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A review by panda_pants
A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin
4.0
The good: Remarkably interesting, well researched, narrative approach to a WWI history focused on the actions of Britain and allies towards what became the Middle East. Essential foundation for understanding that region, and America’s and Britain’s policies towards it, today. More detailed than it needed to be, but managed to stay interesting regardless.
The lacking: This is a victor’s history, a British one primarily, at the expense of perspectives from the Middle Eastern cultures affected. Those perspectives are there, but it is not the focus. This is also a personality driven (and to an extent, event driven) history. The last chapter and Afterward provide the bulk of analysis drawing connections to post-WWI events and attitudes within and about the Middle East. They were the most interesting chapters in the book and could have been the focus.
The lacking: This is a victor’s history, a British one primarily, at the expense of perspectives from the Middle Eastern cultures affected. Those perspectives are there, but it is not the focus. This is also a personality driven (and to an extent, event driven) history. The last chapter and Afterward provide the bulk of analysis drawing connections to post-WWI events and attitudes within and about the Middle East. They were the most interesting chapters in the book and could have been the focus.