A Short History of the Middle East: From Ancient Empires to Islamic State

by Gordon Kerr

Situated at the crossroads of three continents, the Middle East has confounded the ambition of conquerors and peacemakers alike. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all had their genesis in the region but with them came not just civilization and religion but also some of the great struggles of history. This book makes sense of the shifting sands of Middle Eastern history, beginning with the early cultures of the area and moving on to the Roman and Persian Empires; the growth of Christianity; the rise of Islam; the invasions from the east; Genghis Khan’s Mongol hordes; the Ottoman Turks and the rise of radicalism in the modern world symbolized by Islamic State.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Middle East, Islam, Religion

192 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2016

About the author

Gordon Kerr was born in the Scottish new town of East Kilbride and worked in the wine trade and then bookselling and publishing before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of numerous books in a variety of genres, including art, history, true crime, travel and humour. He has a wife and two children and lives in Hampshire and—when he can—South West France.

Reviews

[D.M. Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not one to give such a low star rating. If I don't like a book, I generally won't rate it at all because I know how much work goes into it, and I certainly don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. However, the bias of this book must be noted. In my view it is anti-Israel, anti-Europe, anti-Jewish and anti-Christian. Yet it is pro-Muslim. That wouldn't bother me if it weren't so anti everything else.

In the beginning it mentions Jews and Christians in the Middle East but only briefly (as if they had little influence) before moving on to Islam and then explaining the basics of the religion, providing positive affirmations of how wonderful a religion it is. There was no reason to examine this religion if he wasn't going to explain the other two. He also states that Islam is the most "determinedly monotheistic of the world's greatest religions- there is 'no God but God.'" Oh really? And what is the Shema prayer? Judaism was the first of the monotheistic Abrahamic religions and is no less monotheistic now.

When the author writes about the rise of Islam, he seems to believe the religion magically spread, completely overlooking the violence and countless deaths resulting from the Islamic Conquests. Yet he makes a point to highlight the Crusades as well as every bad thing he thinks the Israelis did, including a handful of attacks by the Irgun and the Stern Gang. Never mind the Armenian Genocide, which was ignored in this book, or countless terror attacks by Islamic fundamentalists. For the most part, those are apparently justified or glossed over, if mentioned at all. To be fair, the author does address Islamic terror more so near the end once he gets to al-Qaeda and ISIS, and all along he quickly breezes over tyrannical leaders who “ruthlessly” eliminated opposition. Yet the above named Islamic terror groups as well as Hezbollah are generously described as “militant organizations,” while the Jewish Irgun and Stern Gang, fighting during a time when Palestinian Jews were under attack and desperate for a nation, meeting countless roadblocks from Britain, are described by Kerr as “Jewish terror groups.”

Honestly, the concept for the book is good. It certainly does give a brief overview of thousands of years of Middle Eastern history, and there’s only so much that can be packed into a book of less than 200 pages. If it weren't for the bias, which I personally found sickening, especially for a nonfiction history book, I would certainly have given at least 4 stars. Sorry, but when I picked up this book, I was not expecting to be offended. What I wanted were facts and a fair assessment, which were sometimes provided. Overall, however, that was not my experience with this book.

[Josiah Sutton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Instead of this book, I would suggest Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary. Kerr is dry and seems to list facts without their correlation to any narrative or broader struggle. He also seems to lean toward a semi-liberal support of US / UN involvement in the Middle East (luckily, no support for the Iraq war). Ansary is thoughtful and his perspective is more concerned with the perspectives of those in the Middle East. It is very clear what perspective these two books are coming from: Kerr appears to be writing from the West, with the cadence of an international relations geek. Ansary is from Afghanistan, with the pain of someone who’s watched the last few decades unfold in the Middle East.

[123abc · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short book but still a bit of a slog to get through and I understand trying to fit the thousands of years of history for 10+ countries into ~200 pages is quite a task.

Filled with dates and historical events, people and names but (although it follows a roughly chronological order) jumps back and forth between countries making it harder to follow than necessary.

The book is of course very informative but feels like it’s lacking somewhat in its storytelling.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and I guess I understand a little better where the hate comes from but a little deep for this feeble mind. So many wars and so many people and nations so close together in geography and so far apart in ideology. It makes me sad and hopeful all together.

[Michal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction, just a bit biased against Israel, in my opinion.

[Muath Aziz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the complex Middle East from thousands of years and up to recently. I didn't like the book at first, so full of dates and strange country names but along the way it became so dramatic and made sense. I see that from 1800s the middle east is controlled by the powerful countries around the world (Britain, France, Germany, America, Russia, and so on).

The briefness of the book really helps to understand what drives history and events. Regardless of the ideology itself, what matters is the power and economy the ideology has.

[Tyrone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This essentially does what it says on the cover, giving readers a short history of the Middle East. It is impossible to go into any real details of the vast history of a region and its people in under 300 pages, so it is indeed brief, but it does provide plenty of appetite whetting for further research.

[Tom Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. Necessarily light in places due to the sheer density of the subject. Benefits from the occasional re-reading of a paragraph or page.

But it serves the very useful task of taking the things you know, putting them in order and in context, and then filling in the gaps.

Dense, but very useful.

[Lalit Singh Tomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short history of middle east (11 Countries) in 183 small pages, covering history from ancient to present is indeed is a very very ambitious project. Published in 2016 this book covers the story till 2015.

First three of chapter of this book, i.e. first fifty odd pages deals with ancient and medieval period ( till 1800 CE) are pathetic, boring and confusing. I will rate 1 star for it . Too much of information packed in 50 small pages is definitely not going to make a cohesive read.

But the narration after 1800 CE is excellent and serves as a primer for anyone trying to understand the modern history of the Middle East. This part is cohesive, logical, and continuous. It seems that the author has a clear understanding of the history of the Middle East since 1800. The last 130 pages, written in simple and lucid language, are well-connected, flow seamlessly, and are quite engaging for a layperson with very little knowledge of the Middle East.

Finally, this is a different kind of book that slowly transforms from being boring to a real page-turner.

[Jacob Schofell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kerr's short history is good, until about 1900. As it is a short history I only find two issues with things he chose to omit, those being his neglect to mention any genocides in the region and the shockingly little he wrote about Israel and Palestine. My other issue with this book is the white man's burden he seems to see the Middle East as. The language he uses to describe the modern Middle East is problematic including stating that pre US invasion Iraq had WMDs which has been proven false. Along with that the little mentioned about Palestine is written from the Israeli perspective and is so pro Israeli at points as to almost be a false narrative. Two stars for the pre 1900 portion of the book being mostly solid, but the omissions and problamatic and even harmful language of the modern history makes that part of the book useless.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dissapointing overall. Kerr's bias and dishonesty when it came to describing the Israel Palestine conflict is obvious to any person who knows this complicated history beyond the tired propaganda talking points. The British occupied what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories while consistently opposing a Jewish state, working with Arabs against it. Kerr distorts history by fixating on the 1917 Balfour Declaration, a non-binding document, while ignoring key facts. The British enforced curfews, detention camps, and unfair laws, even detaining Holocaust refugees in Cyprus. Kerr also overlooks pre-Israel antisemitic massacres, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem’s alliance with Hitler, and the 1939 White Paper, which blocked Jewish refugees from escaping to safety on the brink of WWII.

[Peter Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it says on the tin - a race through Middle Eastern history from early civilisations to modern day, well, 2015. Despite the concentration of facts and numerous dates, this was a useful guide and gave a some understanding of the bloody history of this region; what struck me most was the extent to which powerful countries like the UK, Russia, Germany and the USA have all stuck their self-serving oars in mostly to the detriment of the local population. Sadly, the history of this region continues to be tragic.

[Nuno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short indeed! By the end I was wishing there'd be more to read, but the beginning was a bit dull with too many locations and names to memorise. That's from "Ancient civilisations" (5000 BCE) up to the 1900's, which is about half the book. From then on the names and events become more familiar, and I did learn substantially more about all the conflicts in the Middle East that are taking place even today.

[Mariano Abilleira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought it for the sole reason of understanding the shit-storm that is going on in the Middle East; since magazine and newspaper articles usually address it partially and cover particular topics.
Oil riches and geography unfortunately turned this area into a place of interest for the modern world; with internal turmoil and general unrest being the norm for the greater part of the 20th century, thanks in great deal to European mayor powers nagging around for their own agendas.

[Talal Husseiny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a good job of summarizing the history of the middle east in a small and compressed manner. It talks about the ancient empires of middle eastern civilization all the way to the Arab immigration to Europe and raise of ISIS and other extremist groups. However, there are details that are inaccurate and do have a simplified analysis.

Overall, this book is a good read and does provide some basic insight into the middle east.

[kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could be a good primer for someone wanting to learn more about this region, but as with any such endeavour (squeezing years of history into such a short book), there are concerns about accuracy, representation and bias. Also, spotted grammatical errors that peppers the book at various points.

Useful to start learning, but one needs to fact check and dive deeper to truly understand

[R.B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less than a short History it reads more as loose notes on the History of the Middle East. While nice to catch some points, the lack of a bibliography hinders a bit the willingness to delve deeper into the different periods.

[Madeleine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of an overview of the long history in Middle East. It is good enough for a rough idea about what the history of Middle East is like to get started on the topic before finding books that delved deeper into different areas in this section of history.

[Aziz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book title very represents the content of the book. It tells you the whole story of middle east from the ancient times up until 2015. as it is a short history, it only contains some main events. If you’re looking for a compact story, it’s a very good book.

[GARY SIMPER · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book probably too short on detail and I guess that was no surprise considering it covers from 3000 BC to 2016 AD. It has made me want to revisit and read more on the middle east is the best I can say.

[Ali Diker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was like a crash course and a quick introduction to thousands of years of history. Still, it is a good resource for understanding the roots of the ongoing conflicts and the West's role in them.

[Zaki Qaraghuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who are interested in having an overview in a brief, concentrated and orderly manner about the middle east’s history, this book is recommended.

[Jupri Zulprianto · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book toldme that the middle east is less divine than I had thought it to be.

[Aleksandra Jarosz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool and quick overview but written in such a boring manner I have already forgotten all the facts that I have read...

[Strivetoengage · Rating 2 out of 5]

I posted my review of this book on my blog: https://strivetoengage.wordpress.com/...

[Liam Connolly]

A simple, easy-to-read overview of key historical and modern topics in the Middle East. A good starting point for branching out into deeper subjects.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light and somewhat cursory review of the history of the Middle East. A useful summary and an introduction to weightier volumes.

[Frances Robson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative but lacked a hook in the writing style to keep me going. There was no bibliography which made me question some integrity of the writing as some of it did seem a little biased.

[Patrick Lapointe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and factual -- though the last 60 pages are a slog. The more it becomes contemporary, the harder it gets to read.

Really liked the factual tone -- rare opinion or commentary.

[Alfie Yee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book.