By Jeremy Bowen.    - Â
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The Making of the Modern Middle East: A Personal History provides an insight into the political, cultural, and religious forces that have shaped the Middle East as we see it today. Given the impressive career the author has had in reporting across the Middle East for the British press, my initial concern was that this was going to read a little like a succession of stories that paints a selective and overly western view of this region. This could not be further from the truth. Jeremy Bowen’s penmanship paints a balanced picture that explains how the events of the past 30 years in the Middle East have reacted with the rich history of the region to create the fiery cauldron that we see today.
The book takes us from Libya to Afghanistan and then on to Yemen as the author describes key historical events that he has witnessed and then places them within the context of each nation. Acknowledging the Middle East’s role in global politics, he also assesses the Middle East nations’ relationships with countries outside the region, whether that is the USA’s actions towards Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden or Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war. Although not written to be a dramatised version of Middle Eastern history, Jeremy Bowen manages to tell a story that is both gripping and insightful.
Although embarrassing to admit as an officer in the British Army, my understanding of such a key area to British foreign policy-making was poor. The way in which the author unpacks key events like the Arab Spring and deconstructs hostilities like those in Gaza was perfectly tailored to someone who requires a readable overview of the Middle East. The book is written in such a way that I now feel that I have a more focused lens through which to view and understand Defence’s approach to the Middle East.
Given the recent increased tension in Israel, one chapter that really resonates with me is Gaza (chapter 8). Jeremy Bowen manages to navigate an emotive and challenging subject area to explain why both Arabs and Jews lay claim to such a contested area. In doing so, he highlights the impact of western nations in fuelling these tensions through false promises and ill thought-out plans within the region. I appreciate that I require more reading to increase my depth of understanding, but I feel armed with a baseline level of knowledge that will allow me to better understand the current situation in Gaza and to tackle more daunting reads.
Overall, a fantastic and insightful book that I thoroughly recommend to anyone who wishes to start their foray into understanding the Middle East.
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Captain Luke Fundell-Williamson
Published by Picador3, 68 pages,ISBN 978-1509890934