Middle East Patterns Places, Peoples, and Politics, 4th ed. by Colbert C. Held (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2006. 646 pages.)

Abstract

Widely regarded as the most comprehensive, authoritative, and geographical
study of the region, Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics
has evolved dexterously into a fourth edition that embraces such diverse
themes as archaeology and military capabilities, ethnolinguistic features and
agricultural developments, and future implications for relations both within and without the region. The additional 221 illustrations – comprising maps
exclusively hand-drawn for the publication as well as images contributed by
the author and tables that elucidate the text through their scrupulous cogency
– jointly advance the author’s objective to enhance the reader’s knowledge
of the region through a review of the Middle East’s natural and cultural patterns
and their impact upon political and economic developments. Transcending
the conflicts that have made the region a permanent fixture of the
world’s media, Held presents an enlightening evaluation of the interaction
between the region’s people and biophysical phenomena in the context of
spatial and historical processes over time.
Introducing the region’s historical and geographical foundations
through eight chapters, “Part One: Physical and Cultural Geography” examines
the environment, the historico-political evolution of the power cores,
and the spatial interaction between the geographical areas and the political
events in a region that encompasses “ancient cultures in new states – old
wine in new bottles” (p. 219). Located in an area of geographical wonders
that range from the planet’s lowest body of water body (1,310 ft. below sea
level) to extreme weather conditions that witnessed a locale southwest of the
Dead Sea receive its average total annual rainfall in a one-hour downpour
during December 2003, the environment has not escaped the consequences
of political discord ...