This book, first published in 1994, analyses the entire length of Iran s international boundaries. It reviews the establishment, evolution and continuing contentions over Iranian frontier zones and boundary lines, from the creation of the Iranian nation state out of the diverse and dispersed areas of the Persian empire a process that has given rise to many contemporary problems that spill over into dispute and conflict."

This collection of essays, first published in 1958, presents analyses by some 34 specialists on key political and social trends in the Middle East. They take the reader through the history of the Middle East to help reveal the background behind the changes that took place in the middle of the twentieth century a time of fundamental political, economic and social change in the region."

Observers of Iran have often ascribed the main cause of the revolution to economic problems under the Shah s regime. This book, first published in 1990, on the other hand focuses on the political and social factors which contributed of the Pahlavi dynasty. Mehran Kamrava looks at the revolution in detail as a political phenomenon, making use of extensive interviews with former revolutionary leaders, cabinet ministers and diplomats to show the central role of the political collapse of the regime in bringing about the revolution. He concentrates on the internal and the international...

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the fertile islands of Zanzibar and Pemba became of central importance to East Africa s growing contact with the international economy as the ruling dynasty encouraged trade in cloves, slaves and ivory. This book, first published in 1978, provides an account of the history of Zanzibar from those early days of trade up to independence and the Revolution that removed the Arab ruling class in 1964."

Exploration usually demands the qualities of bravery, curiosity and organising ability. Arabia demanded more of the voyager: linguistic ability of a high order, scholarship and an imaginative temperament. It was also necessary to be able to pass as a native, if not of Arabia then of part of the Islamic world. The early explorers faced untold dangers, travelling in a region riven by religious and tribal conflict. This book, first published in 1978, presents the carefully selected accounts of some remarkable travellers, ranging from the Renaissance to the Victorian era, all of whom have...

The United Arab Emirates were established in response to the British decision to withdraw from the Gulf by 1971. This decision, announced in 1968, had left the rulers of the emirates perplexed and alarmed. After decades of mutual suspicion and rivalry, fostered by British imperial dominance, the emirates were now obliged to seek security in federal union. This book, first published in 1987, chronicles this process which led to the establishment of the UAE and explains the circumstances which brought it about.

The political community of Islam grew out of the religious community. This book, first published in 1927, is the key work in understanding the early development of Islam and the history of the Arab peoples.

The study of Arab historiography and of the emergence of the Arab nation-state as an object of historical treatment is a matter of considerable current interest. Despite its importance, no academic work has dealt with this subject as a major preoccupation of Arab historians and intellectuals. This book, first published in 1989, discusses the development of modern Arab historiography and its study of the nation-state in the nineteenth century, and analyses the work of three contemporary Arab historians from Egypt, the Lebanon and Morocco. An important and highly readable account, it...

The discovery of oil brought enormous change to the Gulf. It transformed the simple fishing and grazing economies of the Gulf states into some of the wealthiest countries in the world. This book, first published in 1977, examines the impact of oil and oil wealth on the Gulf states. It describes the clash between traditional culture and Westernisation and explodes some of the Western myths about social and economic development in the area. It covers both economic change and progress in education, social welfare, urbanisation and industrial diversification. A unique collection of photographs...

This multi-volume set of reissued classics brings together a collection of titles that touch on many key aspects of the history of the Middle East. From the early explorers of Arabia to the 1979 revolution in Iran, via histories of places as varied as the UAE and Zanzibar, the analysis of Nazi policies towards the Arab East, and a close reading of the territorial foundations of the Gulf states, the books collected here form a wide-ranging and eclectic study of the history of the region.