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Covering the 22 countries forming the great arc from Morocco through Turkey. In some 250 entries Ziring (political science, Western Michigan U.) treats recent history and current events, as well as the terms, characteristics, movements, and institutions that describe the Middle East in the last half of the 20th c. under seven topics: political geography and geopolitics, ethnicity and political culture, Islam, conflict, Israelis and Palestinians, diplomacy, political parties and movements. The `significance' section in each entry is a particularly useful commentary. The detailed index runs to 28 pages. A fine reference at a modest price. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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Library Journal Review

Ziring (political science, Western Michigan Univ.) has written a very useful reference work that is more than the usual dictionary of names, terms, places, and events. After each entry, the author provides an interpretive section, analyzing the significance of the entry just described. In Section 1, the author deals with the political geography of the Middle East. Section 2 deals with Islam and its sociopolitical importance in the region. While this section contains a good deal of useful information, it is marred by a few errors. For example, Ziring states that the Shia clergy are called mullahs , whereas the Sunni clerics are referred to as the ulema . In fact, both Shia and Sunni clerics are referred to as the ulema . The term mullah is a more generic and sometimes condescending term for the members of the Iranian clergy. Section 3 covers the increasingly important concept of ethnicity and its impact on the political culture of the Middle East. Section 4 is designed to describe various political parties and movements in the Middle East. In Section 5, Ziring seeks to explain the genesis and development of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Sections 6 and 7 deal with diplomacy and conflict, respectively. They cover such topics as the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid and the two Gulf wars. Recommended for public and academic libraries, though more detailed coverage can be found in The Middle East and North Africa, 1992 (Europa: Gale, 1991).-- Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, Ala. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

This revised edition of Ziring's The Middle East Political Dictionary (CH, May'84) has a larger format that makes it easier to read and updated entries that make it more current. Grouping 271 entries alphabetically under five separate headings is as awkward as before, however, and the index is too extensive for quick reference. The bibliography, maps, and tables of the first edition have been omitted, as has the handy "guide to countries." Individual entries retain their bipartite character: a factual "definition" followed by a more interpretive "significance." It is probably journalism students who will find this most useful since the emphasis and point of view are close to that of respectable American newspapers. Thus, petroleum and Zionism are discussed at length, while water and pan-Syrianism are slighted. In analyses the treatment is often superficial and tends to belabor the obvious; e.g., an entry for "Tikrit" (a native or inhabitant of Tikrit) is largely a biography of Saddam Hussein, emphasizing his connections with that city. The peculiar history of Tikrit (standing for millennia on the fault line separating dry farming from irrigation and serving as a bulwark against a variety of pastoral peoples, Elamites to Kurds phenomena that foreshadow the policies of Hussein) is not mentioned. In general, librarians will find this item most appropriate to nonspecialist readers seeking manageable explanations of complex situations. P. L. Holmer; Southern Connecticut State University

Booklist Review

Essentially an updated and expanded version of the author's Middle East Political Dictionary (ABC-Clio, 1984), this work uses the same arrangement, organizing material under seven major topics (e.g., "Diplomacy," "Israelis and Palestinians," "Conflict"). Alphabetically arranged articles under each topic are composed of two parts: a general history and/or description (with cross-references) followed by an analytic or interpretive essay entitled "Significance." Defining the Middle East as all the countries from Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean to Pakistan in the east and from Turkey in the north to the Sudan in the south, Ziring provides a guide to recent history and current events in 22 sovereign states. Topics as recent as Operation Desert Storm and the Madrid Peace Conference and as varied as The Satanic Verses, the Hizbollah, and the Polisario Front are addressed with a view toward placing them in perspective with the recent history of this volatile region. A subject index using entry rather than page numbers, tables of current statistics, and a reference map add to this book's value. The Middle East: A Political Dictionary generally compares favorably with its predecessor. Unfortunately, there is no bibliography, and this is the one area in which the new edition does not improve upon the earlier one. Academic and public libraries needing current information on this part of the world will want to consider purchase. (Reviewed Sept. 1, 1992)