Books About The Middle East And North Africa

by Eamonn Gearon

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7 books

To outsiders, the Middle East is often seen as a confusing and dangerous place, but this is a one-dimensional perspective, thus limited and too narrow. Understanding how geographically vast and historically diverse it is is the best place to start to understand it better. Every week, someone writes to me to thank me for my recorded lecture series, but if you want to stick to books, the following are all first-rate. Enjoy your journey!

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The Middle East

A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years

Bernard Lewis, 1995

After 9/11, Bernard Lewis’s reputation as a historian suffered in some circles because of his close association with the George W. Bush White House and his ostensible support for the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq. Putting that aside, his earlier work on the history of the Middle East was an exemplar of accessible scholarship and easy literary style. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years is a great example of these qualities and remains a delightful and comprehensive historical survey looking at successive waves of transition and change in the region in various realms, such as politics, economics, and culture, up to and including modern times.

North Africa, Revised Edition

A History from Antiquity to the Present

Phillip Naylor, 2015

Often paired up as a handy geopolitical region, when it comes to the Middle East and North Africa, too often, the latter receives less attention than it deserves. Naylor’s wonderful history of North Africa is a corrective to this, highlighting the region’s position as a crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe and its subsequent importance in world history. From prehistory to the present day, the author deftly covers ancient Egypt, Rome, and Carthage, the rise of Islam, the Ottoman Empire, European conquests, and the postcolonial situation. The revised edition also takes in the Arab Uprisings that started in the region in 2011.

The Modern Middle East

A History (Very Short Introductions)

James L. Gelvin, 2020

This is one of the best available histories of the modern Middle East, which deals with so much more than just top-line names and events, instead exploring the big forces behind global modernity and the role these have played in transforming the region’s social, economic, cultural, and political life over the past 500 years. If I say it’s text-book-like, please don’t be put off: this is a model of its type, with lots of maps, photos, original documents, and extra materials. And if you want to understand the preponderance of authoritarian regimes in today’s Middle East - and resistance to them – look no further.

Napoleon's Egypt

Invading the Middle East

Juan Cole, 2007

Many historians take Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798 as the start of the modern era in the Middle East and North Africa. Although an idea that is both contentious and imperfect, the moment remains a useful landmark. Here, the prolific blogger, author, and university professor explores an all too often overlooked story. As well as Napoleon’s expedition into Egypt itself, there is also a back story to consider, both Napoleon’s personal views and global competition more broadly, as well as what they found and what happened next. Stylishly written, this is an eye-opening account of an early European invasion of a region that remains a geopolitical hotspot.

Three Worlds

Memoirs of an Arab-Jew

Avi Shlaim, 2023

Memoirs can be a wonderful medium for putting a human face onto history. This book, by Professor Avi Shlaim, is a shining example of the genre: honest, revelatory, surprising, and, naturally given the subject matter, at times almost too sad for words, and yet the author succeeds. The recent history of relations between Israel and the Palestinian territories is a tragedy that belied the generally amicable associations and co-existence that existed between Jews and Muslims across the Middle East and North Africa in the centuries before the 1950s. This is not a re-writing of history but an authentic account from one whose family background overturns the modern falsehood that these confessional groups can never get along. This memoir deserves to be read both in its own right, and as a powerful reminder of how much things can change, and so, maybe, in time, can change again for the better.

A History of Islamic Societies

Ira M. Lapidus, 2014

Please do not be alarmed at the size of this book. It is the most amazing, single-volume history of Islamic civilizations you will ever find. Lapidus’ reputation was established – and remains secure – because of this monumental work, which explores the emergence and later transformations of Islamic civilizations across the Middle East and North Africa and beyond. The journey is an amazing one, starting in pre-Islamic, late antiquity, via the birth of Islam and the early Islamic empires, right up to the modern day. As well as religious matters, this book also tackles ‘Islamic’ matters more broadly, including the arts, legal codes, intellectual movements, and so on. Geographically, it ranges from the Middle Eastern heartland to Muslim Andalusia, Ottoman Turkey, Safavid Persia, and Mughal India, as well as Islamic societies in other parts of Asia and Africa. Just brilliant.

The Watermelon Boys

Ruqaya Izzidien, 2018

Fiction is often overlooked in the telling of history, and while there are many possible angles to look from – see, for instance, Naguib Mahfouz, the Arab Dickens – this is a wonderful debut novel by a Middle Eastern author about the First World War in the Middle East. A story of multiple identities and cultural clashes, both East and intra-West, it is a terrific book that brings together great story-telling and modern history. Two young men, Carwyn, from Wales, and Ahmad from Mesopotamia, meet amidst a global war, local revolution, and the personal struggles of growing up in a dangerous and fast-changing world.