Use this guide to choose topics for your Reading Responses and possibly also for your Term Essay. Use the History of the Middle East Database for basic facts and outlines of events and movements. Some of the more specific topics below are linked to items on the database. The World Factbook (CIA) can be extremely useful. See also Benchmarks in Islamic History , The Political and Religious Landscape of the Middle East at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century, History by Region or State, History According to Chronology, and Overview of Islam.
What questions and problems in cross cultural understanding between the Middle East and the West does this book raise? (Compare this book with other examples of "travel literature": Gustav Flaubert, Richard Burton, T. E. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, Edward Lane, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, Bayard Taylor.)
Chapter 1, We Must Go to the East
British involvement in Egypt, 19th century, and 20th century.
Chapter 2, Yemen: Confessions of a Qat Eater
| History of Yemen | Oil |
| Tribal Culture in the Arabian Peninsula | |
| Wahhabis and Saudis | |
Chapter 3, Yemen: For You I Make a Special Deal
| Unification of Yemen (1990) | Middle East arms trade |
Chapter 4, Persian Gulf: The Strait of Hoummous
| Persian Gulf Economies | Dubai |
| Oil | Arab-Indian Trade |
| Kuwait | Arab manners and customs |
Chapter 5, Cairo Days: Ozymandias Slept Here
| Impact of colonialism on Egypt | Egyptian family life |
| The Egyptian Revolution (1952) and Gamal Abdel Nasser | Sheikh Sharawi's Proof of God (p. 79) |
| Egypt of Naguib Mahfouz (p. 75), (1911-2006) |
Chapter 6, Cairo Nights: Dancing Sheik to Sheik
| Cairo as a cultural center: art, literature, film, etc. | |
| Youth, work, and marriage in Egypt |
Chapter 7, Baghdad: In the Land Without Weather
| History of Iraq | Saddam Hussein. |
| The Kurds |
Chapter 8, The Iraq-Iran Front: Bodies
| The first Gulf War (Iraq and Iran, 1980-88) | |
| The Iranian Revolution (1979) |
Chapter 9, The Jordan River: I Came for the Waters
| The Arab-Israeli Conflict | The Palestinians: history, life, culture |
| The Israelis: life, culture, politics. |
Chapter 10, Libya: The Colonel's Big Con
| History of modern Libya | U.S. Libyan Relations, 1969 to the present. |
Muammar Qaddafi. |
Chapter 11, Khartoum: This is the Way the World Ends
| Colonialism in the Sudan. | The Sudanese Civil War (1955 - 2003) |
| The Mahdist rebellion. | Missionary and relief work |
Politics and religion in the Sudan (Islam, Christianity, animism) |
Health and nutrition issues |
| Islamic Sharia law in the Sudan | U.S missile attack on Khartoum, 1998 |
| Slavery in the Sudan (2003) |
Chapter 12, Southern Sudan: Six Dinka Deep
| Dinka culture and economics. | Politics of food ("Reagan sorghum"), hunger, malnutrition |
| Children's health issues | |
| U.S.-Sudanese relations | Darfur |
Chapter 13, Arabian Nights: Sky-High Over Islam
| Middle Eastern infrastructure and transportation | Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) |
| Muslim month of Ramadan |
Chapter 14, To Beirut: Jusqu'au Boutiste
| Lebanon and Syria | Christians, Muslims, and Druze in Lebanon |
| The French in Syria and Lebanon | Lebanese civil war (1975-1989) |
Chapter 15, Tehran: The Imam is in the People's Hands
Chapter 16, Tehran: Searching for the Twelfth Imam
| Shia Islam | Other issues involving women in Iran or Islam in general |
| Use of political propaganda in Iran | Current life, culture, commerce, and politics in Iran |
| Iranian Revolutionary Guards | Relations between the sexes |
| Veiling of women (chador, hejab (also hijab and niqab)) | Iranian manners and customs |
| Anti-Americanism in Iran and elsewhere in the Muslim world: how deep is it? | Political and religious reform in Iran (President Mohammed Khatami (political reformer), the case of Hasham Aghajari (dissident intellectual, fall, 2002), Abdol Karim Soroush (or Surush), religious reformer) |
Chapter 17, Exodus from Egypt: Metal Fatigue
| Islamist unrest in Egypt (1990s) | |
| Egypt of Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) |
Epilogue, No One Makes Love to Iraq
The second Gulf War (Iraq invades Kuwait, 1990-91).