Dictionary of the Middle East

The term 'Middle East' conjures up a multitude of images and concepts in the western mind. Sand dunes, camels, nomads. Gushing oil wells. Saddam Hussein. Terrorists, assassins, hostage-takers. Babylon. Islamic fundamentalism. OPEC. Bombed-out Beirut. Women under the veil. Jerusalem, the Holy. The Gulf Wars. The Islamic dome and minarets. The Promised Land. The Pyramids. Yasser Arafat. The Church of the Nativity. Oil Sheikhs loaded with petro-dollars. Teeming Cairo. Arabs and Jews fighting. Ayatollah Khomeini. Arabic calligraphy. Suicide bombers. Bearded Jews in black coats. The Bible. Kibbutzim. Kurds, Shias, Orthodox Jews, Maronites, Bahais, Sunnis, Zionism. Dilip Hiro, the author of several books on the region, has written a general purpose dictionary of the Middle East. Containing almost 1000 entries, it deals lucidly and objectively, with an impressive variety of images, events, ideologies, natural resources, religious sects and organisations. From 'al' to 'Azerbaijan', 'Bible' to 'Byblos', 'semiotic languages' to 'sufism', 'the peace process' to 'Protestant Church', the dictionary covers all you would ever want to know about the Middle East. Thorough and cool-headed, the dictionary will prove indispensable not only to journalists, academics, diplomats, business people and students but also to all travellers to the region.