This book, designed for both scholarly research and as a classroom text, covers the entire span of Middle Eastern history from 1000 BC to the modern day, as well as modern Middle Eastern issues, such as freedom of the press, women in society, sectarian violence, democracy, and Islamic aesthetics. The history portion has individual chapters on: (1) the geography and climate; (2) the ancient Near East, (3) the rise and expansion of Islam; (4) the Persians and the Turks; (5) the Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mongols, and Mamluks; (6) the Ottoman empire; (7) British and French Imperialism; (8) the Iranian Revolution; and (9) the Arab spring and the contemporary Middle East.