A Serviceable Middle East
Dictionary
Historical
Dictionary of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by
PR Kumaraswamy, The Scarecrow Press, Inc.,
2006, 424 pages, $99
by Mitchell Bard
In today's Internet
age, few people seem to rely much on reference
books anymore; nevertheless, they are often
handier and more comprehensive and accurate
than much of what is found online. PR Kumaraswamy
has written exactly the type of handy reference
that students and others interested in the
Middle East will find useful. After a brief
overview of the history of the conflict,
the book offers a very extensive alphabetical
listing of key terms, people and events related
to the conflict. Kumaraswamy,
a professor of international studies at
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi,
is one of the
rare non-Jews to teach about Israel, and
to do so in a balanced manner. Not surprisingly,
the book also fairly covers the good, the
bad and the ugly of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Sources: Mitchell Bard is the AICE Executive Director |