War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History, Revised and Updated

by Avi Shlaim

"Remarkable...breathtaking in its scope and historical precision, this is highly recommended volume for both publivc and academic libraries.— Library Journal .

Genres: History, Middle East, Nonfiction, Politics, Islam, Israel, International Relations

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Avi Shlaim FBA (born October 31, 1945) is an Iraqi-born British/Israeli historian. He is emeritus professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a fellow of the British Academy. Shlaim is considered one of Israel's New Historians, a group of Israeli scholars who put forward critical interpretations of the history of Zionism and Israel.

Reviews

[Yonis Gure · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with writing a concise history spanning several decades on a region as diverse and complex as the Middle East is that generalizations and oversimplifications become necessary, and anyone who isn’t familiar with the subject matter isn’t given any historical context or any analysis to help put the scenario(s) in a larger perspective in relation to the wider world. Now, with that said, I think Avi Shlaim, for the most part, does a decent job combating this conundrum. He lucidly pieces together small bits of information that makes the reading engaging and enjoyable. This is a pretty decent book that I spent the train ride to and from work reading.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more, but not surprised that the book didn't deliver. This was a good book when it was published in 1995, but twenty years later it's too dated to be very useful. Shlaim is the go-to authority on the diplomatic history of the Middle East and he does quite a good job of distilling roughly 80 years of history into a small book. He begins with the break-up of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and takes the reader through the Oslo Accords and their immediate aftermath. While he does discuss the failures of Britain and other Western powers in the earlier part of the century and the internal disputes amongst the Arabs, the book's primary focus is on American foreign policy and its (mostly) failures. Most of the book is spent discussing the Arab-Israel dispute and the Iraq-Iran front. Shlaim barely mentions American involvement in Afghanistan during the same period...something crucial to understanding the current conflict in the Middle East, but all of this panned out after the book was written. While Shlaim seems overly optimistic about the Oslo Accords, he does end the book with some helpful and prescient analysis that, if followed by the US, would have gone far toward avoiding more recent conflicts. Interestingly he notes Huntingdon's "Clash of Civilisation" article, which was published shortly before the book was written, and notes the danger inherent in blaming religion and philosophy for the region's conflicts while overlooking the obvious political and economic issues. Shlaim closes with wise advice toward defusing militant Islamism. Sadly, the US took the opposite tack.

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended to me by a colleague who was Shlaim's student. Asked for a brief trot for a general readership that could help me begin to make better sense of the current version of the mess over there. Shlaim's text is quite readable—definitely pitched for the general reader with broad familiarity with geopolitical events concerning the region since WWI. And the ease of general information to things like the Balfour declaration or Sykes-Picot means that really anyone can make their way through this text with a will and good internet. Shlaim's broad thesis is that there have been two approaches to the Middle East: the globalist and the regionalist. The tragedy has been that one major hegemon after another has taken the globalist approach when only a sensitive and flexible regionalism stands any hope of untangling the Gordian knot of competing interests there. Shlaim's text came out after the first Gulf War, which he argues ushered in a 'new world order' that looked suspiciously like the old one. There's loads of blame to go around—Shlaim is not remotely soft on the Israeli leaders whose duplicity and self-interest sabotaged efforts to peace. But his deepest criticism is aimed at the American presidents and their advisors who, out of disingenuousness (Nixon, Clinton) or mere stupidity (Reagan), managed to even more thoroughly fuck the prospects for peace. Even well-meaning idiots (Carter, Bush) failed to have the resolve or follow through to break the impasse. It's a briskly told story of American incompetence that will help make sense of pre-2000 history for those wanting a quick trot through events suggesting how we got where we currently are. Favorite line (about Reagan, truly one of history's great villains): "Reagan spent many sleepless afternoons in the White House worrying about the Soviet threat." For Americans who get their history in warped spoonfuls from an ahistoricized, sound bite media, this is essential reading.

[Nick Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shlaim the goat

[Paul Kuntze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good introduction to the issues in the middle east, very short and concise, which is exactly what I needed.
Because of it's brevity, it obviously doesn't include all relevant background information and therefore gives a more biased picture than a longer book might. It is definitely critical of US and western involvement in the middle east, which I see as a good thing. Although it was written by an Israeli author, he is very critical of Israel's role in middle eastern politics.
What annoyed me was Schlaims tendency to judge several rulers and regimes as 'evil', without much elaboration. Also, it made a very vocal case for US interventionism, state building and democratising in the end, which did not age well. As the book was written in 1995, the lessons from attempts to democratise the middle east were not yet available, but this unquestioning liberalist attitude unsettles me a bit.
The book was nevertheless very useful to get an overview about the backstory if the Arab world, which bow hopefully enables me to better understand the events in the new millennium.

[Engy Moussa · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far So good :)I really love simple history book <3

Ok now that I am done with the book, I could fairly say that it was very informative and enlightening on many issues in the political arena concerning the Middle East. In short, it was a good read; the first history book or kind of academic book that I read outside my classes's requirement. I highly recommend it as it is easy to read, concise and to a large extent objective or rather it is not bias to the West in its analysis and presentation of historical events.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avi Shlaim provides a very informative and clear overview of the past 100 years of conflict in the Middle East. There are places I wished he would spend more time and go into more detail. And he also seems to waste the last 40 pages "looking to the future" and prescribing a very very optimistic US foreign policy. Now, 16 years after the book was written, these simply seem irrelevant and outdated. The first 100 pages were very helpful, though, especially supplemented with wikipedia.

[John Hubbard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned quite a lot from this nice overview. The eras of modern Middle Eastern history are divided very simply, i.e. Pax Britanica, Pax Americana, etc. that will surely help me remember this well.

[Merricat Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is 150 pages and three pages of citations and it spans from the collapse of the Ottoman empire to the beginning of the Oslo process, so it's necessarily pretty superficial and a lot of the argumentation is a bit "dude just trust me." Within those parameters I think it's pretty valuable. I've read a fair amount about both Palestine and the Gulf War/contemporary Iraq from an on-the-ground humanitarian perspective but I know less about the machinations-of-the-world-powers view, which is what this book is mostly about, so it was useful to me. The most interesting bit to me was Shlaim's analysis of how Clinton destroyed the Madrid talks by being reflexively pro-Israel, in contrast to the more even-handed Bush.

[Sanjukta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helps you understand the 4 phases of involvement in the Middle East that has shaped its history- Ottoman, Europeans, Superpower and American.

[Peyton Edelbrock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super biased, but it was an okay run down of Middle East history.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it says on the tin. Too short to address anything in meaningful depth, but a serviceable overview at least of the Gulf war and its aftermath. I could have done without Shlaim’s constant snarky comments.

[Grindy Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for a slim one-volume summary of the Middle East encompassing the period between the fall of the Ottomans and the mid-1990s, then this is the book for you. There is little mention of the Saudis in the book, though. Also, the author at the end pooh-poohs the idea of a coming clash between West and Middle East as being a culture clash, which since the book was written may be a tough premise for him to defend.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This thin little book is a concise and understandable overview of the conflicts in the middle east from the decline of the Ottoman phase at the end of World War I to 1995, when this book was written. I understand so much more about the struggles of the area as well as the conflicts between the states and am not at all surprised that we are now where we are in regards to that part of the world.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the issues.

It particularly opened my eyes to the role of the Cold War in shaping various conflicts and America's involvement in the region. I also learnt (to my surprise) that George Bush Sr. had a more even handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than Bill Clinton who took an 'Israel first' approach.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!

It's funny that such a small book could contain so much information.

I wonder what would have happened in Iraq if the Bush regime had read this book before deciding to invade.

"We'll be greeted as liberators!"

What great optimism in the face of reality.

[Jake]

A very brief synopsis of many of the major conflicts in the Middle East throughout the last hundred years and the various world superpowers' (from the colonial British Empire to the Soviet Union and the post-Cold War United States) involvement in them.

[Leo Africanus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise and insightful analysis of the Middle East conflict.

[Drift · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a concise look at the Wars that are occurring in the Mid East. Also looks at the roles of the US.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, quick, easy to read overview of the Middle East stinkfest. Blaiming the British is always fun.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet...well, as short and sweet as Middle Eastern history can get.

[Ghada Arafat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good a clear cut history of the conflict. I would recommend it for newbies and experts on the region.

[Travis Suzuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great analysis of the Middle East from a non-western perspective.

[Joe Haack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, helpful to this reader. Though I knew going in it would be outdated. I have much to learn. This was a good base layer.