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This splendid volume provides an interdisciplinary overview of the Middle East from age-old enmities to discussions of current political concerns. In forty-four essays, an international assemblage of scholars, politicians, and experts address the problems of Palestine and Israel; Iran, Syria and Iraq; Turkey; and the Kurdish regions. Concerned with questions of national, religious, or ethnic identification, the authors touch on topics from the definition of the "Middle East", the Salman Rushdie fatwa, the constancy of the Mosque as an institution, mass murders in Iraq, the role of women, the crises affecting the Assyrian Chaldean-Syriacs, torture in Iran, and the peace process. Comprehensive chapters chart the politics, ethnicity, and history of Turkey.