Read 1
Power, Faith, and Fantasy
A long historical view of how American power, commerce, religion, and diplomacy became entangled with the region.
Explore this book →Regional reading path
Middle East: Faith, Power & Competing Orders
Follow the region from the long history of American engagement through the Saudi-Iranian rivalry, the Syrian uprising, and post-invasion Iraq. The path pairs broad political history with firsthand testimony and fiction so that state power remains connected to lived experience. Related reading extends the questions of conflict, service, borders, and memory; Ghost Wars is included as adjacent Afghanistan context, not as a Middle East core title.
Reading order
Use this suggested order as a starting point, or choose the book that interests you most.
Read 2
Black Wave
A modern geopolitical hinge centered on the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its effects across politics, religion, and culture.
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Read 3
A Woman in the Crossfire
Firsthand testimony from the opening months of the Syrian uprising grounds the path in protest, repression, and exile.
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Read 4
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Fiction turns occupation, sectarian conflict, memory, and retaliation into an unsettling portrait of post-invasion Baghdad.
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Optional companions that extend or challenge the core sequence.
The Twilight War
Extends the history of United States-Iran relations and the strategic contest that frames much of the core path.
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The Fifth Act
Adds a veteran's account of the end of the Afghanistan war and the responsibilities created by long intervention.
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Dark at the Crossing
A novel of borders, loyalties, and the Syrian war that complements Yazbek's firsthand testimony.
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Ghost Wars
Provides adjacent Afghanistan context for the institutions and covert policies surrounding later wars; it is not presented as a Middle East core title.
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