Despite all of the expert commentary that the Gulf War produced, the Arab world remains an enigma for most of us. But now, in this knowledgeable, fascinating portrait, a highly regarded authority explores the history and culture, the issues and personalities, behind one of the world's most misunderstood regions. Sandra Mackey draws on her own years of living and traveling in the Middle East to create a vivid account of this troubled area and the conflicting influences that shape it. This many-faceted and enlightening exploration moves from country to country - Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and the land that the Palestinians call theirs - and profiles the leaders - Nasser and Sadat, King Hussein, Hafiz Assad, Saddam Hussein, and Yassir Arafat. Mackey examines and explains Arab history from its Bedouin beginnings through the rise of Islam and the great age of expansion ... then through the centuries of decline and subjugation, first to Turkey and then to the West.

The rise of Arab nationalism is dramatically chronicled against the background of such landmark events as the war for Palestine, the three major armed conflicts with Israel, the oil embargo, the spread of terrorism, the Iraq-Iran war, the Intifadah, and the Gulf War. All this is set within a brilliantly explicated context of Arab culture, psychology, and religion that goes far to illumine the bonds that hold the Arab world together and the rivalries that split it apart. Whether dealing with the course of the struggle for Palestine, the complex chain of events leading up to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the twists and turns of U.S. relations with the Arab nations, or any of the other thorny issues that come with the territory, Passion and Politics is remarkable for its evenhanded objectivity.

It combines the immediacy of a travelogue, the information of impeccable scholarship, and the human insight of Sandra Mackey's first-hand experience to provide vital understanding of an area that plays an increasingly key role in global affairs. For anyone seeking to make coherent sense of the often chaotic turbulence of Arab affairs and actions, this extraordinary book achieves that daunting purpose with rare style and clarity.