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    I'm an American white woman raised Catholic and I feel like I know next to nothing about Palestine and its history with Israel. I also feel like the American school system kind of screwed me over with how little I know about Middle Eastern/Arab history. What's a nonfiction book on Palestine that you found most informative? What's a nonfiction on the war and history of Gaza? Or what's your favorite nonfiction on Arab history in general?

    by Bookish_Butterfly

    4 Comments

    1. BernardFerguson1944 on

      *Reformation Europe 1517-1559* by G.R. Elton.

      *Societies and Cultures in World History: Single Volumes Edition Chapter 1-35* (the history of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, as well as early and modern Asia) by Mark A. Kishlansky, Patrick J. Geary, Patricia O’Brien, and R. Bin Won.

      *Understanding Islam: An Introduction to the Moslem World* by Thomas W. Lippman.

      *Ibn Al-haytham: First Scientist* by Bradley Steffens.

      *Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain* by Joseph F. O’Callaghan.

      *The Mongol Warlords: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hülegü, Tamerlane* by David Nicolle.

      *Mamluks ‘Askari 1250-1517 (Osprey Warrior #173)* by David Nicolle (Author) and Peter Dennis (Illustrator).

      *Mamluks: 1250-1517 (Osprey Men-at-Arms #259)* by David Nicolle (Author) and Angus McBride (Illustrator).

      *The Ottoman Centuries: the Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire* by Patrick Balfour Kinross.

      *1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West* by Roger Crowley.

      *The Great Siege: Malta 1565* by Ernle Bradford.

      *The Galleys of Lepanto [1571]* by Jack Beeching. 

      *Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, The Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500-1800* by Robert Davis. 

      *Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War that Changed American History* by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. 

      *The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East* by Eugene Rogan. 

      *Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn* by Daniel Gordis.

      *Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam* by Robin Wright. 

      *Best Laid Plans: The Inside Story of America’s War on Terrorism* by David C. Martin and John Wolcott. 

      *Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War with Militant Islam* by Mark Bowden. 

      *Peacekeepers at War Beirut 1983 – The Marine Commander Tells His Story* by Timothy Geraghty, COL (Ret.). 

      *The Root: The Marines in Beirut August 1982–February 1984* by Eric M. Hammel. 

      *Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War* by Mark Bowden. 

      *Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq* by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor. 

      *13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi* by Mitchell Zuckoff with the Annex Security Team. 

      *Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS* by Joby Warrick.

       

       

    2. *The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East* by Eugene Rogan

      Huge modern day repercussions from the splintering of the Ottoman Empire from its destruction in WW1. The Ottoman Empire controlled huge portions of the Middle East during this time, including modern day Israel.

    3. Caleb_Trask19 on

      Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations. Bell is sometimes known as the female Lawrence of Arabia, but in a just world Lawrence should be known as the Male Gertrude Bell.

      An upper class British women who traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and wrote about it, she made contact with most of the many ethnic, political and cultural groups and probably had the best understanding of the political whole that these communities made up in that region of the world.

      She made extensive recommendations for how the colonial development compartmentalization should proceed, but was of course completely ignored and dismissed. Many venture that had her recommendations been followed the level of conflict in the Middle East would have been considerably reduced from what happened.

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