The
critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling account
of how the modern Middle East came into being after World War I,
and why it is in upheaval today.
The Middle East has
long been a battleground of rival religions, ideologies,
nationalisms, and dynasties. All of these conflicts -- including
the hostilities between Arabs and Israelis that have flared up
yet again -- stem from its political inheritance: the
arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed upon the region by
the Allies after the First World War.
In A Peace to End
All Peace, David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies came
to remake the geography and politics of the Middle East, drawing
lines on an empty map that eventually became the new countries
of Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon.
Focusing on the
formative years of 1914 to 1922, when everything -- even an
alliance between Arab nationalism and Zionism-seemed possible,
Fromkin raises questions about what might have been done
differently and answers questions about why things were done as
they were.
The current battle for
a Palestinian homeland has its roots in these events of
eighty-five years ago.
