Saudi Arabia has always held some mystery to Westerners. Writing in 2010 and looking back over two decades, the late Fouad Ajami provides deeper insight into the political culture on the Arabian Peninsula, presenting a firsthand look at Saudi Arabia's leadership, its rival factions, and its conduct and influence in foreign lands. From the influence of Islam in public life to Saudi rulers' attitudes toward the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, the author fills a significant gap in o...

In the summer of 1978, Musa al Sadr, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Shia sect in Lebanon, disappeared mysteriously while on a visit to Libya. As in the Shia myth of the "Hidden Imam," this modern-day Imam left his followers upholding his legacy and awaiting his return. Considered an outsider when he had arrived in Lebanon in 1959 from his native Iran, he gradually assumed the role of charismatic mullah, and was instrumental in transforming the Shia, a quiescent and downtrodden Islamic ...

As one of the most profound and insightful scholars of the Middle East, Fouad Ajami’s sensibility was powerfully shaped by his childhood and youth in Lebanon in the ’50s and ’60s. The time was a transitional one—not only for the Middle East, but for America and the world. Lebanon in this era was just coming into its own as a cosmopolitan destination of the international jet set as well as earnest American educators seeking to modernize Arab society. The disruptive forces of the Middle East...

From the author of The Arab Predicament and Dream Palace of the Arabs comes a beautiful and haunting memoir of growing up in Lebanon in the ’50s and ’60s—the story of a sensitive young man and budding intellectual caught between tradition and modernity, east and west.As one of the most profound and insightful scholars of the Middle East, Fouad Ajami’s sensibility was powerfully shaped by his childhood and youth in Lebanon in the ’50s and ’60s. The...

It took a quarter-century of bad strategy, including more than a dozen years of Western air attacks and invasions in the Middle East, to bring the so-called "Islamic State" into existence. Can we somehow manage to avoid the well-trodden path of overreacting to the provocations of Islamist extremists?With the rise of ISIS, a new style of terrorism that publicly gloats over acts of extreme cruelty has reawakened the fears of the global audience. But in Don't Pani...

In this gripping narrative history, Lesley Hazleton tells the tragic story at the heart of the ongoing rivalry between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam.“Fascinating. . . . Lively and engaging. . . . Anyone seeking to understand today’s Middle East can learn from this book."—Seattle TimesEven as Muhammad lay dying, the battle over who would take control of the new Islamic nation had begun, beginning a succession crisis marked by...

“A must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Islamic world” (San Francisco Chronicle)We in the West share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed through the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the events of 9/11 and beyond.In Destiny Disrupted,...

The internationally bestselling definitive history of the Arab world, named a best book of the year by the Financial Times, the Economist, and the Atlantic -- now updated to cover the latest developments in the Middle EastIn this groundbreaking and comprehensive account of the Middle East, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan draws extensively on five centuries of Arab sources to place the Arab experience in its crucial historical context...

The New York Times bestseller: "Historically incisive, geographically broad-reaching, and brimming with illuminating anecdotes."—Max Rodenbeck, New York Review of BooksProfiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-born scholar Vali Nasr has become one of America's leading commentators on current events in the Middle East, admired and welcomed by both media and government for his "concise and coherent" analysis (Wall Street Journal

**A sophisticated look at Pakistan—one of the most overlooked, yet vastly consequential, countries of modern times“Lieven’s eye for detail, command of subcontinental history and old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting make this in many ways an excellent primer on Pakistan.” —Wall Street JournalNamed a Best Book of the Year by The Daily Telegraph and The Independent**Since Pakistan’s formation as a modern nation state, onlookers have doubted i...

A political and personal odyssey from hatred to loveWhen Nonie Darwish was a girl of eight, her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel. A high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza, he was considered a shahid,a martyr for jihad.Yet at an early age, Darwish developed a skeptical eye about her own Muslim culture and upbringing. Why the love of violence and hatred of Jews and Christians? Why the tolerance of glaring so...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A frighteningly prescient look at Iran’s unchecked growth as a hidden superpower, and the threat the nation will soon pose to the United States—and the world.“The most important book on the Middle East to appear in many years”—Thomas Powers, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Intelligence WarsAs ex-CIA operative Robert Baer masterfully shows in The Devil We Know, Iran has maneuvered itsel...