Arthur Schmidt

The title of this book is not quite accurate. If you are looking for inclusion of illustrious civilizations of bygone days -- Hittites, Assyrian, Aryans, Phoenicians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Ancient Egypt , the Persians of Cyrus the Great and Xerxes, even Greek colonists -- you won't more than a brief mention in this "Concise History." A more accurate title would be "The Rise of Islamic Nationalism in the Middle East" or even "Origins of the Modern Middle East." This book is a fairly expansive account on the rise of Islam and Islamic nations from the time of Mohammed to, in this updated volume, the situation prior to the "Islamic Dawn" uprisings over the past few years.

Within this redefined scope. Goldschmidt is pretty thorough. While coming up short of being an Islamic apologist, he does tend to take a less objective look through the eyes of Islamic peoples, especially when counseling Western nations (including Israel) on policies and methods that might be more effective than what's been tried before. In particular, he is urging younger people to take a more empathetic approach and possibly resolve deadly conflicts that have seemingly been on-going since the Crusades. This slight bit of proselytizing I find off-putting in what is ostensibly a history book; the author's objectivity seems skewed and make one wonder about the integrity of information during less obvious sections of the book. Overall though, it seems a to be a good account on how we got to where we are today.… (meer)