NIGHTLY READING THREAD: Welcome to Edition #93 of #GMGReads! Every night through this weird (and sad) time, I've been tweeting out a list of my five favorite books around a general theme—and a link to an indie bookstore where you can order them online....
Tonight, I want to feature good books on the modern geopolitics of the Middle East, all available through DC's unparalleled @PoliticsProse:
1) The NYT's Beirut bureau chief Ben Hubbard (@NYTBen) has a terrifying and illuminating biography out, "MBS," about Saudi Arabia's new leader and his hunger for unchecked power: politics-prose.com/book/978198482…
2) David Crist's eye-opening TWILIGHT WAR is all the history you didn't know you needed to understand about what is really a thirty-year-long, low-level, but deadly conflict between Iran and the US: politics-prose.com/book/978014312…
PS: In thinking about Iran, you should also read Mark Bowden's GUESTS OF THE AYATOLLAH, about the 1979 hostage crisis, which taught me a lot about constructing books writing-wise: politics-prose.com/book/978080214…
3) Two really good books on Syria and the modern tensions in the Middle East: Kim Ghattas' (@KimGhattas) BLACK WAVE about the Saudi-Iran split and how it's played out in the Syrian civil war: politics-prose.com/book/978125013… ...
and NO TURNING BACK by Rania Abouzeid (@Raniaab), who was early to covering the Syrian Civil War and rise of ISIS and has done some of the best reporting anywhere: politics-prose.com/book/978039335…
4) Then two deeply personal books about actually living the conflicts of the Middle East, Anthony Shadid's almost elegiac HOUSE OF STONE politics-prose.com/book/978054400… and Jeffrey Goldberg's (@JeffreyGoldberg) story of his unlikeliest of friendships, PRISONERS: politics-prose.com/book/978037541…
5) Lastly, Michael Oren's (@DrMichaelOren) SIX DAYS OF WAR about the 1967 war is critical to understanding today's landscape and geopolitics broadly: politics-prose.com/book/978019515…
PS: Relatedly, I haven't gotten around to reading Ronan Bergman's (@ronenbergman) RISE AND KILL FIRST, about the Israeli Mossad, but it's supposed to be superb: politics-prose.com/book/978081298…
Those are tonight's #GMGReads. What are your favorite books about the Middle East, modern or otherwise? Share! #avidreadersunite
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