The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

by Mitchell G Bard (Author), Mitchell G. Bard (Author) "Much of the Middle East is desert sand..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Middle East, United Nations (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
If the new "Complete Idiot's Guide to the Middle East Conflict" has any advantage over in-depth geopolitical reporting in newspapers or analytical academic treatises based on years of research, it is in its humility. The book points out historical misunderstandings in side-bars topped by a picture of a pharaoh wagging a finger and saying "Tut Tut!" It doles out trivia beneath a cartoon of a smiling sphinx. It contains subheadings such as, "Hello Haganah" and "Too Many Jews, Not Enough Space."

American Jews who consider themselves experts on Israeli affairs might walk right past the book and think there couldn't possibly be anything for them in the volume....Then there's the political problem: Mainstream, broad-based texts usually bend so much toward even-handedness that they end up offending partisans on both sides.

What a surprise, then, that this Idiot's Guide is not so idiotic....It takes away the egos of the scholars who usually arm themselves with complicated conclusions so they can sound like they know what they are talking about when nobody, in 2,000 years, has