Dictionary of the Middle East - Softcover

An impressive attempt.' - Economist; An invaluable guide for journalists, diplomats and, not least, politicians...' - Middle East International; ...invaluable to anyone with a professional or personal interest in Middle Eastern affairs.' - Ben Holland, Turkish Daily News;The term 'Middle East' conjures up a multitude of images and concepts in the western mind. Sand dunes, camels, nomads. Gushing oil wells. Saddam Hussein. Terrorists, assassins, hostage-takers. Babylon. Islamic fundamentalism. OPEC. Bombed-out Beirut. Women under the veil. Jerusalem, the Holy. The Gulf Wars. The Islamic dome and minarets. The Promised Land. The Pyramids. Yasser Arafat. The Church of the Nativity. Oil Sheikhs loaded with petro-dollars. Teeming Cairo. Arabs and Jews fighting. Ayatollah Khomeini. Arabic calligraphy. Suicide bombers. Bearded Jews in black coats. The Bible. Kibbutzim. Kurds, Shias, Orthodox Jews, Maronites, Bahais, Sunnis, Zionism. Dilip Hiro, the author of several books on the region, has written a general purpose dictionary of the Middle East. Containing almost 1000 entries, it deals lucidly and objectively, with an impressive variety of images, events, ideologies, natural resources,