Cradle & Crucible: History and Faith in the Middle East

This was a good book for anyone interested in the history of the Middle East. The book is basically split into two parts: the first part is history of the middle east and the second part focuses on the major religions of the area. The earlier chapters move a little fast for my taste, shoving thousands of years worth of history into one or two chapters, but the book slows down to a more reasonable pace as the times in discussion become more recent. As a whole the book was an excellent read, and touched on everything from the beginnings of agriculture to the Roman empire, to the Ottomans, to the World Wars, to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It is good as a touch-and-go overview of the history, where the reader can discover what eras he/she is interested in and then find other materials that pertain to those eras. I found it extremely insightful in terms of explaining why there is so much unrest in the area...for example, how the nations were formed and what events lead to more recent events (I guess you could say a chain of events) that lead to the way things are now. I highly recommend it. It really puts everything in perspective. The area focused on the religions of the area was not as good as the history part in my opinion, but was still very informative. However the authors weren't very consistent in the foci of their essays. The Christian and Muslim sections were focused more on the history of their religions, how they came to be and more-or-less where they are now. The Jewish section was more focused on the Jewish people and what it means to be "Jewish." Not having much experience with the history of Islam, I found that section very informative and well written. If you are interested in the history of the middle east as a whole, get this book! I don't think you can find a more broad, compact, and easy to read presentation of it's history and people.

Excellent book! It is an insightful look at the history and culture of Near East. If you are not familiar with the history of Near East and interested in understanding it, this book is a perfect place to start. Even if you are familiar, you can still find valuable knowledge, distilled insight here. The first human outposts, the birth of religions, the story of Arabs, the rise and fall of Ottoman Empire... All these and more are covered inside. It is a concise, easy read covering all the important stories of Near East. Each chapter is written by a separate writer, yet it reads fluently. The photographs alone are worth the price of its admission; they are specially chosen marvelous pieces from the archives of museums, collections and National Geographic magazine. Printing the book on a high-quality paper was a good choice. This book succeeds in giving an understanding of why this volatile region "has shown a capacity like no other to affect the destiny of World".