Rogan comments that Western intellectuals and leaders have an inadequate grasp of how Arabs understand their own history, which generates many grievances. He accordingly offers this political history of Arab lands since 1517, the year the Ottoman Empire conquered Egypt, adopting as his theme the response of Arabs to foreign rule or influence.

“A very gripping read … a cautionary tale for our current leaders. ”

-The New York Times

In a riveting narrative that reads like a thriller, All the Shah’s Men brings to life the 1953 CIA coup in Iran; a regime change that ousted the country’s elected prime minister, ushered in a quarter-century of brutal rule under the Shah, and stimulated the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism in the Middle East. Selected as one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and the Economist, it’s essential reading if you want to put the American conquest of Iraq in context.

The only complete military history of Afghanistan, from ancient times to the war waged by the United States after September 11.

For over 2500 years, the forbidding territory of Afghanistan has served as a vital crossroads for armies and have witnessed history shaping clashes between civilizations—Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, and Tartars, and in more recent times, Britain, Russia, and America.

The fortunes of Africa have changed dramatically in the fifty years since the independence era began. As Europe’s colonial powers withdrew, dozens of the new states were launched amid much jubilation and to the world’s applause. The circumstances seemed auspicious. Independence came in the midst of an economic boom. On the world stage, African states excited the attention of the world’s rival power blocks: in the Cold War era, Africa was considered too valuable a prize to lose.

From the first cannonballs fired by American warships at North African pirates to the conquest of Falluja by the Marines—from the early American explorers who probed the sources of the Nile to the diplomats who strove for Arab-Israeli peace—the United States has been dramatically involved in the Middle East. For well over two centuries, American statesmen, merchants, and missionaries, both men and women, have had a profound impact on the shaping of this crucial region.

A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.