Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East

Few topics grab my attention more than the Middle East. Civilization began there, along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, and some claim it may end there. The world's economy is fueled by the oil produced by just a handful of countries, and yet, rather than being a stable region because of global dependence on oil, it is the world's most volatile. The Middle East, the vortex of civilization, has in many ways become a black hole; dragging the nations ever closer to its center, and like a black hole, threatening to rip the world apart. Few nations have been able to long escape its grasp. So, how did America, and indeed, the rest of world's industrial nations, become ensnared the shifting sands of the Middle Eastern politics? Few books have so expertly been able to answer that question better than Geoffrey Wawro's "Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East". Mr. Wawro, who is a Professor of Military History at the University of North Texas, as well as director the Military History Center at UNT, has been able to unravel the Byzantine world of Middle Eastern politics, woven into the cultures and religion of the people for generations, and give the reader a clear and comprehensive history. For example, Dr. Wawo describes the blunders of the British Empire in closing years of World War I resulting from the vacuum of the collapsing Ottoman Empire and imperialist myopia which left Britain in control of areas such as the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and Palestine, while the French, seeking to maintain its shrinking empire, gained control of Syria. As a result, Arab nationalist aligned themselves with Nazi Germany (and Nazi Germany's policy of anti-Semitism didn't hurt either). The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was often a guest in Berlin, and Arabs were invited to join in a SS division comprised solely of Moslem Arabs (that veneration of all things Nazi, not unexpectedly, still continues in some Arab nations to this day). Dr. Wawo goes on to explain how the increasing Jewish presence in the region, especially in Palestine, thanks in large part to the backroom dealings of President Truman, as well as British and French incompetence, as well as a growing powerful Jewish lobby lead to the establishment of Israel, against a backdrop of the Cold War, religious hatred, and economics. Many a Prime Minister and President has sought to get a grip on the Middle East, only to find events as fluid as the shifting sands. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Anyone who wants to understand how and why were engaged in two wars in the region; why we're drilling oil wells offshore; why we're investing billions in alternative energy sources; why we're under threat from terrorists; or why we're paying nearly $3.00 for a gallon of gas needs to read this book. The threat is not just to America, but the world is real. If knowledge is power, then Geoffrey Wawro's 551 page "Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East" is an excellent tool to ha

Geoffrey Wawro is the General Olinto Mark Barsanti Professor of Military History at the University of North Texas; he hosted many programs on the History Channel, and he taught at the US Naval War College for years. [For the reviewer "Kava" to call his scholarship disingenuous means that "Kava" never picked the book up, much less bought it. Ignore him.] For those who don't follow the US college ratings, the US Naval War College, where Wawro taught, is second to the US Army War College and both of them rank higher than Harvard, Stanford and the like. Wawro has a PhD in History from Yale. My book arrived earlier today, and I am whipping through it. This is a tour de force, heavily footnoted, and worth every minute spent reading it. Wawro has obviously spent years researching his subject and his erudition is exemplary.

I loved this book. It is deep and educational, but it is never dull. Wawro blends biography, anecdote and truly startling analysis to shed light on America's checkered progress in the Middle East. The portraits of people like Nasser, Anthony Eden, Ike, Nixon, Bush 41 and 43, LBJ, Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, and the Shah are memorable and entertaining. Wawro's analysis of the wars of the region contains some pretty shocking revelations. Read this book!

Every policymaker in Washington should be reading this book, which avoids the usual focus on crisis du jour and instead charts the spread of US power and influence in the region, from the days of Woodrow Wilson down to Barack Obama, from the Balfour Declaration to the Bush Doctrine. It's all here: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the Cold War and terrorism. What I like most about the book is the way it presents each presidential administration as having had CHOICES to make -- some quite pivotal -- and most chose not to make them because they wanted to avoid roiling the Israel or Saudi lobbies. AIPAC types will NOT like this book, for its clear and strategic presentation of the facts, but they should read it anyway. The book is extremely readable, and presents quite an education in a single volume.