Middle East Almanac

Part of the "Facts On File Almanacs of American Wars" series, this volume is almost entirely a chronology covering significant dates in Middle Eastern history from January 1979 through July 2010. Aimed at secondary school students and possibly undergraduates, the book focuses on military topics (aviation and naval)—often in one or two sentences—but also covers diplomacy and politics. In addition, the work includes 40 biographies of significant military and political figures; some black-and-white photographs are interspersed throughout the text. Particularly useful are appendixes containing statistical charts of military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and a dozen maps of the conflict zones. Fredriksen (Chronology of American Military History) has thoughtfully included the Congressional Medal of Honor citations awarded to combatants both in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some quibbles: the bibliography would have been more useful if it were annotated and included websites; some brief background information—even sidebars—about the various conflicts and events would have enhanced the dry chronological listings. BOTTOM LINE Although the index provides easy access to dates of specific incidents, many readers may want more political, geographical, and historical information about this news-dominant world region. Recommended as a supplemental work for libraries with broad Middle Eastern collections.—Donald Altschiller, Boston Univ. Libs.