Hell in the Holy Land: World War 1 in the Middle East

Hell in the Holy Land: World War 1 in the Middle EastHell in the Holy Land: World War 1 in the Middle East by David R. Woodward
ISBN: 9780813146744
Published by University Press of Kentucky on December 6th 2013
Genres: Great Britain, Middle East, Military
Pages: 280

Len's Summary: Being published in the UK by Tempus under the title Forgotten Soldiers of the First World War. Dr. Woodward teaches modern European and Russian History at Marshall University and has written several other monographs on WWI. He spoke at our WFA seminar at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at Dayton in 1997, and is a member of the panel awarding the Annual WFA-Phi Alpha Theta Undergraduate Essay Prize.

Battles on the Tigris: The Mesopotamian Campaign in the First World War

Battles on the Tigris: The Mesopotamian Campaign in the First World WarBattles on the Tigris: The Mesopotamian Campaign in the First World War by Ron Wilcox
ISBN: 1844154300
Published by Pen & Sword Books on July 1st 2006
Pages: 245

Len's Summary: A new history of a campaign with modest aims, and often inept political and military execution.

The Battle for Palestine, 1917

The Battle for Palestine, 1917The Battle for Palestine, 1917 by John D. Grainger
ISBN: 9781843832638
Published by Boydell Press on January 1st 2006
Pages: 292

Len's Summary: A detailed analysis of the Allenby's campaign written from the British point of view. See also Hell in the Holy Land by David Woodward (Kentucky 2006). // The three battles for Gaza, with particular emphasis on the successful third British attack which led to the Christmas 1917 occupation of Jerusalem.

The British Imperial Army in the Middle East: Morale and Military Identity in the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns, 1916-18

The British Imperial Army in the Middle East: Morale and Military Identity in the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns, 1916-18The British Imperial Army in the Middle East: Morale and Military Identity in the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns, 1916-18 by James E. Kitchen
ISBN: 9781472509284
Published by A&C Black on February 25th 2014
Pages: 304

Len's Summary: A soldiers’ eye view of the war in the Middle East. British forces there comprised many different nationalities from the colonies and dominions.

A Land of Aching Hearts: The Middle East in the Great War

A Land of Aching Hearts: The Middle East in the Great WarA Land of Aching Hearts: The Middle East in the Great War by Leila Tarazi Fawaz
ISBN: 9780674735491
Published by Harvard University Press on November 17th 2014
Genres: Middle East, Social History
Pages: 416

Len's Summary: Finds the First World War to have been a socially and politically transformative experience that shaped the Middle East of today. He author teaches at Tufts University.

Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War

Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World WarOrdered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War ISBN: 9780313315169
Published by Greenwood Publishing Group on November 30th 2000
Pages: 265

Len's Summary: The author is a retired U.S. Army officer and Turkish speaker who worked from Turkish Army archives not routinely accessible to civilian researchers.

Revolt in the Desert

Revolt in the DesertRevolt in the Desert by T.E. Lawrence
ISBN: 9781848856653
on 2001
Genres: History, Middle East, General, Travel, Special Interest, Literary
Pages: 352

The Last Crusade: The Palestine Campaign in the First World War

The Last Crusade: The Palestine Campaign in the First World WarThe Last Crusade: The Palestine Campaign in the First World War by Anthony Bruce
ISBN: 0719554322
Published by John Murray Publishers on January 1st 2002
Pages: 299

Len's Summary: Billed as the first history of the Palestinian Campaign in 20 years.

Tigers Along the Tigris: The Leicestershire Regiment in Mesopotamia During the First World War

Tigers Along the Tigris: The Leicestershire Regiment in Mesopotamia During the First World WarTigers Along the Tigris: The Leicestershire Regiment in Mesopotamia During the First World War by E. J. Thompson
ISBN: 1846773660
Published by Leonaur Limited on November 29th 2007
Pages: 144

Len's Summary: An account a battalion of the 7th (Meerut) Division of the British Indian Army in the 1917 battles at Istabulat, Samarra, Juber Island and Tekrit.

The Zionist Masquerade: The Birth of the Anglo-Zionist Alliance 1914-1918

The Zionist Masquerade: The Birth of the Anglo-Zionist Alliance 1914-1918The Zionist Masquerade: The Birth of the Anglo-Zionist Alliance 1914-1918 by James Renton
ISBN: 9780230547186
Published by Palgrave Macmillan on November 15th 2007
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Social History, Jewish, Middle East, General
Pages: 256

Len's Summary: A reexamination of British policy towards Jews and Zionism during the First World War, a fundamental turning point in the history of the Middle East.

Gertrude Bell Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations

Gertrude Bell Queen of the Desert, Shaper of NationsGertrude Bell Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell
ISBN: 0374531358
Published by Sarah Crichton Books on April 29th 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical
Pages: 512

Len's Summary: Biography of a British “Arabist,” a contemporary of T. E. Lawrence who also worked with British intelligence in Cairo during WWI and lived after the war in Baghdad, her favorite city. A History Book Club selection for 2007. Favorably reviewed in the June 2007 Atlantic. This is the women who outlined Iraq’s borders and drafted its first constitution. See also Desert Queen, Janet Wallach, Doubleday, 1996, now in paperback from Knopf, 464 pages, ISBN 1 40009 619 7, $15.95.

The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud

The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal FraudThe Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud by Brian Garfield
ISBN: 1597970417
Published by Potomac Books on January 1st 2007
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Military, Science & Technology, History, Middle East, General, Nature, Birdwatching Guides
Pages: 386

Len's Summary: Lt. Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967) got his start as a politically- and socially-connected British Army intelligence officer chasing Paul von Lettow Vorbeck around the East Africa bush. Later, invalided out of Africa, he was assigned to MI7 in Cairo, and claimed authorship of the legendary “haversack ruse” of 1917. A committed Zionist, Meinertzhagen was a flamboyant player in the Middle East in the inter-war years, a noted ornithologist, founder of the post-war Anglo German Fellowship, and intimate of Winston Churchill, T. H. Lawrence and Chaim Weizmann. He also perpetrated scientific fraud, was a tireless self-promoter and may have even murdered his wife. Fittingly, this lively tale is authored by a past president of the Mystery Writers of America.

Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse, Australian War Memorial

Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse, Australian War MemorialLawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse, Australian War Memorial Published by Canberra on 2007
Pages: 48

Len's Summary: Pamphlet on the current exhibition at the Memorial; order on line at www.awm.gov.au.

A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility

A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish ResponsibilityA Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility by Taner Akçam
ISBN: 9780805086652
Published by Macmillan on August 21st 2007
Genres: History, Europe, Eastern, Modern, 20th Century, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire
Pages: 483

Len's Summary: Drawing on official records, a Turkish historian risks incarceration by his government to accuse the Ottoman Turks of perpetrating genocide against the Armenians during WWI. Favorably reviewed in the New York Review of Books. Turkey’s application for entry into the European Union has rekindled interest in the dark chapter of its Ottoman past.

Military Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence War

Military Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence WarMilitary Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence War by Polly A. Mohs
ISBN: 9780415493314
Published by Routledge on November 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, General, Middle East, Military, World War I
Pages: 256

Len's Summary: His book goes far beyond Lawrence of Arabia. It examines the imaginative exploitation of intelligence in formulating an effective British strategy for supporting the Arab Revolt again the Ottomans during the First World War. For more on this subject see: War by Revolution: Germany & Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I, Donald McKale, Kent State, 2008. // The creation and ascendancy of the Foreign Office’s Arab Bureau created specifically to coordinate imperial operations in Arab lands. The hard, often dirty work behind the glamour behind Lawrence of Arabia.

Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East

Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle EastKingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East by Karl Ernest Meyer, Shareen Blair Brysac
ISBN: 039306199X
on June 9th 2008
Genres: History, Middle East, General
Pages: 507

Len's Summary: A survey history of the evolution of the modern Middle East beginning in 1882, extending though two world wars and the Cold War, told through the lives of the Britons and Americans who shaped it. A synthesis rather than original research, but nonetheless a good foundation for understanding the region today.

Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 – The Destruction of Islam’s City of Tolerance

Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 – The Destruction of Islam’s City of ToleranceParadise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance by Giles Milton
ISBN: 0340837861
Published by Sceptre on 2008
Pages: 426

Len's Summary: Smyrna was a multi-ethnic home to a cosmopolitan population and bastion of Greek and Christian civilization. When the Turks drive Greek forces out of Smyrna (now Ismir) some 100 thousand were killed. This book presents a timely reminder of the appalling cost of (in this case Greek) expansionist political ambitions as the victorious Allies carved up The Ottoman Empire with varying degrees of success.

War by Revolution: Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

War by Revolution: Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War IWar by Revolution: Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I by Donald M. McKale
ISBN: 0873389727
Published by Kent State University Press on September 1st 2008
Pages: 332

Len's Summary: A reprint of a 1998 publication analyzing one segment the so-called “Great Game” for Mid East domination.

Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of Israel

Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of IsraelBalfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of Israel by Geoffrey Lewis
ISBN: 9781847250407
Published by A&C Black on May 31st 2009
Genres: History, Ancient, General, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, Israel & Palestine, Political Science, International Relations, Diplomacy
Pages: 203

Len's Summary: Explores the relationship between the British Foreign Secretary and Chaim Weizmann the British chemist, Zionist and first President of Israel.

The Oil Hunters: Exploration and Espionage in the Middle East

The Oil Hunters: Exploration and Espionage in the Middle EastThe Oil Hunters: Exploration and Espionage in the Middle East by Roger Howard
ISBN: 9781847252326
Published by Bloomsbury Academic on July 15th 2008
Genres: History, Middle East, General
Pages: 224

Len's Summary: Anecdotal history of the search for oil in the Middle East from 1880 to 1940, including the 1908 discovery of oil in Persia and Mesopotamia which had a vast impact on WWI and the post-war world.

A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire

A Brief History of the Late Ottoman EmpireA Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire by M. Şükrü Hanioğlu
ISBN: 9780691146171
Published by Princeton University Press on February 25th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Eastern, Middle East, General, Modern, 18th Century, World, Social History
Pages: 264

Len's Summary: Traces the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 19th century into 27 successor states after 1918. The author is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton. A History Book Club selection for summer, 2008.

Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918

Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918 by James Barr
ISBN: 9780393335279
on July 6th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, General, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 382

Len's Summary: Barr makes the point that the British were no more duplicitous that the Arabs, many of whose leaders (Hussein for example) maintained open lines of communications to the Turks up to the end of the war. Absent a unified Arab national movement, the British and French — the author argues — had no choice but to assume responsibility for the former Ottoman provinces.

A Shattered Peace: Versailles and the Peace We Pay Today

A Shattered Peace: Versailles and the Peace We Pay TodayA Shattered Peace: Versailles and the Peace We Pay Today by David A. Andelman, Henry Kissinger
ISBN: 1620459914
Published by Wiley on July 1st 2014
Pages: 336

Len's Summary: One of a recent series of popular pot boiler journalistic-style histories blaming most of world’s troubles on the Versailles Treaty. // An analysis linking current day international political woes to the Versailles treaty.

The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War

The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World WarThe Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War by Mustafa Aksakal
ISBN: 9780521175258
Published by Cambridge University Press on December 9th 2010
Genres: History, Europe, General, Middle East, Military, World War I, World
Pages: 234

Len's Summary: A revisionist history of Ottoman “Young Turk” politics and policies leading to belligerency on the side of Germany.

Wings over the Desert: In Action with an RAF Pilot in Palestine, 1916-18

Wings over the Desert: In Action with an RAF Pilot in Palestine, 1916-18Wings over the Desert: In Action with an RAF Pilot in Palestine, 1916-18 by Desmond Seward
ISBN: 9781844256723
Published by Haynes Publishing on 2009
Genres: History, Middle East, General, Military, World War I, Aviation
Pages: 224

Len's Summary: Air battles with the Germans over the Sinai Desert with a pilot of Number 14 Squadron, RAF.

Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain’s Covert Empire in the Middle East

Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain’s Covert Empire in the Middle EastSpies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain's Covert Empire in the Middle East by Priya Satia
ISBN: 0199734801
Published by Oxford University Press on November 1st 2009
Genres: Political Science, General, Middle East, Great Britain, Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
Pages: 458

Len's Summary: Beyond Lawrence of Arabia: The interaction between culture and imperialism. // Scholarly critique of British imperialism as a paranoid and brutal arm of military policy with its roots in Edwardian England; questions the liberal underpinnings of imperial ideology. A cultural history of the interwar British imperial state.

Armenians and the Allies in Cilicia, 1914-1923

Armenians and the Allies in Cilicia, 1914-1923Armenians and the Allies in Cilicia, 1914-1923 by Yücel Güçlü
ISBN: 9780874809565
Published by University of Utah Press on June 30th 2009
Genres: Armenians, History, Middle East, Military, World War I, Turkey & Ottoman Empire, Social Science, Anthropology, Cultural
Pages: 281

Len's Summary: An ancient Roman province, Cilicia is located in southeastern Turkey and was the site of forced resettlement and massacres of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during WWI; one an increasing number of histories of the Ottoman Turks in World War One.

Kut 1916: Courage and Failure in Iraq

Kut 1916: Courage and Failure in IraqKut 1916: Courage and Failure in Iraq by Patrick Crowley
ISBN: 9780752454474
Published by Spellmount on 2009
Genres: History, Middle East, General, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 320

Len's Summary: The history of one of the worst defeats of British arms: The siege of Kut, on the Euphrates River, 1915-1916. More than 13,000 British Indian Army troops surrendered and went into harsh Ottoman captivity. Recommended by Michael Neiberg of the Army War College faculty and winner of the Tomlinson Book Prize for 2008.

Istanbul Under Allied Occupation, 1918-1923

Istanbul Under Allied Occupation, 1918-1923Istanbul Under Allied Occupation, 1918-1923 by Nur Bilge Criss
ISBN: 9789004112599
Published by Brill Academic Publishers on January 1st 1999
Genres: History, Middle East, General, Architecture, Interior Design, Asia
Pages: 178

Len's Summary: Another account of post-war Turkey under Allied occupation as progressive Turks seek to prevent their country’s dismemberment.

1920 in Turkey: Greco-Turkish War, Turkish War of Independence, Occupation of Constantinople, Treaty of Sevres, Occupation of Ismir

1920 in Turkey: Greco-Turkish War, Turkish War of Independence, Occupation of Constantinople, Treaty of Sevres, Occupation of Ismir1920 in Turkey: Greco-Turkish War, Turkish War of Independence, Occupation of Constantinople, Treaty of Sevres, Occupation of Ismir by Ezekiel Register
ISBN: 1155508351
Published by Books LLC on 2009
Pages: 40

Len's Summary: An account of violent post-war events in Ottoman Turkey and the Turkish War of Independence.

Armenian Golgotha

Armenian GolgothaArmenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian, Peter Balakian
ISBN: 1400096774
Published by Vintage Books on March 9th 2010
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Personal Memoirs, History, Asia, General, Middle East
Pages: 576

Len's Summary: The memoirs of an Armenian Apostolic priest and intellectual who disguised himself as a railway worker and escaped the WWI Armenian bloodbath. The translator is the author of The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and the American Response (Harper Collins, 2004). One of a spate of books being published as the 100 anniversary of the Ottoman massacres of Armenians nears.

The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli ConflictThe Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Jonathan Schneer
ISBN: 0812976037
Published by Random House Trade Paperbacks on January 3rd 2012
Pages: 480

Len's Summary: A watershed document of the 20th century; one of a string of contradictory promises made by Great Britain and its Entente allies during WWI; looks at the Declaration in the context of British politics, intra-Entente diplomacy and the British-supported Arab revolt.

Ottoman Infantryman 1914-18

Ottoman Infantryman 1914-18Ottoman Infantryman 1914-18 by David Nicolle
ISBN: 9781846035067
Published by Osprey Publishing on February 23rd 2010
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire
Pages: 64

Len's Summary: Uniforms, equipment, training and combat experience of the tough Anatolian foot soldier.

Chitral Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Major General Charles Townsend

Chitral Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Major General Charles TownsendChitral Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Major General Charles Townsend by N. S. Nash
ISBN: 9781848842762
on June 2010
Genres: Juvenile Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Great Britain, World War I, Military, Middle East
Pages: 326

Len's Summary: Biography of the British General who surrendered his besieged British Indian Army division at Kut, Mesopotamia, in 1916 assessing whether his fall from grace was fair.

The Egyptian Expeditionary Force in World War I: A History of the British-Led Campaigns in Egypt, Palestine and Syria

The Egyptian Expeditionary Force in World War I: A History of the British-Led Campaigns in Egypt, Palestine and SyriaThe Egyptian Expeditionary Force in World War I: A History of the British-Led Campaigns in Egypt, Palestine and Syria by Michael J. Mortlock
ISBN: 9780786448715
on November 9th 2010
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, General, Military, World War I
Pages: 302

Len's Summary: Follows the 5th Suffolk Regiment through the campaigns.

The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power

The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World PowerThe Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power by Sean McMeekin
ISBN: 9780674057395
Published by Harvard University Press on September 15th 2010
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Military, World War I, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire
Pages: 460

Len's Summary: Part of the so-called Great Game portrayed in John Buchan’s fiction trilogy this is the true story of Germany’s attempt to penetrate of the Middle East and, wording through the Ottoman Empire, threaten the British position in Persia and the Indian subcontinent.

Lawrence of Arabia’s Secret Air Force – Based on the Diary of Flight Sergeant George Hynes

Lawrence of Arabia’s Secret Air Force – Based on the Diary of Flight Sergeant George HynesLawrence of Arabia’s Secret Air Force – Based on the Diary of Flight Sergeant George Hynes by James Patrick Hynes
ISBN: 184884266X
Published by Pen & Sword Books on August 1st 2010
Genres: History, Middle East, General, Military, World War I, Other, Aviation
Pages: 146

Len's Summary: Keeping the somewhat elderly desert air force planes flying.

Rebel Land: Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town

Rebel Land: Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish TownRebel Land: Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town by Christopher de Bellaigue
ISBN: 9780143118848
Published by Penguin Books on March 29th 2011
Genres: History, Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, General, Travel, Turkey
Pages: 288

Len's Summary: A look at the Armenian massacres of 1915 and the ongoing conflict among Turks, Kurds and Armenians through the history of a single town, Varta, near Erzurum in eastern Anatolia some 700 miles from Constantinople.

Desert Hell: the British Invasion of Mesopotamia

Desert Hell: the British Invasion of MesopotamiaDesert Hell: the British Invasion of Mesopotamia by Charles Townshend
ISBN: 9780674059993
Published by Harvard University Press on February 22nd 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, General
Pages: 623

Len's Summary: A cautionary tale of imperial overreach.

Year of the Locust: A Soldier’s Diary and the Erasure of Palestine’s Ottoman Past

Year of the Locust: A Soldier’s Diary and the Erasure of Palestine’s Ottoman PastYear of the Locust: A Soldier’s Diary and the Erasure of Palestine’s Ottoman Past by Salim Tamari, Ihsan Salih Turjman
ISBN: 0520259556
Published by University of California Press on September 1st 2011
Pages: 214

Len's Summary: The diaries of an Ottoman soldier from Jerusalem trace the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire from a Palestinian point of view. The authors’ introduction places the events of 1914-1917 including Ottoman military defeats and expulsion from Palestine in a larger context of change accelerated by war.