History of the Middle East/Islam Book Recommendations?

[Clueless Morgan]

Sheeesh.... that's some task.

When you speak of the Mid East you are talking about some of the oldest, continually occupied, places on earth in an area from Catal Huyuk south through Jericho to Egypt. Signs of towns go back 9-10,000 years (bible-thumping idiots not withstanding.)

Yeah, I know. To be fair, though, I'm not expecting a single book to fulfill all of my desired attributes. If it takes 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6, depending on how interesting the first ones are) that's okay, my only demand at that point is that the books not be heinously expensive or super difficult reads.

So I'm guessing that what you really mean is the history since the muslim conquest?

I'll take any recommendations, quite frankly, including ancient history, histories of certain areas such as Persia, the Near East, or countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, I hear Yemen has quite a history but I don't know what it is... books on the development of Middle Eastern Culture sound interesting, whether or not that focuses on Islam or discusses the kinds of changes to the culture that Islam made, more modern history like the stuff to do with Russia and Afghanistan (<-- that's about the extent of my knowledge right now, Russia had something to do with Afghanistan at some point... but I don't know what...) If it is a book that focuses on a specific period of time, like the Byzantine or Roman empires, the specific rise and influence of Islam, a history of the Crusades, or anything else that would be cool, books about the arts and architecture of these regions...

Anything, really. If it's a history book and it talks about that region (or one of those regions) of the world and you think it's worth a read, pass the title and author on!

I don't ask for much, do it?

The muslims around here will go birdshit because Spencer treats their precious religion roughly but you won't learn anything from some guy who can't say two words without praising allah or some shit.

^^-- that's definitely not what I want. I'm okay with the author being... sympathetic to the religion they are discussing but if the objectivity of the author is impaired by their belief in the religion they're talking about I'm not interested. I'm not going to pay to be proselytized to, I get that for free once a month already.

Spencer regards Mohammed as a literary creation, similar to jesus and all the others, around whom a religion was created.

I'll definitely look into "Did Mohammed Exist;" it looks like Robert Spencer has written several books on Islam, as well as one titled "Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn't" which is described as "a refutation of moral equivalence and call for all the beneficiaries and heirs of Judeo-Christian Western civilization, whatever their own religious or philosophical perspective may be, to defend it from the global jihad"
[from his expanded biography]

??? If anything, I kind of want to read "Religion of Peace" just to see what this description is supposed to mean...

On the other side, I know of no book which could deal in sufficient depth with the slice of history from the Roman Empire, through the Byzantine Empire, the Crusades, the Re-Conquista in Spain, the constant fighting between the Turks and the Balkan states, right up to WWI. I have heard of one called "Lost to the West" which is a history of the Byzantine Empire and it got fairly good reviews but I haven't read it.

An introductory overview type book would be cool to start with but knowing how much I'm asking for I doubt I'll find one, especially since I'm looking at the history of two, maybe even three, distinct regions of the world.

Good luck with this project.

Thanks, I think I'll need it.

And thanks for giving me the jump start, I appreciate it!

Other recommendations are still welcome!