The following preliminary bibliography has been prepared by the Peace & Economic Security Program of the American Friends Service Committee's New England Regional Office. It is designed to serve as an introduction to background literature related to the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and U.S. foreign and military policies. Additional books and resources will be added to this list in the coming weeks - especially related to Central Asia. Your suggestions of additional texts and resources will be appreciated.

Afghanistan & Central Asia

Ian Bremmer & Ray Taras, eds. Nations & Politics in the Soviet Successor States, Cambridge University Press. Has eight helpful chapters on the political histories and dynamics of the nations of Central Asia and the Caucuses. Contributors include Shireen Hunter, Martha Brill Olcott and others.

Michael Mandelbaum ed. Central Asia and the World: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Council on Foreign Relations. An Establishment resource on the histories and political dynamics of the nations of Central Asia. Contributors include Martha Brill Olcott, Daniel Pipes, Shafiquil Islam and others.

***Ahmed Rashid. Taliban, Yale Note Bene Press, New Haven, 2001. The origins, commitments, and U.S.-Pakistani support for the Taliban, including several chapters on "The New Great Game" and the politics of oil in Afghanistan and Central Asia -- written by a deeply knowledgeable journalist.

Arabs, Oil & The Gulf:

***Anthony Arnove, ed. Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War, South End Press. The best book available on the roots of the U.S.-Iraq war and the impacts of a decade of economic sanctions on the people of that nation. Contributors include Noam Chomsky, Denis Halliday, Kathy Kelly, Howard Pilger, Howard Zinn and others.

Phyllis Bennis & Michel Moushabeck. Beyond the Storm: A Gulf Crisis Reader, Olive Branch Press, New York, 1991. With foreword and introduction by Edward Said and Eqbal Ahmad, and articles by Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Clovis Maksoud and others, this is among the best readers from the 1991 Gulf War.

Dilip Hiro. Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War, Routledge Press, 1992. Hiro is among the best journalist-scholars of the Middle East and South Asia. Here he provides excellent background and detail t the war and its political contexts.

***Albert Hourani. A History of the Arab Peoples, Harvard University Press. A comprehensive and scholarly history of the Arab world from the 7^th century through the modern era, including religion, culture, political dynamics, the engagement/tensions with the West.

Majid Khadduri. The Gulf War: The Origins and Implications of the Iraq-Iran Conflict, Oxford University Press. Describes the origins of the Shill-Sunni conflict, the Iran-Iraq war following the Iranian revolution, and security alternatives in the Gulf.

***Michael T. Klare. Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict, Metropolitan Books, 2001. An excellent overview of the struggle for oil in the Middle East and Central Asia, and for other resources at the beginning of the 21^st century.

Michael A. Palmer. Guardians of the Gulf: A History of America's Expanding Role in the Persian Gulf, 1833-1992, Free Press, 1992. This is a mainstream academic history of the U.S. in the Gulf, rich in detail.

***Maxime Rodinson, The Arabs, University of Chicago Press. An accessible introduction to Arab history, culture and political by a leading scholar.

***Daniel Yergin. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, Simon & Schuster, 1991. Probably the most comprehensive history of the 20^th century struggle for power and hegemony through the control of oil.

Islam

***John L. Exposito. The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? Oxford University Press. A thoughtful history of the cooperation and tensions between the Islamic and Western worlds, the political dynamics of resurgent Islam and of Islamic fundamentalism.

Alfred Guillaume. Islam, Pelican Books. An introduction to Islam, its beliefs, evolution, and related political history.

***Maxime Rodinson. Mohammed, Vintage Books. A biography of the prophet of Islam, focusing on the cultural, historical and political contexts.

Anthony Shadid. Legacy of the Prophet: Despots and Democracy in Modern Islam. Westview Press. Praised by Edward Said, this book provides essential background to Islam and to the rulers and political forces who act in its name.

Israel/Palestine:

American Friends Service Committee. Search for Peace in the Middle East, Hill & Wang, 1970. A ground breaking study on the origins of the conflict and elements essential for peace.

***Noam Chomsky. The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians. A critical and comprehensive history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and of the U.S. roles in that conflict.

***Simha Flapan. The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities, Pantheon Press, 1987. Background on the creation of Israel by one of that nation's most thoughtful scholars.

Roger Friedland and Ricard Hecht. To Rule Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, 1996. A scholarly book which among the best descriptions of the of the role Jerusaelm plays in the life of Palestinians and Israelis, of the struggle to control the city, and possible peace resolution of the struggle for control of Jerusalem.

Deborah J. Gerner. One Land, Two Peoples: The Conflict over Palestine, Westview Press 1991 (and later editions) A helpful introduction to the background and possible resolution of the conflict.

Abu Iyad with Eric Rouleau. My Home, My Land: A Narrative of the Palestinian Struggle, Times Books. A personal history of the Palestinian experience, the rise and approaches of the Palestine Liberation Organization by one of its founders.

***Maxime Rodinson. Israel A Colonial-Settler State? Maxime Rodinson, Monad Press 1973. An important study of the historical, political and cultural similarities of Israel, the U.S. and Apartheid South Africa.

***Edward W. Said. The Question of Palestine, Times Books. A history of the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom and self-determination written by an extraordinary scholar and Palestinian leader.

***Avi Shlaim. The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, W.W. Norton & Co. A comprehensive and critical history of the Israel-Palestine-Arab conflict.

South & Central Asia:

***Praful Bibwai and Achin Vanaik. New Nukes: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament, Olive Branch Press. A history of the politics and policies leading to the creation of the Indian and Pakistani nuclear arsenals, written by leading Indian journalists active in the disarmament movement.

Sugata Bost and Ayesha Jalal. Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy, Routledge. An academic introduction to the political history from antiquity to the modern era.

***Ayesha Jalal. Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia, Cambridge University Press. A comprehensive and critical history of post-colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with a focus on the origins and practice of authoritarianism in these nations.

John Richards. The Mughal Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1993. An academic history of the empire that preceded Britain in present day India & Pakistan.

U.S. FOREIGN AND MILITARY POLICY

Zbigniew Brzezinski. The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, Basic Books, 1997. How to maintain and expand the U.S. empire from the perspective of the founder of the Trilateral Commission and Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser.

Wilbur Crane Eveland, Ropes of Sand: America's Failure in the Middle East, W.W. Norton & Co. A critical history of the C.I.A.'s roles in creating and reinforcing Cold War era Middle East governments, written by a former leading C.I.A. agent.

***Joseph Gerson. With Hiroshima Eyes: Atomic War, Nuclear Extortion & Moral Imagination. New Society Publishers, 1995. U.S. use of nuclear weapons to expand and maintain its global dominance from 1945 to the Clinton Administration, includes a chapter on the repeated use of nuclear weapons to ensure U.S. dominance of the Middle East.

Joseph Gerson and Bruce Birchard, eds. The Sun Never Sets…Confronting the Network of U.S. Foreign Military Bases. South End Press. 1991. An introduction the world-wide network of U.S. military bases and their impacts of "host" nations.

Henry Kissinger. Does American Need a Foreign Policy: Toward a Diplomacy for the 21^st Century, Simon & Schuster, 2001. Kissinger's "Realpolitik" advice to the new Bush Administration of how to consolidate and extend U.S. global dominance.

***Avi Shlaim. War and Peace in the Middle East: A Critique of American Policy, Viking Books. A thoughtful and compassionate critique of the history of U.S. dominance and exploitation of the peoples of the Middle East.

William Appleman Williams, Empire as a Way of Life, Oxford University Press, an extended essay on the intellectual, constitutional, and historical roots of the U.S. empire.

William Appleman Williams. The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, Delta. A history of the rise of the U.S. Empire from the colonial era through the nuclear age, written by the dean of the "revisionist" school of U.S. historians and former president of the American Historical Society.

For more information contact:
Peace & Economic Security Program
American Friends Service Committee
2161 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, Mass. 02140
Jgerson@afsc.org