| Aden
Insurgency: The Savage War in South Arabia 1962-67 (Hardcover), by Jonathan Walker. Spellmount
(May 1, 2003).
Featuring vivid eyewitness accounts from
combatants, civilians and terrorists alike, a new, riveting and important account of Britain's
last End of Empire conflict. As Cold War tensions escalated, a brutal fight was contested
with the rebel tribes of the wild interior as well as terrorist assassins in the back
streets of Aden. Revealing the truth behind the 'Mad Mitch' legend and his clash with the
high command and the successes and disasters of early SAS operation, this is one of the
very few modern studies to examine Britain's clandestine war in neighboring Yemen
alongside her conflict in South America. Information
Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a
Troubled Age (Paperback), by R. Stephen Humphreys. University of California Press; 2
edition (November 16, 2005).
R. Steven Humphreys reveals the rich
complexity of the Middle East--a region that stretches from Egypt to Afghanistan--in
Between Memory and Desire, a set of ten "interlocking essays" that take on
everything from economic growth and nationalist movements to Islamic human rights
philosophy. Humphreys has a very clear and concise writing style that makes easily
comprehensible an enormous amount of historical and cultural data with which most Western
readers will be largely unfamiliar. He demolishes many of the mythic images that Americans
have built up around the region and its people, like the "madman" dictator:
"When we look beyond the façade of theater and posturing," Humphreys writes,
"we will almost always discern a hard-headed politician who knows perfectly well how
to set his goals and to craft strategies for achieving them.... The problem for us is not
that the goals of Middle Eastern leaders are impenetrable; most of the time they are quite
transparent. The problem is simply that these goals are not the ones that we want them to
have." Information
Caught in the Middle East: U.S. Policy toward
the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1945-1961 (Hardcover), by Peter L. Hahn. The
University of North Carolina Press (February 27, 2006).
American officials desired--in
principle--to promote Arab-Israeli peace in order to stabilize the region. Yet Hahn shows
how that desire for peace was not always an American priority, as U.S. leaders
consistently gave more weight to their determination to contain the Soviet Union than to
their desire to make peace between Israel and its neighbors. During these critical years
the United States began to supplant Britain as the dominant Western power in the Middle
East, and U.S. leaders found themselves in two notable predicaments. They were unable to
relinquish the responsibilities they had accepted with their new power--even as those
responsibilities became increasingly difficult to fulfill. And they were caught in the
middle of the Arab-Israeli conflict, unable to resolve a dispute that would continue to
generate instability for years to come. Information
Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social
and Cultural Origins of Egypt's 'Urabi Movement (Paperback), by Juan R I Cole. American
University in Cairo Press (December 1, 2000).
In this stimulating study, Cole
challenges traditional elite-centered conceptions of the conflict that led to the British
occupation of Egypt in 1882. For a year before the British intervened, Egypt's government
and the country's influential European community had been locked in a struggle with the
nationalist supporters of General Ahmad 'Urabi. Although most Western observers till see
the 'Urabi movement as a 'revolt' of junior military officers with only limited support
among the Egyptian people, Cole maintains hat it was a broadly based social revolution
hardly underway when it was cutt off by the British. While arguing this fresh point of
view, he also proposes a theory of revolutions against informal or neo-colonial empires,
drawing parallels between Egypt in 1882, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and the Islamic
Revolution in modern Iran. Information
Conflict and Insurgency in the Contemporary Middle
East (Middle Eastern Military Studies) (Hardcover), by Barry Rubin. Routledge; 1
edition (February 27, 2009). Information
Inside the Resistance: The Iraqi Insurgency and the
Future of the Middle East (Nation Books) (Hardcover), by Zaki Chehab. Nation Books
(October 26, 2005).
Since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003,
Zaki Chebah has had unique access to numerous groups within the resistance as well as to
leading figures in the tribal groups who define much of Iraqi society. Inside the
Resistance describes the methods of the Iraqi resistance movements (there are many), and
the extent of the involvement of Al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters. This book also
examines how the events of Iraq have affected Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey and Iran.
No journalist is better placed to explain the intricacies of the battle over Iraq and to
write vividly from personal experience about life on the front lines of Tikirt, Mosul and
Fallujah. Using first-hand reportage, interviews with leading figures on all sides of the
conflict, and his insight in Arab sensibilities, Zaki Chebah provides an authoritative and
gripping insight into life in Iraq and his analysis for its future. Information
Iraq's
Insurgency and the Road to Civil Conflict [Two Volumes] (Hardcover), by Anthony H.
Cordesman and Emma R. Davies. Praeger Security International Multi-volume (December 30,
2007).
The war in Iraq has expanded from a
struggle between Coalition forces and the remnants of former regime loyalists to a
multi-faceted conflict involving numerous Sunni groups, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish
nationals, and foreign jihadists. Iraq's Insurgency and the Road to Civil Conflict is
Anthony Cordesman's latest assessment of the Iraqi conflict and documents its entire
evolution, from the history of ethnic tensions through the current U.S. "surge."
He identifies each actor in the arena, analyzes their motivations, and presents a detailed
record of their actions, tactics, and capabilities. Cordesman's exhaustive study, based on
meticulous research, is the most thorough account of the war to date. Beginning with the
consequences of imperial colonialism and touching upon the ethnic tensions throughout
Saddam's regime, Cordesman examines and details the confluence of forces and events that
have paved the way toward Iraq's current civil conflict. He analyzes major turning points,
including elections, economic developments, and key incidents of violence that continue to
shape the war. Finally, he outlines the lessons learned from this history and what can and
cannot be done to stabilize the nation. Information
Losing Iraq: Insurgency and Politics (Hardcover),
by Stephen C. Pelletiere. Praeger Security International General Interest-Cloth (October
30, 2007).
Pelletiere is a former CIA policy analyst
on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, instructor at the US Army War College, and the author of
several previous books, two on the US and oil politics (e.g., America's Oil Wars, CH,
Feb'05, 42-3684). He has earned a reputation for assertive, controversial positions, and,
as in his earlier books, he argues that US involvement in both Iraqi Wars was driven by a
neocon, pro-Zionist, military-industrial cabal with the desire to control oil in the Gulf
regions and to assure high corporate war/reconstruction profits. His litany of the
colossal errors, misjudgments, and calamities of the Bush administration, especially by
Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Bremer, and the neocon coterie, has been well established by others,
but Pelletiere adds several new twists. Most importantly, he deems the Iraqi Baathist
state totalitarian and cruel but legitimate, because Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds were
essentially committed to a unified state for which they have been willing to fight and
die. He contends that the insurgency was not external, but homegrown and
US-inspired....the book is a compendium of interesting tidbits of information. For those
with enough background to separate dross from gold, it is worth reading. Highly
recommended. Information
Oman's
Insurgencies: The Sultanate's Struggle for Supremacy (Hardcover), by J.E. Peterson. Saqi Books
(February 1, 2008).
J.E. Peterson takes a detailed look at
the crises that have tested the mettle of Oman's army and accelerated its development,
surveying its transition from a strictly traditional regime controlling only parts of the
country to a modern, inclusive state, particularly in terms of security concerns. J.E.
Peterson is a political analyst specializing in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf. He is
affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Arizona in Tucson. Information
Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of
South Yemen, 1967-1987 (Cambridge
Middle East Library) (Paperback), by Fred Halliday. Cambridge University Press; New Ed
edition (April 4, 2002).
This book is a study of the foreign
policy of South Yemen, the most radical of Arab states, from the time of its independence
from Britain in 1967 until 1987. It covers relations with the west, including the USA, and
with the USSR and China, and also highlights South Yemen's conflicts with its neighbours, North
Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The author provides a detailed analysis of the foreign
relations of one of the USSR's closest allies in the Third World and shows how conflicts
within the country relate to changes in foreign policy. South Yemen has traditionally not
been an easy country to study, both because it is so secretive and because the
revolutionary regime still arouses such strong passions. Professor Halliday was able to
visit the country and to make an outstandingly thorough study of the foreign policy of an
Arab state. Information
The Middle East and Palestine: Global Politics and
Regional Conflict (Hardcover), by Dietrich Jung (Editor). Palgrave Macmillan (August
26, 2004).
Taking issue with the convenient views
that the Middle East is an irrational and exceptional region of world politics and that
the long and bloody history of the Palestine conflict is proof, the authors of this
stimulating collection combine theoretical reflection and empirical investigation,
marrying International Relations theory and Middle East studies. Through integrating
macro- and micro-perspectives, tracing the interaction of global and regional environments
with individuals pursuing political goals, this book rejects the cultural stereotype of
"Middle Eastern exceptionalism" and argues that regional patterns of conflict
are deeply embedded in international and transnational relations and that their particular
trajectories have to be interpreted in the light of global political developments. Information
The Middle East in International Relations:
Power, Politics and Ideology
(The Contemporary Middle East) (Hardcover), by Fred Halliday. Cambridge University Press
(January 31, 2005).
The international relations of the Middle
East have long been dominated by uncertainty and conflict. External intervention,
interstate war, political upheaval and interethnic violence are compounded by the vagaries
of oil prices and the claims of military nationalist and religious movements. Fred
Halliday sets this region and its conflicts in context, providing on the one hand, a
historical introduction to its character and problems, and, on the other, a reasoned
analysis of its politics. In an engagement with both the study of the Middle East and the
theoretical analysis of international relations, Halliday, one of the best known and most
respected scholars writing on the region today, offers a compelling and original
interpretation. Written in a clear, accessible and interactive style, the book is designed
for students, policymakers, and the general reader. Fred Halliday is Professor of
International Relations at the London School of Economics. He is the author and editor of
several publications including Two Hours that Shook the World: September 11, 2001: Causes
and Consequences (Tauris, 2002), Islam & the Myth of Confrontation (Tauris, 2002), The
World at 2000: Perils and Promises (Macmillan, 2001), and Nation and Religion in the Middle
East (Lynne Rienner, 2000). Information
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