A political biography traces the rise of Saddam Hussein to one of the most powerful, and feared, political leaders in the world

Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography

Biographies & Memoirs

Efraim Karsh

Inari Rautsi

Arts & Literature

Free Press

From the first Arab-Islamic Empire of the mid-seventh century to the Ottomans, the last great Muslim empire, the story of the Middle East has been the story of the rise and fall of universal empires and, no less important, of imperialist dreams. So argues Efraim Karsh in this highly provocative book. Rejecting the conventional Western interpretation of Middle Eastern history as an offshoot of global power politics, Karsh contends that the region’s experience is the culmination of long-existing indigenous trends, passions, and patterns of behavior, and that foremost among these is Islam’s millenarian imperial tradition. The author explores the history of Islam’s imperialism and the persistence of the Ottoman imperialist dream that outlasted World War I to haunt Islamic and Middle Eastern politics to the present day. September 11 can be seen as simply the latest expression of this dream, and such attacks have little to do with U.S. international behavior or policy in the Middle East, says Karsh. The House of Islam’s war for world mastery is traditional, indeed venerable, and it is a quest that is far from over.

Islamic Imperialism: A History

History

Middle East

Yale University Press

Islamic Imperialism: A History by Efraim Karsh [Yale University Press, 2007] ...

Islamic Imperialism: A History: Special Sale Edition

A searing account of the UN resolution to partition Palestine, and its bloody aftermath The 1947 UN resolution to partition Palestine irrevocably changed the political landscape of the Middle East, giving rise to six full-fledged wars between Arabs and Jews, countless armed clashes, blockades, and terrorism, as well as a profound shattering of Palestinian Arab society. Its origins, and that of the wider Arab-Israeli conflict, are deeply rooted in Jewish-Arab confrontation and appropriation in Palestine. But the isolated occasions of violence during the British Mandate era (1920–48) suggest that the majority of Palestinian Arabs yearned to live and thrive under peaceful coexistence with the evolving Jewish national enterprise. So what was the real cause of the breakdown in relations between the two communities?
In this brave and groundbreaking book, Efraim Karsh tells the story from both the Arab and Jewish perspectives. He argues that from the early 1920s onward, a corrupt and extremist leadership worked toward eliminating the Jewish national revival and protecting its own interests. Karsh has mined many of the Western, Soviet, UN, and Israeli documents declassified over the past decade, as well as unfamiliar Arab sources, to reveal what happened behind the scenes on both Palestinian and Jewish sides. It is an arresting story of delicate political and diplomatic maneuvering by leading figures—Ben Gurion, Hajj Amin Husseini, Abdel Rahman Azzam, King Abdullah, Bevin, and Truman —over the years leading up to partition, through the slide to war and its enduring consequences. Palestine Betrayed is vital reading for understanding the origin of disputes that remain crucial today.

Palestine Betrayed

Saddam Hussein : A Political Biography

Time Warner Paperbacks*

The world continues to wonder how Saddam Hussein came to exercise such power. Journalists depict him as an implacable tyrant who could not be understood by reasonable Westerners. Now, two specialists on the Middle East have written the first in-depth political biography of the man who put Iraq on a collision course with the world. The book draws on a wealth of Iraqi, Arab, Soviet, Western, &amp; Israeli sources, including interviews with people who have had close contact with Hussein throughout his career. It traces the transformation of an ardent nationalist &amp; obscure Ba'th party member into an absolute dictator.

Historical

Diane Books Publishing Company

Saddam Hussein: A political biography

Over ten years after his armies were routed in Desert Storm, the world continues to deal with, and be persistently thwarted, by the menace of Saddam Hussein. Here in this timely biography, authors Efraim Karsh and Inari Rautsi, experts on Middle East history and politics, have combined their expertise to write what is largely considered the definitive work of one of the century's most reviled and notorious figures. Drawing on a wealth of Iraqi, Arab, Western and Israeli sources, including interviews with people who have had close contact with Saddam Hussein throughout his career, the authors traces the meteoric transformation of an ardent nationalist and obscure Ba'th party member into an absolute dictator. Placing Hussein in the larger context of the ancient and modern Arab world and Iraqi history and traditions, Karsh and Rautsi examine the nature of the political system in which he thrived, a system built on blood and fear, betrayal and deceit. Skillfully interweaving a realistic analysis of Gulf politics and history, this authoritative biography is essential for understanding the mind of a modern tyrant.

GROVE PRESS

Iran-Iraq War (Adelphi Papers)

Military

Brassey's UK Ltd

Israel: The First Hundred Years

Taylor&Francis

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Books by Efraim Karsh