Hello all,
I will shortly be taking a graduate class about the modern history of the Arab middle east. I am very unfamiliar with this topic and was wondering if anybody had any recommended reading that would be relevant to this subject.
My unfamiliarity with the subject will likely end with me having trouble finding any revisionist thought on the subject (especially in my school's small library); most likely, I would not get much farther than the biblios/footnotes of a few academics I trust without your help!
Podcasts would be awesome as well, as I have a verrry long drive to class!
Books, papers, anything???
Thanks very much in advance,
M
I do, my friend. Freda Utley's Will the Middle East Go West? is an excellent book, as is almost anything by Miss Utley.
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I don't know much about the subject, however you may try http://www.minaret.org/ I recall hearing their director being interviewed on Scott Horton's AntiWar webcast making the case that Islam is compatible with libertarianism.
"Alternatives to Violence in Muslim History" - first file I came accross on their site that looks like it would apply
Why would you need to go looking for some hard to find revisionists? I thought the educational complex in the US is staffed by culturally Marxist liberals or something like that. Shouldn't the modern history of Middle East be one thing they are good on?
Unfortunately the cultural Marxists' revisionist history is so mainstream (even up here in Canada) that I am required, for the sake of clarity, to call any non-left interpretation of history 'revisionist'. Sad story.
As primers I suggest a few books: Daily life in the Medieval Islamic World by James Lindsey.Though it's not so modern, it's good to see how the medieval middle east worked. You may want to read the very short Introducing Islam by Ziauddin Sardar for some decent background on everything Islam (history, modern history, culture, etc) or The Rise of Islam by Matthew S Gordon for some history.
^These books may not be about the Modern middle east but to learn about the modern middle east you may want to look at history before it. I've had some college courses on the modern middle east, and we started out by learning about early Islamic history, and the medieval middle east.
When it comes to actually reading about the modern middle east I would read something on the Ottoman Empire, it's collapse had a strong effect on everything in the middle east. The modern middle east won't make sense at all without learning about the Ottoman Empire. Minaret.org is a great site, but I don't think it would be exactly what your looking for, though it's interesting.
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