L. Carl Brown

  May/June 2012 Capsule Review

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Algeria: France’s Undeclared War

This is a history equally of Algeria and France, as it must be.

L. Carl Brown

  May/June 2012 Capsule Review

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Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

Rashid presents Pakistan as a failing state with an irresponsible civilian leadership and a military fixated on threats from India.

L. Carl Brown

  May/June 2012 Capsule Review

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The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East; The Invisible Arab: The Promise and Peril of the Arab Revolutions

Lynch, an Arabist and blogger, and Bishara, a political analyst at Al Jazeera English, have both written informed and engaging accounts of the uprisings that have...

L. Carl Brown

  May/June 2012 Capsule Review

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The Lingering Conflict: Israel, the Arabs, and the Middle East, 1948–2011

Rabinovich, an eminent Israeli scholar and diplomat, paints a picture of the domestic and foreign policy crosscurrents confronting all the parties and inhibiting...

L. Carl Brown

  May/June 2012 Capsule Review

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A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy With Iran

Parsi argues that there is still a chance for diplomacy to allow the United States and Iran to break out of their “institutionalized enmity.”

L. Carl Brown

  March/April 2012 Capsule Review

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Turkey and Its Neighbors: Foreign Relations in Transition

This book brings together American, European, and Turkish experts on such diverse subjects as “reclaiming Turkey’s imperial past,” the country’s move “from...

L. Carl Brown

  March/April 2012 Capsule Review

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Iraq, Its Neighbors, and the United States: Competition, Crisis, and the Reordering of Power

Ten seasoned experts take their turns describing the changes wrought by the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the changes still under way, nine years into the post–Saddam...

L. Carl Brown

  March/April 2012 Capsule Review

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Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi’s Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq

This is the most thorough telling of the story of Ahmad Chalabi, the scion of an upper-class Shiite Iraqi family who spent most of his life in exile but played a...

L. Carl Brown

  March/April 2012 Capsule Review

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The Arab Awakening: America and the Transformation of the Middle East

Eighteen authors cover the events that have roiled the Arab World since December 2010, when a despairing peddler from a town in the Tunisian hinterland set himself...

L. Carl Brown

  March/April 2012 Capsule Review

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Ghosts of Afghanistan: The Haunted Battleground

Steele, a veteran foreign correspondent for The Guardian, frames this exploration of the past three decades in Afghanistan by comparing the intervention of...

L. Carl Brown

  January/February 2012 Capsule Review

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Troubled Triangle: The United States, Turkey, and Israel in the New Middle East

Was there ever a strategic triangle linking Israel, Turkey, and the United States? If so, has it become troubled? Those questions are addressed in this useful volume...

L. Carl Brown

  January/February 2012 Capsule Review

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Shattering Empires: The Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires, 1908–1918

With a fine objectivity, Reynolds draws on both Ottoman and Russian sources and reveals how the actions and attitudes of the two declining empires shaped the post...

L. Carl Brown

  January/February 2012 Capsule Review

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The Crimean War: A History

This elaborate mosaic of contending leaders, armies, peoples, and ideologies is the most comprehensive history available of the Crimean War.

L. Carl Brown

  January/February 2012 Capsule Review

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The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square

Cook concludes that although Egypt’s future remains very much in doubt, the United States should “take a hands-off approach as Egyptians build a new political system...

L. Carl Brown

  January/February 2012 Capsule Review

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The 9/11 Wars

This big book details the diverse conflicts that shaped the decade after 9/11: not only the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but also Europe’s struggles with jihadist...

L. Carl Brown

  November/December 2011 Capsule Review

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America’s Challenges in the Greater Middle East: The Obama Administration’s Policies

The experts collected here appraise U.S. policy toward the vast array of countries from the Maghreb to Afghanistan, covering essentially the first two years of Barack...

L. Carl Brown

  November/December 2011 Capsule Review

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Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World

In a long career covering this troubled region, Wright has consistently pictured its politics as more nuanced and more positive than most other observers. Rock the...

L. Carl Brown

  November/December 2011 Capsule Review

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Playing With Fire: Pakistan at War With Itself; Pakistan: Beyond the “Crisis State”

Both books will help readers more clearly see Pakistan in all its complexity.

L. Carl Brown

  November/December 2011 Capsule Review

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A New Voice for Israel: Fighting for the Survival of the Jewish Nation; The Unmaking of Israel

Although different in style and subject, these two books reach a similar conclusion: only a two-state solution can secure an Israel that is both Jewish and democratic.

L. Carl Brown

  September/October 2011 Capsule Review

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Our Last Best Chance: The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril

This worthy addition to that distinctive genre of books written by political leaders still in office is part autobiography, part political history.

L. Carl Brown