The Middle East's political prominence has made it the subject of more than its share of reference works, most of them deficient in some fundamental way. Here's one that excels. Shimoni co-edited the very useful Political Dictionary of the Middle East in the 20th Century (1972); while drawing on that volume, he has this time written his own compendium, focusing on his own specialty, the Arab world.
The Dictionary's strength lies in its intelligence and utility. In addition to the obvious geographic and biographic entries, it contains brief but ambitious surveys of topics not normally covered in reference books: "oil in the Arab countries," "Christians in the Arab countries," "colonialism," "Greater Syria," "Liberal," and even "foreign bases." The book's longest entry, twenty-six pages on the Arab-Israeli conflict, is a model of concision and clarity.
