As the Middle East continues to become more topical to American and European audiences, a need for textbooks to teach the history of the region has become urgent. Some such textbooks take a topical approach, others use a chronological narrative. Betty Anderson‘s A History of the Middle East: Rulers, Rebels, and Rogues (Stanford University Press, 2016) combin ... Show More
Yesterday
Robin Whelan, "Serving the Christian State in Late Antiquity" (Cambridge UP, 2026)
How did the state become Christian in late antiquity? Many scholars have traced the Christianization of the Roman world in the centuries following the conversion of the emperor Constantine in 312 CE. Robin Whelan, however, turns his attention away from the usual suspects in such ... Show More
1h 14m
Aug 20
Emily Sibley, "The Poetics of Incivility: Satire and Subversion in Modern Arab Culture" (Cornell UP, 2026)
The Poetics of Incivility: Satire and Subversion in Modern Arab Culture (Cornell UP, 2026) explores impolite modes of expression—satire, crude humor, and rudeness—as a critical lens for both aesthetic innovation and sociopolitical critique. In the Arab world—from Cairo's Tahrir ... Show More
38m 54s
Aug 17
Amihai Mazar and Nava Panitz-Cohen, "Tel Rehov: A Bronze and Iron Age City in the Beth-Shean Valle" (The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University, 2020)
This interview with Professor Amihai Mazar was conducted by Željko Stanojević for the New Books Network. The conversation focuses on Tel Reḥov: A Bronze and Iron Age City in the Beth-Shean Valley, especially Volume V, where the report turns from architecture and pottery to smalle ... Show More
42m 9s
Feb 2025
Season 4, Episode 5: Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History
Send us Fan MailJoin Professor Jeffrey Sachs and historian Eugene Rogan, professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford, as they delve into the complex history of the Arab world, from the Ottoman conquest in 1516 to today’s geopolitical crises of the modern Middle East. Thr ... Show More
52m 39s
Jan 2021
Daily: The “BLACK WAVE” that engulfed the Middle East
From the Iranian Revolution to the invasion of Afghanistan, events in 1979 turned the tides on decades of liberalisation across the Middle East. Kim Ghattas, journalist and author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and ... Show More
34m 9s
Sep 2023
Ussama Makdisi: Narrating our Middle Eastern History
In this episode, Rafeef, Tayla, and Tom are joined Dr. Ussama Makdisi, Palestinian-American scholar and academic, currently a Professor of History and Chancellor’s Chair at the University of California Berkeley. Dr Makdisi is the author of several books and publications on sectar ... Show More
49m 17s
Jun 2016
Marc Lynch, “The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East” (PublicAffairs, 2016)
Marc Lynch is the author of The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East (Public Affairs, 2016). Lynch is a professor of political science at George Washington University and blogs at the Monkey Cage.
From Tunisia to Egypt to Syria, the Arab Spring saw protesters ... Show More
21m 31s