Customer Reviews

Politics of the Middle East: Cultures and Conflicts

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Authors Roskin and Coyle tackle quite a few subjects in this book -- ranging anywhere from the roots of Islam, to conservative Saudi Arabia, to secular Turkey, and to what lies ahead in the future of Islam. I think that the authors do a fabulous job of making their points clear and concise. Overall, the material is very interesting for someone who is interested in Middle Eastern culture and politics.

However, this book is sprinkled with one-liners that are so biased and can turn the reader off to the whole book. For instance, when discussing the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the author says that "Arabs tend to be awfully loose with their words." You can't get any more ignorant than that. Sure, some may view this as comical, and perhaps this would be more acceptable in a novel or editorial column. But this is a scholarly work and such phrases do not belong on its pages if it is to serve an educational purpose. There are countless other examples of similar jargon throughout the book.

Again, I will restate that this is an interesting book. It covers alot of ground and has alot of cultural sidenotes that make the history more interesting. But what Roskin and Coyle need to do is leave their personaly opinions about Arabs and Jews out of their academic textbooks if they wish to be taken more seriously.