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
Nov 22
Faisal Devji, "Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam" (Yale UP, 2025)
Faisal Devji's Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam (Yale UP, 2025) is a compelling examination of the rise of Islam as a global historical actor. Until the nineteenth century, Islam was variously understood as a set of beliefs and practices. But after Muslims began ... Show More
1h 4m
Nov 21
Killian Clarke, "Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Why do some revolutions fail and succumb to counterrevolutions, whereas others go on to establish durable rule?
Marshalling original data on counterrevolutions worldwide since 1900 and new evidence from the reversal of Egypt's 2011 revolution, in Return of Tyranny: Why Counterre ... Show More
1h 5m
Nov 14
Basit Kareem Iqbal, "The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution" (Fordham UP, 2025)
Basit Kareem Iqbal's new book The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution (Fordham UP, 2025) uses ethnographic scenes from Jordan and Canada to contextualize the role of Muslim charities and community organizations that support displaced refugees from t ... Show More
1h 16m
Feb 2022
EUGENE ROGAN | Modern Middle Eastern History | Mujalasa
<p>In this Mujalasa interview, we talked to Eugene Rogan his research on modern middle eastern history. Rogan is the author of The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920 (2015) and The Arabs: A History (2009, 2018) which has been translated to 18 langua ... Show More
31m 18s
May 2023
J. E. PETERSON | Centuries of Omani History | Conversations
<p>J. E. Peterson talks about his research about the history of the Arab region. In this afikra Conversation, Peterson introduces us to the history of Oman through his books "Historical Muscat," "Oman at War," and "Oman in the Twentieth Century."</p><p>Dr. J.E. Peterson is a hist ... Show More
55m 41s
Nov 2023
Violence, Nonviolence & the Palestinian National Movement | Wendy Pearlman
<p>Peace processes, two-state vs one-state solutions and nonviolent protests. In conversation with Professor Wendy Pearlman from Northwestern University, we take two of her books as a foundation to examine grassroots activism historically and to consider a potential future “just” ... Show More
1h 3m