A Companion to the History of the Middle East

A Companion to the History of the Middle East offers a fresh account of the multifaceted and multi–layered history of this region. Comprising 26 newly commissioned essays by leading international scholars, this Companion treats the Middle East as four differentiated political units – Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the Arab world. While focused primarily on the modern and contemporary periods, it also includes a number of chapters on classical and pre–modern themes. Topics are situated within a chronological framework and include the rise of Islam, the militarization of Islam under a wide variety of dynasties, the commercial and industrial revolutions, colonial rule, and the struggle for independence. A final section highlights issues that have preoccupied historians in the second half of the twentieth century, and are most likely to gain momentum well into the twenty–first. These range from oil and urban growth to the role of women and democratic human rights.

List of Tables. List of Figures. List of Maps. Notes on Contributors. Preface and Acknowledgments. Introduction (Youssef M. Choueiri (University of Exeter). Part I: The Formative Period of Islam. 1. The Rise of Islam (Gerald R. Hawting). 2. The Islamic Conquests (Fred M. Donner). 3. The Caliphate (Hugh Kennedy). Part II: Cultural Traditions and Social Structure. 4. The ‘Ulama’: Status and Function (Zouhair Ghazzal). 5. Shi‘ism (Robert Gleave). 6. Historiography of Sufi Studies in the West (Alexander Knysh). Part III: Imperial Structures and Dynastic Rule. 7. Military Patronage States and the Political Economy of the Frontier, 1000–1250 (Michael Chamberlain). 8. The Mamluk Institution (P. M. Holt). 9. North Africa: State and Society (Michael Brett). Part IV: A New Middle Eastern System. 10. Ottoman and Safavid: States, Statecraft, and Societies, 1500–1800 (Metin Kunt). 11. Urban Life and Middle Eastern Cities: The Traditional Arab City (André Raymond (translated by James McDougall). Part V: The Middle East and the New World Order. 12. A Different Balance of Power: European Expansion and Local Responses (Abdul–Karim Rafeq). 13. Colonialism, the Ottomas, the Qajars and the Struggle for Independence: The Rab World, Turkey, and Iran (Peter Sluglett). Part VI: Independence and Nation Building. 14. Zionism and the Palestine Question (Emma C. Murphy). 15. Nationalisms in the Middle East: The case of Pan–Arabism (Youssef M. Choueiri). 16. Turkish and Iranian Nationalisms (Ioannis N. Grigoriadis and Ali M. Ansari). 17. Political Parties and Trade Unions (Raymond Hinnebusch). 18. Political Life and the Military (Gareth Stansfield). 19. Political Economy: From Modernization to Globalisation (Simon Murden). Part VII: Modern Issues and Contemporary Challenges. 20. Islamic Urbanism, Urbanites, and the Middle East City (Michael E. Bonine). 21. Oil and Development (Paul Stevens). 22. Modernizing Women in the Middle East (Valentine M. Moghadam). 23. Politics and Religion (Beverley Milton–Edwards). 24. Ethnonational Minorities in the Middle East: Berbers, Kurds, and Palestinians (Lise Storm). 25. Civil Society in the Middle East (Tim Niblock). 26. The States–System in the Middle East: Origins, Development, and Prospects (Simon Bromley). Bibliography. Index.

Youssef M. Choueiri is Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Manchester. He has lectured on Middle Eastern history in the US and Australia, as well as in the UK. His previous publications include Islamic Fundamentalism (1997), Arab Nationalism ( Blackwell Publishing, 2000), and Modern Arab Historiography (2003).

Conceived with the most recent scholarly efforts in mind this Companion to the History of the Middle East includes a balanced collection of essays on subjects from the early Islamic to the contemporary periods covering the Arab World, Iran, Turkey and Israel. ( Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , May 2009) "Youssef M. Choueiri is to be admired for assembling a group of contributors with genuine expertise in their respective fields and producing a lively and interesting collection of essays dealing with Middle East history from the rise of Islam to the present. General readers will be provided with a stimulating introduction to some key issues in Middle East history." History "Few books could cover the range of topics presented here and even fewer shed so much light on the complexities associated with the birth of the modern Middle East. One can almost feel the wisdom of the contributing authors, and must acknowledge the success of Youssef Choueiri′s strategy of making this much more than a history book." Journal of Islamic Studies "[A] worthy volume. It is recommended for both specialist collections ... as well as for its natural home, the academic library." Reference Reviews