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God says his people perish for a lack of knowledge. We must be gentle as doves but wise as serpents in our prayers and actions as we serve the people of the Isaiah 19 Highway. This page offers suggested reading on the peoples, history, culture and current events of the Middle East.

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Books

Israel

  • A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel, by Walter Laqueur. Traces Zionism and its players from the beginning and explains how the different Zionist philosophies vary from one another. He also includes commentary from secular and religious critics.
  • In the Land of Israel, by Amos Oz. A collection of essays in which Oz chronicles the thoughts of workers, soldiers, religious zealots, aging pioneers, new immigrants, desperate Arabs, and visionaries whom he asked questions about Israel’s past, present, and future.
  • The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter that Transformed the Middle East, by Abraham Rabinovich who covered the war for the Jerusalem Post.
  • Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Michael B. Oren. Makes the case that every ensuing conflict until now is “a direct consequence of those six days of fighting” in 1967.
  • The Israelis: Founders and Sons, by Amos Elon. An excellent introduction to Israeli history.
  • 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, by Benny Morris. An excellent and balanced account of the War of Independence.
  • O Jerusalem!, by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. A classic on Israel’s early years. Also available in a number of other languages.
  • 1949: The First Israelis, Tom Segev.
  • Israel. A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, by Daniel Gordis.
  • My Father’s House, by Yigal Allon.

Historical Fiction

  • The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. Historical fiction that highlights a lot of actual Jewish history.
  • Exodus, by Leon Uris. Historical fiction that is both historically accurate on many accounts and a good read.

Kurds

  • Ethnic Realities and the Church. Lessons from Kurdistan (1668–1990), by Robert Blincoe. An excellent history on mission world among the Kurds.
  • A Modern History of the Kurds, by David McDowell. Examines the interplay of old and new aspects of the struggle, the importance of local rivalries within Kurdish society, the enduring authority of certain forms of leadership and the failure of modern states to respond to the challenge of Kurdish nationalism.
  • Agha, Shaikh, and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan, by Martin van Bruinessen. Covers the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the great Kurdish revolt against republican Turkey, the birth of Kurdish nationalism and the situation of the Kurdish people in Iraq, Turkey and Iran today. Tribe by tribe, he accounts for the evolution of power within Kurdish religious and other lineages, and shows how relations with the state have played a key constitutive role in the development of tribal structures.
  • My Father’s Paradise, by Ariel Sabar. Also available in Chinese.
  • Invisible Nation, by Quil Lawrence.
  • Kurdistan on the Global Stage, by Diane King.

Turkey and Turkish History

  • Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds, by Stephen Kinzer. An excellent analysis of Modern Turkey even if it’s few years old.
  • Lords of the Horizon, by Jason Goodwin.
  • From the Holy Mountain, by William Dalrymple.
  • Biblical Turkey, by Mark Wilson.

Armenians and the Armenian Genocide:

  • Caravans to Oblivion, by G.S Graber.
  • The Burning Tigris, by Peter Balikian.
  • Armenian Golgotha, by Gregoris Balikian.
  • The Thirty-Year Genocide, by Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi.
  • My Big Father, by Bruce Farnham. The story of Kenan Araz who lived to share the love of God in Muslim Turkey. It gives the history of the Church in Modern Turkey. It is good, though a bit dated.

Former Muslims

  • Why I Am Not a Muslim, by Ibn Warraq. Written as a reaction over the fatwa and death threats against Salman Rushdie.
  • Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The story of a woman raised in a strict Muslim family who survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries. She escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament.
  • A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam, by Wafa Sultan, M.D. The author pulls no punches in looking clearly at Islam and the threat it poses for the rest of the world. Sultan was born and raised in Syria.
  • Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices, by Mosab Hassan Yousef. A gripping autobiographical account that is very realistic. It tells the story of the son of a Hamas founder who finds himself spying for Israel during the Second Intifada and meanwhile finds Jesus Christ.

Islam

  • The Koran, (Penguin Classics) by N. J. Dawood (Editor, Translator, Introduction). This is the most accessible interpretation of the Qur’an on the market (in comparison to A. Yousef Ali’s and Pickthal’s interpretations which are nigh unreadable with their faux Elizabethan English). Nevertheless, the Qur’an is a chore to read because, among other reasons, there is no chronological order to it and rarely any context.
  • Engaging Islam, Georges Houssney. The book I recommend on Muslims written by a Lebanese Christian who ministers among Muslims.
  • The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion, by Robert Spencer. Under pressure from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), the F.B.I. has changed (in the summer of 2011) its power-point for training its agents on the subject of Islam which the ACLU considered “a provocative account of Islam.” But as far as I’m aware, the F.B.I. still recommends Spencer’s books. (He also wrote “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades”). In this startling new book, New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer, provides a warts-and-all portrait of the Prophet of Islam and draws out what his life implies for reforming Islam and repulsing Islamic terrorists. Spencer relies solely on primary sources considered reliable by Muslims and evaluates modern biographies to show how Muhammad has been changed for Western audiences, lulling them into consoling but false conclusions.
  • Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross, by Abdul Saleeb (former Muslim) and Norman L. Geisler.
  • Islam and the Jews, by Mark A. Gabriel. Looks at the “powerful cultural and spiritual forces” that fuel the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
  • While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, by Bruce Bawer. NYTimes contributer, Bawer, left his native America in the mid-1990’s fearing that America was turning into an evangelical Christian fascist state. He moved to Holland with his male lover only to see Arab Muslims beating up on homosexuals in the streets of Europe’s most tolerant city. He moved to Norway and found similar intolerance towards homosexuals among Norway’s Muslim immigrant community. Unwilling to move yet again, he wrote this book to warn of a type of intolerance that he has concluded is more dangerous than evangelical Christianity.
  • Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West, Christopher Caldwell. NY Times Magazine contributing editor, Caldwell, has written the best book — but certainly not the first — on the hot-button issue of Muslim immigration to the West. Read more about Caldwell here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Caldwell

On Islam and Christianity

  • Jesus and Muhammad: Profound Differences and Surprising Similarities, by Mark Gabriel. Presents a factual analysis of the two most influential men of all time — Jesus, the founder of Christianity, with 2 billion adherents, and Muhammad, the founder of Islam, with 1.3 billion followers.
  • Once an Arafat Man, by Taysir “Tass” Abu Saada. The true story of how a PLO sniper found a new life. Saada has been a speaker for the At the Crossroads conferences.
  • Defying Death Abuna Zekariah Botross, by Stuart Robinson.
  • A Wind in the House of Islam, by David Garrison.
  • Seeking Allah Finding Jesus, by Nabeel Qureshi.
  • Dreams and Visions, by Tom Doyle.

Judaism and Christianity and Christian History:

  • Our Hands are Stained with Blood, by Michael Brown
  • When a Jew Rules the World, by Joel Richardson
  • The Real Kosher Jesus, by Michael Brown
  • Israel the Church and the Middle East, by Mitch Glaser and Darrell Bock Editors
  • Defending Christian Zionism, by David Pawson
  • Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet Spy, by Eric Mataxas
  • Radical Integrity…The Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, by Michael Van Dyke
  • The Puritan Hope, by Ian Murray
  • The History of Christianity in Asia, by Samuel Hugh Moffat

The Kingdom of God and Biblical Theology:

  • The Promise Plan of God, by Dr. Walter Kaiser Jr.
  • The Kingdom of God, by John Bright
  • A History of Ancient Israel, by John Bright.
  • The Gospel of the Kingdom, by George Eldan Ladd
  • Israel, the Church, and the Middle East: A biblical response to the current conflict, by Darrell L. Bock (Editor), Mitch Glaser (Editor), Joel C. Rosenberg (Foreword). Includes a chapter on Isaiah 19 by Walter Kaiser Jr. that is worth the price of the book.

Books on the Middle East

  • From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas Friedman. (Dated, but considered the classic primer on the Middle East).
  • The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations, by Lee Smith. This is a jewel of a book. Lee is an artist as well as a brilliant analyst of the modern Middle East.
  • The Dream Palace of the Arabs, Fouad Ajami. So beautifully written it holds up to repeat readings. The book is on Arabism.
  • The Arabists, Robert Kaplan. Sensitively and skillfully written. Answers the question as to why the U.S. Department of State takes the positions it does in the Israeli Jewish – Arab Muslim conflict.
  • The Closed Circle, David Pryce-Jones. Chapters 2 & 4, “Shame & Honor” and “Power Challenging and Careerism”, are worth the whole book.
  • The Dhimmi: Jews and Christianity Under Islam, by Bat Ye’or. Also “The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude.” French citizen and scholar, born in Egypt — her “name” means daughter of the Nile, was willing to explore and write about a subject no one else would touch prior to September 11, 2001. She is the expert on minorities under Islam.
  • A Peace to End All Peace, David Fromkin. I find myself dipping into his book more than any other dealing with the Middle East before, during, and immediately after WWI. A masterpiece.
  • One Palestine, Complete, Tom Segev. The New York Times writes: “The best single account of Palestine under the British mandate.”
  • The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Benny Morris. The best and most thorough book on this contentious subject. Be sure to get the second edition.
  • Power Faith and Fantasy, America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present, by Michael B. Oren.

Specialty Books

  • The Formation of Modern Lebanon, Meir Zamir.
  • My Enemies Enemy: Lebanon in the Early Zionist Imagination, 1900 – 1948
  • Pity the Nation, by Robert Fisk. Nicknamed “Pity the Reader” because of the immense detail. Fisk’s reportage is peerless, but you must beware of his ideological writing.
  • Beirut Outtakes, by Larry Pintak. An overlooked book despite the author being an Emmy Award winner — twice — for excellence in reporting and despite having the finest endorsements. Pintak is Fisk without the ideological ranting. He reported from Beirut 1980–1985.

Other Resources

Videos/DVDs

Websites