This is my third title on the middle east, and I have to start teaching it tomorrow. So I'm worn down. 
 I appreciated the country by country perspective on the region, highlighting areas of conflict between neighbors that are not Israel verses the world. It was helpful to understand that the Tigris river flows through 4 countries that disagree about how it should be used, and that countries upstream have a more definitive say in the conflict by virtue of their geography. The maps in this book are excellent and enhance the text. The layout on languages was unique and I didn't see that covered in other titles - I liked it. I liked that finally, a title gave dates to world religions that illuminated ancient Judaism (1000ish BC), followed by Christianity (first century AD), followed by Islam (sixth century AD). The images and layout are enticing. 
 I didn't appreciate the ridiculously strong environmentalism. Narry a mention of fossil fuels (rather important to the region) can go by without a reference to the utter annihilation of the earth. I'm being *a little* sarcastic here, but not much. I've given up on any non-left, biased coverage of Israel and this coverage failed to disappointment my cynicism on that topic. The book is in desperate need of a timeline. Because it seeks to cover each topic from ancient to modern times, some items are repeated and others thrown in less frequently, making it hard to get a general feeling for the chronological relationship of these themes to each other. 
 It's okay. Not great, but okay. 
 For other books that disappointed, see: 
 The Middle East and North Africa, Bowden, 2007 
 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... 
 Modern Middle East, Conklin, 2007 
 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...