Showing titles in Middle East

* AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR * THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Shortlisted for the Airey Neave Memorial Book Prize Winner of 2018 National Jewish Book Award 'A gripping investigation of Israel's assassination policy' Sunday Times 'Remarkable' Observer 'Riveting' Daily Mail 'Compelling' John...

The first in a new in-depth nonfiction series examining the devastating terrorist attacks that changed the course of history from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr and Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott, beginning with the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut. 1983: the United...

The Sunday Times Bestseller 'A wondrous wonderful achievement' STEPHEN FRY Longlisted for The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2025 The Seven Wonders of the World were staggeringly audacious impositions on our planet. They were also brilliant adventures of the mind, test cases for the...

When Richard Fidler came across the account of Ibn Fadlan—a tenth-century Arab diplomat who travelled all the way from Baghdad to the cold riverlands of modern-day Russia—he was struck by how modern his voice was, like that of a 21st century time-traveller dropped into a medieval wilderness. On further investigation, Fidler discovered this was just one of countless reports from Arab and Persian travellers of their adventures in medieval China, India, Africa and Byzantium. Put together, he saw these stories formed a crazy quilt picture of a lost world.

This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense but an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. The book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.

A new, updated, revised edition of JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY, the wider history of the Middle East through the lens of the Holy City, from King David to today. The story of Jerusalem is the story of the world. Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths...

‘The very grubby coalface of foreign policy … I found the entire book most horribly addictive’ Independent ‘One of the unexpected responses to reading this masterful study is amazement at the efforts the British and French each put into undermining the other’ Spectator A fascinating...

From Cleopatra to Grace Kelly, an epic new history of royal women that shatters the myths we have built around them. 'Erudite, clever, brilliant' KATE MOSSE 'A royal smash. Kate Williams is at the top of her game' KATE LISTER 'A fascinating and excellent chronicle of female rulers' SIMON SEBAG...

Global bestselling author of River God and The New Kingdom, Wilbur Smith, returns with the next epic book in his brand-new Ancient Egyptian series. FROM THE RUINS OF BATTLE A HERO MUST RISE FOR THE GLORY OF EGYPT Years of Hyksos rule have seen the plunder of once-mighty Egypt. Though the two...

Civilization was born 8,000 years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place. In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years ago to the eclipse of Babylon in the sixth century BCE. Bringing the people of this land to life in vibrant detail, the author chronicles the rise and fall of power during this period.

It is taken for granted, even among many Washington policymakers, that Islam is a fundamentally peaceful religion and that Islamic jihad terrorism is something relatively new, a product of the economic and political ferment of the 20th century. But in The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS, Islamic scholar Robert Spencer proves definitively that Islamic terror is as old as Islam itself, as old as Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, who said “I have been made victorious through terror.”

struggling with a recession . . . European nations at risk of defaulting on their loans . . . A possible global financial crisis. It happened before, in the 1970s. Oil Kings is the story of how oil came to dominate U.S. domestic and international affairs. As Richard Nixon fought off Watergate...

In 1896, a Jewish state was a pipe dream. Today the overwhelming majority of Jews identify as Zionists. How did this happen? Ilan Pappe unveils how a lobby changed the map of the Middle East. Zionists exerted pressure on the Congress, cracked down on dissent in the Labour Party, and relentlessly smeared critics.

An intimate account of the Israel-Palestine conflict and beyond, from one of Australia's most experienced foreign correspondents. Now updated with a foreword by Stan Grant and a new author's note. 'Lyons knows if you stand with the suffering, you're closer to the truth' Stan Grant, award-winning...

In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes listeners on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquests of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to brickmakers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that people faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived.

Brought to you by Penguin. For over three thousand years, the Mediterranean Sea has been one of the great centres of civilization. David Abulafia's The Great Sea is the first complete history of the Mediterranean, from the erection of temples on Malta around 3500 BC to modern tourism. Ranging...

Dan Jones, best-selling chronicler of the Middle Ages, turns his attention to the history of the Crusades – the sequence of religious wars fought between the late eleventh century and late medieval periods, in which armies from European Christian states attempted to wrest the Holy Land from...

Noted journalist Yardena Schwartz draws on her extensive research and wide-ranging interviews with both sides to tell a timely, eye-opening story. She expertly weaves the war between Israel and Hamas into a historical framework, demonstrating how the conflict today cannot be understood without the context of ground zero of this century-old war, which began long before the occupation, the settlements, or the state of Israel ever existed.

Israel has always won. They are winning now. And they must always win in the future. In The Sword of Freedom, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen pulls back the curtain on Israel’s success in the face of never-ending war. Cohen has played a pivotal role in shaping Israel’s modern defense...

When the US Navy send their elite, they send the SEALs. When the SEALs send their elite, they send SEAL Team Six. SEAL Team Six is a clandestine unit tasked with counterterrorism, hostage rescue and counterinsurgency. Until recently its existence was a closely-guarded secret. Then ST6 took down...