The Chatham House Version: And Other Middle Eastern Studies - Softcover

Kedourie, Elie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566635616 ISBN 13: 9781566635615

Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, 2004

Synopsis

Here returned to print, at a timely moment in history, is Elie Kedourie's classic study of the Middle East in modern times. In analyzing British failures in the region during the zenith of their power and influence, Mr. Kedourie attributes much of Britain's faulty and disastrous handling of Middle East problems to what he calls "the Chatham House version." It was a view of Middle Eastern history and politics propounded and propagated in the various publications of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (known popularly as Chatham House), written or edited by Arnold Toynbee. The episodes that Mr. Kedourie investigates show "successive and cumulative manifestations of illusion, misjudgment, maladroitness, and failure." Together they point up hard lessons for the Bush administration or any outside power that would intervene in Middle Eastern affairs.

"No better guide...can be found to the pitfalls awaiting those who seek to control the Middle East to their own advantage."―Asian Affairs

"These twelve studies in the modern history of the Middle East [form] the most learned book, the most demanding therefore of rethinking, that has come out on the Middle East for many years, and anyone who in the future writes on any Middle Eastern subject, from any point of view, without consulting it, will do so at his or her grave peril."―London Telegraph

About this title

About the Author:

Elie Kedourie (1926–1992) was a fellow of the British Academy, editor of Middle Eastern Studies, and professor of politics at the London School of Economics. His many books on the Middle East include Islam in the Modern World, In the Anglo-Arab Labyrinth, and Arabic Political Memoirs. David Pryce-Jones's most recent book is The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs. He lives in London.

Review:

The most learned book, the most demanding therefore of rethinking, that has come out on the Middle East for many years. (London Telegraph)

No better guide...can be found to the pitfalls awaiting those who seek to control the Middle East to their own advantage. (Asian Affairs)

This new edition is all the more welcome because it carries an introduction by Davide Pryce-Jones. (The New Criterion)

Landmark of historical scholarship. (New York Sun)

...Basic truths are worth repeating, and if they are stated in as cogent and lucid prose as Kedourie's they deserve renewed attention. (The Washington Times)

About this edition

• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1566635616
• ISBN 13: 9781566635615
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512