Good books / Documentaries on the Middle East?

December 12, 2009 11:09 AM

Good books or documentaries about the middle east

Hi all,

I am planning to do an independant research project for my political science class on the middle east. I need a topic and a general direction so that I can start researching for a thesis. I was wondering if you guys could recommend any good documentaries, books, or anything that would help me get started. I would like to talk about some aspect of the effects of US presence / policy in the region. Maybe some clash of civilizations, but any suggestions would be helpful

Thanks

posted by happydude123 to Education (12 answers total)

From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman
The Middle East by Bernard Lewis
posted by something something at 11:14 AM on December 12, 2009

what level is this for? What you get recommended for Freshman year vs. Senior+ year may be very different.

and, an obligatory: "Talk to your professor" answer as well.
posted by edgeways at 11:16 AM on December 12, 2009

i've recommended it many times before, but everyone should read it...

palestine by joe sacco
posted by nadawi at 11:20 AM on December 12, 2009

Careful with the Bernard Lewis books, on one hand they are "good", in a general knowledge sort of way, but the one I read ~6-7 years ago had a very.... Western slant on things, which didn't translate into negativity per se, but I will say my Iranian Professor was pretty critical of it.
posted by edgeways at 11:20 AM on December 12, 2009

Orientalism by Said.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:38 AM on December 12, 2009

You should realize that very few books about the Middle East are truly unbiased, and tend to present a specific perspective.

If you want to talk about US policy or presence in the region, at least as pertains to the Arab-Israeli conflict, I personally can recommend The Much Too Promised Land, by Aaron David Miller. He's quite middle of the road, having spent a couple of decades on US policy in the region.

For a history of US policy in the region, try Power Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present. Disclaimer: the author is currently Israel's Ambassador to the US. Before that, he was a scholar, but his leanings are clearly to the pro-Israel side.
posted by j1950 at 11:47 AM on December 12, 2009

All the Shah's Men is an interesting account of the CIA supported coup against the Iranian government in 1953.
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 12:03 PM on December 12, 2009

Dreams and Shadows by Robin Wright, surveys the problems and possibilities in the whole region.
posted by pkreutzer at 12:58 PM on December 12, 2009

Broad ranging, but very, very readable: The Arabs: A History by Eugene Rogan or just pick a chapter out of Cleveland's A History of the Modern Middle East.
posted by proj at 1:09 PM on December 12, 2009

Daniel Yergin's The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power won a Pulitzer Prize. It's a good, and comprehensive, look at the history of oil in the Middle East.
posted by Houstonian at 1:37 PM on December 12, 2009

Fisk's The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East is excellent and covers a lot of ground.
posted by xqwzts at 2:49 PM on December 12, 2009

My professor used Divided Jerusalem as a textbook during a 4th year course on the politics of Jerusalem... I thought it was balanced and readable.
posted by acro at 9:32 AM on March 2, 2010