As David Lesch writes in his Preface, "Historians are a kind of secular priesthood, seemingly endowed with the power and means to select what is and what is not important for the rest of us." In A History of the Middle East Since the Rise of Islam, Lesch focuses on the longue durée. Choosing the rise of Islam as the general beginning point of his one-volume history of the Middle East, Lesch argues that there is an indelible link between the rise of Islam and the overall environment that exists today in the region. The continuum of this chain of events is the primary focus of his book. Combining a comprehensive approach and an appealing, informal tone, Lesch offers the reader enough specifics to digest the flavor of particular periods, dynasties, movements, cultural markers, and ideological developments, yet general enough so that the totality of this history can be compared and contrasted. The result is a brilliant tour de force.

Historical Dictionary of Syria, Fourth Edition covers the recent events in Syria as well as the history that led up to these events. The cross-referenced dictionary section has over 500 entries on significant persons, places and events, political parties and institutions, literature, music and the arts. .

repercussions of the events of 1979 down to the present day.

The "Syrian crisis" of 1957, sparked by a covert attempt by the Eisenhower administration to overthrow what it perceived to be an emerging Soviet client state in the Middle East, represented the denouement of a badly misguided U.S. foreign policy, according to David Lesch. The repercussions of this incident, which almost precipitated a superpower c

Today Syria is a country known for all the wrong reasons: civil war, vicious sectarianism, and major humanitarian crisis. But how did this once rich, multi-cultural society end up as the site of one of the twenty-first century's most devastating and brutal conflicts? In this incisive book, internationally renowned Syria expert David Lesch takes the reader on an illuminating journey through the last hundred years of Syrian history - from the end of the Ottoman empire through to the current civil war. The Syria he reveals is a fractured mosaic, whose identity (or lack thereof) has played a crucial part in its trajectory over the past century. Only once the complexities and challenges of Syria's history are understood can this pivotal country in the Middle East begin to rebuild and heal.

The Middle East and the United States brings together scholars and policy experts to provide an empirical and balanced assessment of US policy in the Middle East primarily from the end of World War I to the present. Carefully edited by David W. Lesch and Mark L. Haas, this text provides a broad and authoritative understanding of the United States' involvement in the Middle East. The sixth edition is significantly revised throughout, including a new part structure and part introductions that provide students with greater context for understanding the history of the United States and the Middle East. The five parts cover the watershed moments and major challenges the United States faces in the Middle East, from the Cold War proxy wars and the Arab-Israeli conflict, to the Gulf wars and the upheaval in the region post-Arab uprisings. Three new chapters-on the Golan negotiations, US-Saudi relations, and the US fight against al-Qa'ida and ISIS-make this the most current and comprehensive book on the United States' involvement in the Middle East

There are a number of individual years in modern Middle East history that stand out in importance. The ledger just since the end of WWII would invariably include the following: 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 1991, and 1993. In each of these years war, realignment, and/or peace processes occurred, i.e., some event or series of events that engendered a dramatic and lasting period of change by causing shifts in the balance of power and/or ideological and perceptual transformations in the region. At no time, however, was dramatic and all-encompassing change more apparent in the Middle East in the post-WWII era than in 1979--so much so that, in my opinion, future Middle East scholars will conclude that the year 1979 constituted a, if not the major watershed in modern Middle East history.The happenings of 1979, particularly the signatory events--the Iranian revolution, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan--fundamentally altered the entire Middle East and had far-reaching consequences beyond the region itself. The regional instability created by the Iranian revolution led directly to the taking of the U.S. hostages in Teheran later in the year, an event in and of itself that had important domestic political repercussions in the United States as well as opened the door of terrorism against U.S. interests. The Iranian revolution also spawned the environment for the Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980, a war that lasted eight long years and established the parameters for the infamous Iran-contra affair, and, through the Iran-Iraq war, the revolution can be directly linked to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the resulting Gulf crisis and war. The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty created a framework for peace that perforce compelled the Arab states to pursue a negotiated resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, to which the historic 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles and the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty owe a great deal; in addition, the treaty upset the balance of power in the Arab world that led directly to Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and affected Saddam Hussein's decision to invade Iran in 1980. Finally, the disastrous Soviet invasion of Afghanistan accelerated the break-up of the Soviet empire and the end to the cold war as well as affected the political disposition in the United States that led to the Reagan era. At the regional level, the war ravaged Afghanistan, and in the ensuing chaos it created a multitude of opportunities for the expansion of Islamist movements fighting against godless communism and then American imperialism--the Taliban, Osama bin Laden, the heightening of Pakistani-Indian hostilities, and disruption and turmoil in the former Central Asian Soviet republics are all the off-srping of the Kremlin's decision to invade Afghanistan. An important breaking point had occurred, and new paradigms had been established. 1979 was both an end and a beginning.After an opening chapter that provides a historiographical analysis of the efficacy and legitimacy of examining the made-made and Western categorization called "1979," the book offers a historical survey of the three primary events occurring during the year: the Iranian revolution, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The culminating third chapter of the book connects the dots of history, i.e., outlines and explains the important repercussions of the events of 1979 down to the present day.

The Middle East and the United States brings together scholars and policy experts to provide an empirical and balanced assessment of US policy in the Middle East primarily from the end of World War I to the present. Carefully edited by David W. Lesch and Mark L. Haas, this text provides a broad and authoritative understanding of the United States' involvement in the Middle East. The sixth edition is significantly revised throughout, including a new part structure and part introductions that provide students with greater context for understanding the history of the United States and the Middle East. The five parts cover the watershed moments and major challenges the United States faces in the Middle East, from the Cold War proxy wars and the Arab-Israeli conflict, to the Gulf wars and the upheaval in the region post-Arab uprisings. Three new chapters-on the Golan negotiations, US-Saudi relations, and the US fight against al-Qa'ida and ISIS-make this the most current and comprehensive book on the United States' involvement in the Middle East

Today Syria is a country known for all the wrong reasons: civil war, vicious sectarianism, and major humanitarian crisis. But how did this once rich, multi-cultural society end up as the site of one of the twenty-first century’s most devastating and brutal conflicts? In this incisive book, internationally renowned Syria expert David Lesch takes the reader on an illuminating journey through the last hundred years of Syrian history – from the end of the Ottoman empire through to the current civil war. The Syria he reveals is a fractured mosaic, whose identity (or lack thereof) has played a crucial part in its trajectory over the past century. Only once the complexities and challenges of Syria’s history are understood can this pivotal country in the Middle East begin to rebuild and heal.

Offers students different critical perspectives on major historical events, drawn from all time periods and from all parts of the globe. Each volume has a thematic, era or subject-specific focus and contains roughly 50 entries. Entries begin with a brief overview summarizing the controversy followed by two or more signed, point-counterpoint essays.