A history of the Middle East : from antiquity to the present day / Georges Corm ; translated by Hala Khawam.

Arabesques of Geography and History
1 Geographic and Human Definitions
An area with undefined boundaries
Intertwining mountains, deserts, and seas
2 The Middle East: Heart and Crossroads of
Civilizations
An extraordinary cultural wealth
The birth of the city, deities, and writing
Population complexity
The geology ofcultures in the Middle East
3 The Major Strata of Middle Eastern
History
Mesopotamian history (also called Babylonian,
Chaldean, and Assyrian)
The history of Anatolia
The Crusades in the Middle East (1096-1291)
and the Mongol Conquests (1227-1260)
The history ofthe Iranian empires
Egypt and the Middle East
Part II
The Modern Middle East
4 The Fall of Empires and the Rise of
Western Powers
Decadence of the East, renaissance ofthe West
A deeply de-structuring conquest
The three main models ofresistance to
European domination
5 The Middle East under European
Domination
European rivalries and new territorial
partitions (1798—1918)
Direct Anglo—French domination over the
Arab world (1919—1956)
6 The Middle East Caught between the
Cold War, Oil Resources, and the Arab-Israeli
Conflict
U.S.—Soviet rivalries in the East
The uncontrollable Arab—Israeli conflict and
the Nasserite epic
The war of October 1973, the rise of
Saudi Arabia, and the implosion of Lebanon
The inexorable rise ofradical Islam in the
Middle East, the Iranian Isolation, and the
Iran-Iraq war
7 The First Gulf War and its Aftermath
Iraq under trusteeship
The impossible emergence of a Palestinian state
The re-ignition of conflicts in the Middle East
despite Soviet decline
8 The New Middle East under American
Control: Hegemony, Democracy,
and Terrorism
Forced democratization?
The Iraqi crisis: pre-emptive war and occupation
Resolution 1559: destabilizing Lebanon and
encircling Syria
The eternal recurrence ofthe Palestinian tragedy
Confrontation with Iran
Turkey and its relations with the European Union
The power vacuum in the Middle East
Part III
How to Address the Complexity of the Middle East
9 Writing the History of the Middle East:
Methodological Difficulties
The advent of Islam in the Middle East: causes
and consequences
Writing national histories, an impossible task
The influence ofreligion on historical narratives
The necessary rehabilitation of secular
historical criteria
10 The Causes Behind the Decadence of
Middle Eastern Civilizations
Anthropological or historical causes?
Western influence: a catalyst for renaissance
or for more decadence?
The economic and social question
Sweeping upheavals