Middle East Classics | Rowman & Littlefield
Middle East Classics
This series will provide a forum for understanding the current American occupation of Iraq through the lens of the British occupation of Iraq following the break up of the Ottoman Empire. That overused saying about how those who are ignorant of the past are doomed to repeat it, is redeemed by events in the modern Middle East. Going back in time is mandatory in understanding the region's current problems. Part of the present problem is a failure to understand what happened before American incursions. Lawrence of Arabia was not the only romantic whose prejudices and passions produced boundaries and dilemmas that today defy policy makers, as the remarkable books in this series demonstrate. Selected, edited and introduced by Professor Paul Rich, they illustrate how the results of a now forgotten era is still felt -- knots tied on the tapestry by the collision of the British and Ottoman Empires, the aspirations of the Viceroys of India, the confusions at the Versailles peace conference, and even the ritualisms of Masonic lodges and English public schools. Seldom has the long arm of a very peculiar history reached out so far. The lasting effects are little understood in the complex confrontations today in Iraq, Iran, and the Gulf. Dr. Rich served the Ministry of Higher Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and then became Head of Supervisory Training in the Ministry of Education and Culture in the Emirate of Qatar. President of the Policy Studies Organization, Chancellor of Phi Sigma Omega, past International President of Phi Beta Delta, longtime Visiting Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, Professor Rich is known for an intense interest in bibliography which began during Harvard student days, now reflected in Lexington's Middle East Classics - innovative scholarship which won the accolade "marvelous" from Edward Said, the Cameron Medal for social science research and fellowship in the Royal Historical Society.

Editor(s): Paul J. Rich, Policy Studies Organization