Offering a comprehensive, up-to-date examination of the complex web of
wars and proxy wars, revolutions and counter-revolutions that are
ripping the Middle East apart, this book puts these events in their
historical context and leads readers through the labyrinth that is the
new Middle East. This book seeks answers to pressing, contentious
questions. Why are there so many hereditary heads of state in the Middle
East when the Prophet Muhammad did not appoint a successor? Why do
Western countries claim to want democracy in the Middle East, yet
support dictators? Why did Israel become a democracy while the Arab
states did not? Why are there so many wars in the Middle East? And, most
importantly, what happened to the hope and optimism of the Arab Spring?
M.E. McMillan offers fresh answers to these difficult questions. Firmly
grounded in historical research and insightful analysis of current
events, this book gives readers a new understanding of what's really
going on in the Middle East.