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A review by zazen
A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and The Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin
5.0
If you're interested in understanding the current situation in the Middle East, this an excellent place to start. Fromkin is detailed in his research, and I didn't find his writing dry or uninteresting as other reviewers here seem to. I thought it was well laid out, and the story he tells gives a background from which we see much of the region's current problems stem. However, there are a lot of names and places to keep track of, so it's useful to write them down as they appear with maybe a short summary of who they are. Maps are always nice to have around too.
Fromkin focuses primarily on the British. Though every actor in the Middle East is described, and their motivations laid out, the British get the bulk of the attention, as he draws from official documents, news reports, interviews, personal memoirs, etc. His meticulous research shed some light on just what the British wanted to achieve (and it was almost never an agreed upon goal) and also highlights the role individuals can play in shaping the world as we know it. Just how much influence one man's will had over the course Britain took is amazing to say the least, and it's interesting to wonder just how things would've turned out had certain key players been replaced or non-existent.
Unfortunately, the same level of detail isn't given to other states and interests in the region. Middle Eastern perspectives are most noticeably lacking, and generally when they are represented, are seen through Western eyes. That's not to say he tells an incomplete story, and there is still a wealth of information there, but Britain takes center stage. That makes sense, considering they played by far the largest role in shaping the future of the Middle East, but it would have been nice to see other sides more thoroughly explored.
"A Peace to End All Peace" gives a very well written, thought-out, detailed account of the parsing up of the Middle East by a number of countries and interests that didn't really know what they were doing, how they were to do it, or who/what they were really dealing with, each with their own gain in mind. It's a tragic tale of geopolitics and misunderstanding that cost many lives and is the beginning point for the vast majority of the conflicts we've seen in the Middle East since, and will continue to see for decades to come. An important subject to explore for anyone interested in the region.
Fromkin focuses primarily on the British. Though every actor in the Middle East is described, and their motivations laid out, the British get the bulk of the attention, as he draws from official documents, news reports, interviews, personal memoirs, etc. His meticulous research shed some light on just what the British wanted to achieve (and it was almost never an agreed upon goal) and also highlights the role individuals can play in shaping the world as we know it. Just how much influence one man's will had over the course Britain took is amazing to say the least, and it's interesting to wonder just how things would've turned out had certain key players been replaced or non-existent.
Unfortunately, the same level of detail isn't given to other states and interests in the region. Middle Eastern perspectives are most noticeably lacking, and generally when they are represented, are seen through Western eyes. That's not to say he tells an incomplete story, and there is still a wealth of information there, but Britain takes center stage. That makes sense, considering they played by far the largest role in shaping the future of the Middle East, but it would have been nice to see other sides more thoroughly explored.
"A Peace to End All Peace" gives a very well written, thought-out, detailed account of the parsing up of the Middle East by a number of countries and interests that didn't really know what they were doing, how they were to do it, or who/what they were really dealing with, each with their own gain in mind. It's a tragic tale of geopolitics and misunderstanding that cost many lives and is the beginning point for the vast majority of the conflicts we've seen in the Middle East since, and will continue to see for decades to come. An important subject to explore for anyone interested in the region.