Reddit reviews Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East (ALA Notable Books for Adults)

..An added comment about Britain in Israel....

Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel, was a brilliant chemist who figured out a new way to produce acetone. This greatly helped Britain's artillery shells during the First World War. This gave him, a strong supporter of Zionism, entrance to some of the corridors of power during the war.

Furthermore, Britain was fighting on the side of the notably anti-semitic tsarist government of Russia. This did not make them very popular in Jewish circles.

In order to increase Jewish support for the Allied side in the War, Britain released the Balfour Declaration which put them on record as supporting a Jewish homeland.

This declaration is what gave rise to Jewish people moving to Israel in the years after the war.

Source: Lawrence in Arabia Terrific book by the way.

I highly recommend reading Lawrence in Arabia. True story behind TE Lawrence, written by a journalist who's spent time reporting on the modern conflicts in the Middle East, with a lot of insight on how Middle Eastern policy back then resonates today

In no particular order:

http://www.amazon.com/Beirut-Jerusalem-Thomas-L-Friedman/dp/1250015499

http://www.amazon.com/Lawrence-Arabia-Deceit-Imperial-Making-ebook/dp/B00BH0VSPI/ref=zg_bs_4995_5

http://www.amazon.com/My-Promised-Land-Triumph-Tragedy-ebook/dp/B009QJMXI8/ref=zg_bs_4995_4


http://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Cleansing-Palestine-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1851685553/ref=zg_bs_4995_10

http://www.amazon.com/Arabic-Thought-Liberal-Age-1798-1939/dp/0521274230/ref=cm_lmf_tit_3

http://www.amazon.com/History-Arab-Peoples-Albert-Hourani/dp/0446393924/ref=cm_lmf_tit_4

http://www.amazon.com/Women-Gender-Islam-Historical-Modern/dp/0300055838/ref=cm_lmf_tit_9

http://www.amazon.com/Emergence-Modern-Studies-Eastern-History/dp/0195134605/ref=cm_lmf_tit_10

http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805068848/ref=cm_lmf_tit_17


As a non-Muslim, non-Jew, non-Arab, non-Semite, American, and having read these (yay strict immigrant parents!) and some other histories, as well as having had the attacks of 9/11 give me a neurosis about following the news in the Middle East/Central/South Asia as regards potential US involvement and issues:


A lot feels familiar to me, some of it even seems like stuff I know a good deal about, and a few things about "The Middle East" which is a massively rich and complex sociopolitical place and slice of humanity are things I'd consider myself very well read on.


And I don't know shit.


I can tell you as a native born American and US voter what I think my country's policies (in a limited, broad strokes sense) should be - - - but beyond that, there's very little I've ever seen as conclusive and firm coming from anyone who by dint of identity didn't have 'skin in the game' .

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Over 1,000 reviews on Amazon and a composite 4.25 rating. should provide some insight as to other's opinions. Really one of the best works I've read in nearly 70 years. T.E. Lawrence was an enigmatic figure and the other characters were equally fascinating.

I just read Lawrence in Arabia and that was really not going to happen, American oil interests were already in the Empire snapping up land rights to drill with smoke and mirror promises to the Ottomans before WWI. If they had actually made it through it's very likely they would have been screwed out of a lot of the profits before they fully realized what was happening.

The US was involved in the middle east since it was partitioned after WWI. You can't look at single instances without considering the history of the region. Have a look at "Lawrence in Arabia".