A history of the last century of tensions in the Middle East.

In an accessible survey of the last century, Contested Lands tells the story of the Middle East since the First World War: what happened, why, and what it all means today.

With a focus on the many conflicts in the region over the last one hundred years, T. G. Fraser analyses the faultlines of the tension: the damaging legacies of imperialism; the creation of the State of Israel; the competition between secular, autocratic rulers and emerging democratic and theocratic forces; and the rise – and fall – of Arab nationalism in the face of fraying regional alliances and the Islamic revival.

Against this backdrop comes the twenty-first century, marked first by the tragedy of 9/11, then the ‘Arab Spring’, Syria’s civil war and now the Israel-Palestine conflict. And in the midst of it all, complex social and economic change has transformed the region. In Contested Lands, T. G. Fraser untangles the threads of history in the Middle East and, in doing so, weaves a detailed and insightful picture of a troubled region and why its heritage remains important today.