MELISSA ROSSI'S
WEASK SERIES
OF BOOKS
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PRAISE FOR MELISSA ROSSI’S WHAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW SERIES
“fun, with irreverent histories, cheeky commentaries on high-profile personages and from-the-hip, opinionated critiques of governments du jour.”
Washington Post
“funky foreign affairs seminar… edgy sensibility and wry sense of humor.”
Newsday
“fun and informative…absorbing on many levels.”
Chicago Tribune
“seeks to wise up Americans… part tutorial, part guidebook and part trivia compendium… a handy mini refresher on pivotal events.”
USA Today
More than ever, the Middle East is at the fiery epicenter of world affairs: whether looking at oil, wars, arms sales, nuclear worries, financial aid, expanding United States military bases, or religious extremism, the region is tightly wrapped up with the American economy and the wellbeing of our country. Even with President Barack Obama entering office, the American military presence will continue, as evidenced in the recent approval of a U.S.-Iraqi security pact that calls for U.S. troops to remain in Iraq until 2011.
Despite being the destination of most foreign-bound U.S. tax dollars, the Middle East is mystifying to most Americans, who can’t distinguish one country from another and are unable to unravel the gnarly knot of issues at hand. As a result of their ignorance, most Americans are forced to believe the word of politicians and biased think tanks, even though the information these players present is often skewed and frequently clouds the real motives. That’s why Melissa Rossi’s latest addition to her insightful What Every American Should Know Series, WHAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST (A Plume Original/January 2009/$16.00) is a gold mine—shedding insight on what is really going on in the Middle East and how U.S. actions have shaped this part of the world that is usually portrayed as a powder keg, when in fact most of it is peaceful.
Dispelling the images of the entire Middle East as a land of tanks, suicide bombers and radical Muslims, Rossi zeroes in on problem areas and provides a framework for understanding the region. Rossi illuminates why some countries are so incendiary, while pointing out the progress being made in others and how the Middle East has become a luxury playground. Providing a clear analysis of the forces at work in lands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, Israel to Iran, Iraq to Lebanon and beyond, Rossi delves into each country’s history, politics, economy, and religions. She exposes DC’s geopolitical moves and shows how our military presence and manipulations have shaped the region’s economic and political development. Rossi’s comprehensive guide covers a number of previously overlooked topics including:
- Agreements between American and Mideast leaders that have profound repercussions
- The countries that receive the bulk of U.S. foreign aid – ironically, for arms to keep peace
- How and why the U.S. has transformed the Persian Gulf into an armed fortress
- The odd relationship between U.S. defense budgets and the wars we’ve started in the region
- How Saudi Arabia inadvertently feeds the violence in Iraq and beyond
- Why Iran is viewed as a threat even in the Middle East
- Which countries are modern, forward-thinking, stable and increasingly democratic
WHAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST is a helpful primer that will inform Americans about a frequently talked-about, yet mostly misunderstood, region of the world. Notes veteran journalist Pat Lancaster, editor of the London-based magazine The Middle East, “If there is a livelier, less ponderous, more agenda-free, better researched, more relevant publication that provides such a wealth of historical and incidental information along all the ‘need to know’ stuff on this complex part of the world, I would like to find it.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A former National Geographic Traveler columnist and special correspondent for Newsweek, Melissa Rossi has been traveling the planet for years with a goal of empowering Americans painlessly by simplifying complex geopolitical affairs and injecting colorful history, culture, travel and humor into normally snoozy topics. Her work has appeared in Esquire, Newsday, The New York Observer, and on MSNBC, and she has written extensively about Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. She is currently traveling Asia researching her next book.
WHAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST
By Melissa Rossi
Plume/$16.00/December 30th
978-452-28959-8
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