The near east - Arthur Cotterell

This ambitious and wide-ranging popular history is the first narrative account of the entire Near East (Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States), from the genesis of civilisation in the fourth millennium BCE until modern times. It provides an historical outline of the civilisations and cultures that dominated the region, one that has had an immense impact on the development of humankind, ever since the ancient Sumerians invented urban living and writing around 3200 BCE. Later, the Babylonians and the Assyrians built upon the Sumerian legacy. They were the world's earliest great powers, whose actions in the cradle of monotheism influenced Judaism and, eventually, Christianity and Islam. The Near East discusses the long eras of Arab, Persian and Ottoman rule, and the destabilising intervention of Western colonial powers. Cotterell's book is a timely reminder of how historical events have shaped the outlooks of various peoples, just as political turbulence in the Near East is challenging both neighbouring countries and the wider world.

Arthur Cotterell is a prolific historian and author. His previous books include the Penguin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations, the Penguin Encyclopedia of Classical Civilizations and Chariot: The Astounding Rise and Fall of the World's First War Machine.

'What distinguishes Arthur Cotterell's 'The Near East: A Cultural History' is its sweep. [...] Cotterell has given us, in this beautifully illustrated and handsomely produced book, an impressive introduction to the history of the near east.'
The National

'As the Near East edges ever nearer, we in the Middle West need to know it better. Arthur Cotterell's cultural history is the ideal primer. Full of surprises and enriched by the author's insights into its mythology and ritual, The Near East offers a comprehensive history in which conquests and conversions are more than matched by continuities and commonalities.'
John Keay, author of Sowing the Wind: the Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East as well as standard histories of India and China

'A lively history of the Near East that presents a very accessible, readable, and accurate narrative, thanks to Cotterell's beautiful and engaging prose.'
Ilan Papp, author of The Modern Middle East and The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine