The 100 Best Books About Middle East History & Politics

• A History of the Modern Middle East by William L. Cleveland
• Orientalism by Edward W. Said
• The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East by Juan Cole
• Resurrecting Empire by Rashid Khalidi
• Colonising Egypt by Timothy Mitchell
• A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani
• The Hidden Face of Eve by Nawal El Saadawi
• From Deep State to Islamic State by Jean-Pierre Filiu
• Islam and the Arab Awakening by Tariq Ramadan
• The Modern Middle East by James L. Gelvin
• The Venture of Islam by Marshall G. S. Hodgson
• Being Arab by Samir Kassir
• The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe
• Beware of Small States by David Hirst
• The Mantle of the Prophet by Roy Mottahedeh
• A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962 by Alistair Horne
• The Old Social Classes & The Revolutionary Movement In Iraq by Hanna Batatu
• When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World by Hugh Kennedy
• A History of Islamic Societies by Ira M. Lapidus
• State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East by Roger Owen
• Over-Stating the Arab State by Nazih N. Ayubi
• Iran: A People Interrupted by Hamid Dabashi
• No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal
• A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin
• A History of Saudi Arabia by Madawi al-Rasheed
• Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War by Robin Yassin-Kassab
• The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History by Ibn Khaldun
• Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya by Ali Abdullatif Ahmida
• Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism by Zachary Lockman
• Greek Thought, Arabic Culture by Dimitri Gutas
• Beyond the Green Zone by Dahr Jamail
• Turkey: A Modern History by Erik J. Zurcher
• Water on Sand: Environmental Histories Of The Middle East And North Africa by Alan Mikhail
• A Political Economy of the Middle East by Melani Cammett
• Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman by Montgomery Watt
• The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800 by Jonathan P. Berkey
• The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global by Fawaz A. Gerges
• The People’s Spring: The Future of the Arab Revolution by Samir Amin
• Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam by Gilles Kepel
• The Modern History of Iraq by Phebe Marr
• This Time We Went Too Far: Truth & Consequences of the Gaza Invasion by Norman G. Finkelstein
• Quicksand: America’s Pursuit of Power in the Middle East by Geoffrey Wawro
• Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed by John Phillips
• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer
• Syrian Notebooks: Inside the Homs Uprising by Jonathan Littell
• Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949–1993 by Yezid Sayigh
• The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World by Avi Shlaim
• Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate by Leila Ahmed
• Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History by Thomas Barfield
• Inside Inequality in the Arab Republic of Egypt by Paolo Verme
• The Society of the Muslim Brothers by Richard P. Mitchell
• Arab Politics: Search for Legitimacy by Michael C. Hudson
• Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution by Nikki R. Keddie
• Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria by Lisa Wedeen
• Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam by Jason Burke
• Drone Warfare by Medea Benjamin
• The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
• Good Muslim, Bad Muslim by Mahmood Mamdani
• On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — and Future by Karen Elliott House
• Bad News from Israel by Mike Berry
• Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance by George Saliba
• Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think by John L. Esposito
• Beyond Islam by Sami Zubaida
• The Road to Iraq by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
• Defending the Holy Land by Zeev Maoz
• A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered by Kamal S. Salibi
• Pakistan: A Hard Country by Anatol Lieven
• Islam, Charity, and Activism: Middle-Class Networks and Social Welfare in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen by Janine A. Clark
• The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922 by Donald Quataert
• Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation, and Regime Resilience in Syria and Iran by Steven Heydemann
• A Modern History of the Kurds by David McDowall
• Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied by Toby Dodge
• Suez: Britain’s End of Empire in the Middle East by Keith Kyle
• Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair by Adeed Dawisha
• Egypt: The Moment of Change by Rabab El-Mahdi
• Yemen Chronicle: An Anthropology of War and Mediation by Steven C. Caton
• France, the United States, and the Algerian War by Irwin M. Wall
• The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830–1980 by Lisa Anderson
• All in the Family by Michael Herb
• A Different Kind of War: The UN Sanctions Regime in Iraq by Hans von Sponeck
• The Coup by Ervand Abrahamian
• The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited by Benny Morris
• The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal
• Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak by Tarek Osman
• Remaking Women by Lila Abu-Lughod
• Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity by Afsaneh Najmabadi
• Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That is Challenging the West by Hugh Miles
• The Gulf Monarchies and Climate Change by Mari Luomi
• The Rise of Colleges by George Makdisi
• The Middle East in International Relations by Fred Halliday
• Cairo: The City Victorious by Max Rodenbeck
• The Egypt of Nasser and Sadat: The Political Economy of Two Regimes by John Waterbury
• Hell in the Holy Land: World War One in the Middle East by David R. Woodward
• Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Robert A. Pape
• Religion and State in Syria: The Sunni Ulama from Coup to Revolution by Thomas Pierret
• The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq by Emma Sky
• Gaddafi’s Harem: The Story of a Young Woman and the Abuses of Power in Libya by Annick Cojean
• Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945 by Melani McAlister
• An Introduction to Arabic Literature by Roger Allen
• Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–89 by Rodric Braithwaite

Source: List Muse