The Contemporary Middle East: A Documentary History

Grade 10 Up—Whether they were originally public (the "League of Nations Mandate for Palestine") or secret (the "Protocol of Sévres," in which Britain, France, and Israel plotted to seize the Suez Canal from Egyptian control), these diplomatic and political documents made history, and some are still operative. The documents (and a 46-page chronology, unfortunately unindexed) cover the period from 1914 to 2007; most are unabridged. After a "foundations" chapter, almost half the book focuses on Israel's relationship with Palestinians and other Arabs; separate chapters consider Lebanon and Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Turkey. (The index shows many, but not all, references to Jordan, too; however, not all references to Kurds or other topics are all indexed.) There are few in-text cross-references.

Felton's commentaries, fully one-third of the text, form a lucid, integral, and objective history. They are interspersed between the opening chapter overviews and the substantive introductory contexts for each document. These short essays give uniformly clear, concise accounts of complex and contentious recent history. Unfortunately, there is no quick way to distinguish the commentary from the documents. The sole bibliography is mercifully select (at two-and-a-half pages) and includes only print citations, though a few of the journal articles cited are also available online. Despite the admirable clarity of the writing, the level of detail might challenge secondary readers. However, these small objections do not seriously qualify the excellence of this historical resource that promises to remain relevant for some time to come.

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