The 20th anniversary edition of David Fromkin's vivid tale of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the making of the modern Middle East -- indispensable to understanding current tensions, shifting alliances and the colonial legacy of the region. Frompkin illuminates the personalities, politics and, above all, the decisions by Britain, France and allies that divvied up the scraps of the Ottoman Empire into modern nations in the wake of WWI. This book has been called the best survey of the early 20th-century background to modern day realities in the region. A new edition.  (ARB13, $22.00)