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Books on Middle East

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Blood of the Earth

The Battle for the World's Vanishing Oil Resources

By Dilip Hiro


This vivid history of oil--and the way it revolutionized civilian life, war, and world politics--sets the stage for the coming oil wars of the 21st Century.

In a recent edition of Yale Global Online, Dilip Hiro explains why playing the oil card only goes so far in international diplomacy. Read it here.
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Crimes of War: Iraq


By Richard Falk, Irene Gendzier and Robert Jay Lifton


From the same editorial team whose 1971 Crimes of War became one of the definitive Vietnam-era accounts of American war crimes comes this penetrating inquiry into the legal, historical, and psychological dimensions of the war in Iraq.

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Inside the Resistance

The Iraqi Insurgency and the Future of the Middle East

By Zaki Chehab


While most Western journalists report from Iraq either from the safety of their hotel rooms or embedded with the US military, Zaki Chehab goes into the Sunni Triangle and other danger zones. The result is the first authoritative portrait of the insurgency in all its complexity.

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Herzl's Nightmare

One Land, Two Peoples

By Peter Rodgers


Theodor Herzl's dream of a national homeland for the Jewish people was realized when Israel declared its independence in 1948. Yet it was made possible only through the deaths of millions of European Jews and at the expense of Palestinian society--a people who would never forget what they saw as a grave injustice. Herzl's dream would prove illusory.

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The Truth About Camp David

The Untold Story About the Collapse of the Middle East Peace Process

By Clayton E. Swisher


"Clayton E. Swisher is the first to research the mistakes and miscalculations made by the Clinton administration that led to the collapse of the Israeli-Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Any future mediator will have to read this account before the start of any final-status negotiations." --Charles Enderlin, author of Shattered Dreams.

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Freedom Next Time

Resisting the Empire

By John Pilger


From one of the world's preeminent investigative journalists comes this examination of five countries whose people have shed blood and dreams in their struggle for freedom--and, decades later are still waiting.

Read the Guardian's review here.
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Inside Hamas

The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement

By Zaki Chehab


What is the real nature of Hamas? Since their astounding victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections--and following Hamas's takeover of Gaza--this has become a hotly contested question in the Middle East.

On May 21, Zaki Chehab appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Watch here.

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Lost Years

Bush, Sharon, and Failure in the Middle East

By Mark Matthews


A vivid account of this contentious and turbulent era in Israeli-American relations, Lost Years illustrates the disastrous failure of George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon to recognize the essential first step towards achieving peace in the Middle East: compromise.
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Lords of the Land

The War for Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007

By Idith Zertal, PhD and Akiva Eldar


A New York Times Editor's Choice

"[T]his important book...the first complete history of the settlement project...provides a detailed narrative of injustice."

--New York Times Book Review

Read other reviews on Truthdig and Ha'aretz.

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The Man Who Pushed America to War

The Extraordinary Life, Adventures and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi

By Aram Roston


From an Emmy award-winning investigative reporter - an explosive biography that reveals the untold story of the man most responsible for the war in Iraq.

Read an adaptation of the book.

Read a review in Congressional Quarterly.

Read more about Aram Roston and check out his website.

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Blackwater (paperback)

The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

By Jeremy Scahill


On September 16, 2007, Blackwater Worldwide mercenaries opened fire in Baghdad's Nisour Square, killing 17 Iraqi civilians, among them women and children. In this fully revised and updated paperback, award-winning investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill reveals the explosive story of the company that has become the new face of the U.S. war machine.

Jeremy Scahill recently won the prestigious 2007 George Polk Book Award.

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Collateral Damage

America's War Against Iraqi Civilians

By Laila Al-Arian and Chris Hedges


In this devastating exposé, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges and journalist Laila Al-Arian reveal the terrifying reality of daily civilian life in Iraq at the hands of U.S. troops. Collateral Damage is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with combat veterans who explain the tactics and operations that have turned many Iraqis against the U.S. military.

Michael Schwartz wrote on The Huffington Post that the book "offers the best account so far of what Hedges calls the 'vast enterprise of industrial slaughter unleashed in Iraq,' and its impact on the troops who are trained and ordered to administer it."

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The Age of the Warrior

Selected Essays

By Robert Fisk


Robert Fisk, Britain's most celebrated foreign correspondent, takes us from the London bombings to the streets of Lebanon, from war-torn Iraq to the horrors of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering courageous, eyewitness accounts of our blood-stained past and present. A collection of remarkable breadth and power, The Age of the Warrior is indispensable reading for our complex, battle-scarred world.

"Robert Fisk is one of the outstanding reporters of this generation. As a war correspondent he is unrivalled."
Financial Times

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Backstabbing for Beginners

My Crash Course in International Diplomacy

By Michael Soussan


In 1997, Michael Soussan accepted his dream job at the United Nations Oil-for-Food program, the largest humanitarian operation in the organization's history. On March 8, 2004, in a Wall Street Journal editorial, he became the first insider to call for "an independent investigation" of the UN's dealings with Saddam Hussein. Backstabbing for Beginners is at once the darkly comic tale of one man's political coming of age, and a stinging indictment of the hypocrisy that prevailed at the heart of the world's most idealistic institution.

The Wall Street Journal listed Backstabbing for Beginners as one of the 12 best books of 2008.

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Halliburton's Army

How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War

By Pratap Chatterjee


From Halliburton's vital mission as the logistical backbone of the U.S. occupation in Iraq—without it there could be no war or occupation—to its role in covering up gang-rape among its personnel in Baghdad, Halliburton's Army is a devastating exposé of corporate malfeasance and political cronyism. In shocking detail it shows how Halliburton and its former subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) really do business in Iraq, and around the world.

Watch Pratap Chatterjee discuss Halliburton's Army on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

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A World I Loved

The Story of an Arab Woman

By Wadad Makdisi Cortas


Wadad Makdisi Cortas takes us on an unforgettable journey through the Middle East over the past century in her haunting memoir. Written with eloquence, compassion and fierce intelligence, A World I Loved is both an elegy to Lebanon and its people, and the story of one woman's journey from hope to sorrow as she bears painful witness to the undoing of her beloved country by sectarian and religious divisions.
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Collateral Damage (paperback)

America's War Against Iraqi Civilians

By Laila Al-Arian and Chris Hedges


In this devastating exposé, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges and journalist Laila Al-Arian reveal the terrifying reality of daily civilian life in Iraq at the hands of U.S. troops. Collateral Damage is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with combat veterans who explain the tactics and operations that have turned many Iraqis against the U.S. military.

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Halliburton's Army (paperback)

How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War

By Pratap Chatterjee


From Halliburton's mission as the logistical backbone of the U.S. occupation in Iraq—without it there could be no war or occupation—to its role in covering up sexual abuse among its personnel in Baghdad, Halliburton's Army is a devastating exposé of corporate malfeasance and political cronyism.

"A sordid tale of politics and profiteering... A report that deserves many readers, about matters that deserve many indictments."
Kirkus

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Beware of Small States

Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East

By David Hirst


In this magisterial history of Lebanon, from the end of the Ottoman rule to the Hizbullah and Hamas wars of today, David Hirst, the acclaimed and fiercely independent Middle East journalist and historian, charts with extraordinary skill and lucidity the intricate interplay between Lebanon and its geopolitical environment. This is also a history of the whole Middle East and above all, of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"A brilliant analytical mind."
Robert Fisk

Newsweek reviewed Hirst's book in the "We Read it so You Don't Have to" section of their magazine.

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Aftermath

Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World

By Nir Rosen


Nir Rosen's Aftermath is an extraordinary feat of reporting that follows the contagious spread of radicalism and sectarian violence that the invasion of Iraq and the ensuing civil war have unleashed in the Middle East. Taking us from Iraq to Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and finally Afghanistan, acclaimed journalist Rosen goes to the alleys, deserts, refugee camps, mosques, and battlefields of the post-invasion Muslim world to show how the American military has influenced Iraq and Afghanistan and how it has been influenced by its new theater of operations. Aftermath is an unsparing account of what America has wrought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Brilliantly reported and deeply humane."
—Andrew Bacevich, author of Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War



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Marfa Dialogues/Diálogos en Marfa: Politics and Culture of the Border

undef 0 | Marfa, Texas

See acclaimed Nation Books authors Charles Bowden and Mark Danner speak at Marfa Dialogues: Politics and Culture of the Border, three days of art, film, music, and literature. Presented by Ballroom Marfa and The Washington Spectator, in collaboration with The Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa Public Radio and Marfa Book Company.

September 9 - October 22
Robert Scheer: Author Tour
(West Coast, United States)
Please join Nation Books author Robert Scheer as he travels to Washington, California and Oregon on an author tour to discuss his latest book, The Great American Stickup. MORE

September 16 | 5:30 pm
Investigating Impunity After Katrina
(New York University, New York City)
Please join us for "Investigating Impunity After Katrina," the launch event for The Backstory, a new monthly series of public conversations with investigative reporters and nonfiction authors affiliated with The Nation Institute. Investigative Fund reporter A.C. Thompson will discuss his award-winning reporting in New Orleans. (See Katrina's Hidden Race War and Body of Evidence, published in The Nation in January 2009.) MORE

September 18 | 1 pm
Author Talk: Wayne Karlin
(Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C.)
Please join Nation Books author Wayne Karlin as he discusses his book, Wandering Souls: Journeys With The Dead And The Living In Viet Nam at Washington, D.C.'s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on September 18 at 1 p.m. MORE

September 24 - October 5
Fatima Bhutto: Author Tour
(Across the United States)
Please join Fatima Bhutto as she travels from New York to Massachusetts, Oregon and California on an author tour to discuss her new memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword. MORE

October 5 | 7 pm
Herding Donkeys: Howard Dean and Ari Berman on the Future of the Democratic Party
(92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street, New York City)
Nation Institute Fellow Ari Berman talks about his new book, Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics, with former Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean. MORE

October 23 - January 16
Eugene Richards: Photo Exhibit
(Exhibition around the world)
Institute Fellow and award-winning photographer is the winner of the 2010 World Press Photo of the Year contest. Every year following the World Press Photo Contest, the winning images go on tour. The exhibition is officially opened in Amsterdam as part of the award ceremony in April and can be seen at venues around the globe until the next year. The tour program takes in approximately 100 cities in 45 countries and is still expanding. MORE