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An informative book that has been written with a huge amount of care, it could be so easy for the author to get caught up in the emotions of this collection of militant countries but Rogerson does a great job of being impartial…with a couple of deserving swipes at President Bush and his war with Iraq, I could almost sense the raised eyebrow as he commented on the reasoning behind that war. You may think this is a heavy book, the subject matter is huge and Rogerson admits in the acknowledgements that he initially went over by a quarter of a million words, but with a mix of a great teacher and a pupil with barely any knowledge I was entranced with this epic history.

The first part of the book starts with a lesson about the Prophet Muhammad, how he rose to prominence and the fallout of his death, just understanding this moment gave me a much better understanding of the Middle East. Rogerson then starts to focus on each country, how it was formed, it’s changing alliances and enemies, it’s leaders and what they achieved, how the US/Russia/Britain manipulated and destroyed, concluding with the current tensions the countries are facing.

There is a lot to shock the reader if you were not aware of the history, so many brutal deaths and yet now and then a leader rises that only wants the best for his people and for a while there is a brief moment of hope. As the book progressed there were things I knew about…or at least I thought I knew, you only get so much of the story from the news, it is well worth reading this just to fill in those blanks.

This was one of the most comprehensive history books I’ve read and also one of the most accessible, the perfect balance…I just wish I was able to retain more information, so many names here that deserve to be remembered. A super important book that needs to be read by the masses to give them a better understanding of the world.

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