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Six Days of War

When I read Michael B. Oren’s Power, Faith and Fantasy (PF&F) in the fall of 2007, I never imagined I’d have such motivation to read his earlier work, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. What a gripping and humane military history. Oren is such a good writer […]

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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Middle East Conflict

You have to start somewhere. Over the last few years, I’ve read a lot about Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Islam and the Middle East in general, but very little about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically. The closest I’ve come to that has been Fromkin’s A Peace to End all Peace and Oren’s Power, Faith and Fantasy (both […]

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The Closing of the American Border

Last week a senior manager at work suggested that our book club read Edward Alden’s The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security Since 9/11. The manager had just finished reading it and thought it would be interesting and pertinent to us. I agree. It provided a very clear explanation of the responses […]

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Islam: A Short History

I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to read a translation of the Quran and if so, which one to read. This title keeps showing up on the short lists of good histories of Islam. It is also on a list of highly-recommended books from the State Department. Karen Armstrong’s Islam: A Short History […]

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The Prince of the Marshes

A few months ago, I asked a friend of mine who was then serving in a PRT in Iraq if he could recommend any books on modern Iraq. He told me that he had not had a lot of time to read since joining the PRT, but that one book which he found very insightful […]

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