The Struggle For The Middle East: The Soviet Union And The Middle East 1958-68
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
At the height of the Cold War, a geopolitical chess match played out across the sands of the Middle East, with the Soviet Union making calculated moves to extend its influence into one of the world's most strategically vital regions. Walter Laqueur's The Struggle for the Middle East chronicles the decade between 1958 and 1968, a period of intense superpower rivalry in which Moscow courted Arab states with arms deals, diplomatic overtures, and ideological promises, while the West scrambled to maintain its foothold in a rapidly shifting landscape. With the precision of a seasoned historian and the narrative drive of a political analyst, Laqueur maps the ambitions, miscalculations, and proxy conflicts that defined this turbulent era. Laqueur, one of the foremost authorities on Soviet foreign policy and Middle Eastern affairs, presents a masterful dissection of ideology versus pragmatism, illustrating how the Kremlin's grand ambitions were repeatedly frustrated by the unpredictable currents of Arab nationalism, inter-state rivalries, and the enduring complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His analysis remains a landmark contribution to Cold War historiography, offering a framework for understanding not just the past, but the long shadow it casts over the region today. For anyone seeking to understand how the modern Middle East was shaped, this work is essential — and its final questions remain disturbingly unresolved.
Author: Walter Laqueur
Format: Paperback
Genre: Cold war & espionage
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
At the height of the Cold War, a geopolitical chess match played out across the sands of the Middle East, with the Soviet Union making calculated moves to extend its influence into one of the world's most strategically vital regions. Walter Laqueur's The Struggle for the Middle East chronicles the decade between 1958 and 1968, a period of intense superpower rivalry in which Moscow courted Arab states with arms deals, diplomatic overtures, and ideological promises, while the West scrambled to maintain its foothold in a rapidly shifting landscape. With the precision of a seasoned historian and the narrative drive of a political analyst, Laqueur maps the ambitions, miscalculations, and proxy conflicts that defined this turbulent era. Laqueur, one of the foremost authorities on Soviet foreign policy and Middle Eastern affairs, presents a masterful dissection of ideology versus pragmatism, illustrating how the Kremlin's grand ambitions were repeatedly frustrated by the unpredictable currents of Arab nationalism, inter-state rivalries, and the enduring complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His analysis remains a landmark contribution to Cold War historiography, offering a framework for understanding not just the past, but the long shadow it casts over the region today. For anyone seeking to understand how the modern Middle East was shaped, this work is essential — and its final questions remain disturbingly unresolved.