open to negotiation. And their failure to just migrate to places where their brand of religion is favored instead of always resorting to violence over doctrinal differences.
To my suprise this book revealed alot I did not know about the region and its people. I was suprised to know that there are so many moderate and modern Islamic people and I am angry that we see almost known of them on American news speaking about their cultures and religions. It is as if the American liberal media wants us to be afraid and ignorant of these people. I would love to hear more moderate Islamic voices in our media, but for now you have to seek them out for yourself. This book broke the spell of impatience and misunderstanding I had with the middle-east and helped me see that most of what I have heard has been fear-mongering. The situations in the middle east are very much like what we have gone through in the west and are still going through. They are not so different, it is just how their stories are told here that makes them seem so different from us.
|
|
|
