Facts and Figures about the Middle East ANNOTATION
Provides an overview of the nations of the Middle East, describing the geography, history, politics, economy, religion, people, communities, and foreign relations of each country.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The history of the Middle East is long and complex. In the Modern Middle East Nations series, the term "Middle East" refers to the region encompassing 23 countries -- Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. This book provides an overview of the history of the Middle Eastern countries, along with information about the region's geography, central religious beliefs, governments and economies of the various states, cultural groups, and important communities.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Elisabeth Greenberg
This book takes a broad view of the Middle East, pointing out that its history is one of invasion and conquest and that is the birthplace of the Judaeo-Christian religions, including Islam. The constant succession of invasions often led to cultural destruction, as in the case of the Mongols destroying irrigation systems and thus the agricultural basis of the economies of Persian, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), and Syria, a situation which the alert reader can recognize as happening again in the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians and the United States and Iraq. The book admits the confusion surrounding the word "Arab" and then defines "the Arab as one whose native language is Arabic," at least "for most people." This definition works for the section on the rise of Arab nationalism, but ignores the muddle in the West about the Middle East. While this volume in the series is useful for comparisons between countries, it glosses over explanations of economic sanctions, discussion of the Middle East peace process, and the causes of the United States invasion of Iraq in 1991. 2004, Mason Crest Publishers, Ages 12 up.
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