A History of the Modern Middle East

This book is really interesting to read for learning about the Middle East in the modern era.

Right information in a non bias style

I got this book for a class and it was filled in with circles, highlights, and other things, but then again I got it used.Overall I find it pretty solid and comprehensive.

This history does as the title promises, focusing more on the modern period of the Middle East, especially from the Ottoman Empire through 2015. The book covers the rise of ISIS but was written before the complete downfall of ISIS. It includes the Arab Spring of 2011, which Cleveland prefers to call the "Arab Uprisings." It includes balanced discussions of areas from Turkey to Iran to the Arabian Peninsula to Egypt. It does not include neighboring countries such as the Sudan, North Africa or Afghanistan in the discussion, except where events there affect the Middle East proper, such as the Egyptian war in Sudan, the harboring of Osama bin Laden by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia and led to the downfall of Libya's dictator, too.The book gives much attention to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is appropriate, as well as thorough coverage of the Kurdish problem of being a people without a homeland.Perhaps due to his focus on the modern period, Cleveland passes over the Crusades with barely a mention, which I found peculiar, since modern Arabs like Osama bin Laden referred to Christians as the "Crusaders."While Cleveland strives to present a balanced report of both the positive and negative traits of each people and each personality, he appears to have certain biases. He clearly is sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians verses the Jews, and is favorable to the Muslim worldview (for example, he blames Islam's low view of women on the influences of the cultures neighboring the Arabs, and refers to the Muslim Brotherhood as "moderate"). Nevertheless, he does a good job of explaining the various sectarian and ethnic groups, such as the Sunni and Shi'a, and minority groups like Arab Christians, Assyrians, Yazidis, Druze, Alawites, etc.

A great aid in understanding the many complexities of the multifaceted Middle East including its many people's in countries with secular,sectarian, and religious affiliations with an insight to the many effects of Western imperialism. Sobering and telling.

Read this for class. It wasn't boring and it didn't seem biased. It was cheap enough for general readers and covered enough to be useful for college. Great book.

Great way of understanding evolution of middle eastern systems since Ottoman empire

Mostly also quite balanced. But this is more true of the earlier accounts than those that already touch base with the present. A little outdated in those aspects. We used this. Book to guide a course on this subject. If you pair this up with primary source analysis and conduct a critical reading and discussion it’s a very positive experience.