Customer Reviews

Middle East Crisis: U. S. Decision-Making in 1958, 1970, and 1973

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alan Dowty draws on a numerous reasources (quoting personalities from Kissinger and King Hussein, to Anatoley Dobrynin) to discuss US policies and actions taken in the Lebanese Crisis in 1958 (when Lebanese leftists ignited a small scale civil war against the government, thus prompting US marines to restore order), Black September in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1970(a power struggle/civil war/terror war involving the Hashemite king, the PLO/PFLP/DFLP, and Syria) , and the Yom Kippur War in 1973 (a surprise war by Egypt and Syria against Israel on the Jewish day of Attonement). While the latter is a widely studied event the former two events are rarely studied and publications highlighting them are hard to come by.

When I first saw this book I was highly skeptical that it would provide a good insight into American descision making during three major Middle Eastern events during the Cold War, but after reading the book cover to cover twice it was not only well written but chock full of information.

While the book is 20 years old it is a good addition to those studying subjects from international relations to Middle Eastern history.