Wawro offer an unprecedented history of our involvement in the Middle East that traces our current quandaries there--in Iraq, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere--back to their roots almost a century ago.

Introduction -- Zion -- Oil -- Exodus -- Ajax -- Nasser -- Suez -- The Eisenhower Doctrine -- A six-day war -- The Nixon Doctrine -- Great civilization -- Desert One -- Jihad -- Saddam -- Desert Storm -- 9/11 -- Enduring Freedom -- Into Iraq -- Iraqi Freedom.