In 1930, during the author's first assignment in Turkey, a wise old Cypriot philosopher said to him, "Just remember that you are working in a region where the unexpected is normal." In the more than 20 years that followed, this became increasingly evident; the more one stays in that part of the world the less one dares to predict. An American missionary, with 30 years service in various lands of the region once commented, "I can say that I have never been bored, for each morning as the Muezzin calls the faithful to prayer I wonder what new surprise or excitement the day will bring." Given the...