The Levant [Hardcover]

Perched between three continents - Africa, Asia, and Europe - the Levant is a crossroads of world history. Presently the domain of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians, with Turkey on its northern margins, the Levant epitomizes cultural complexity and geopolitical turbulence. This book surveys the pageant of peoples, armies, empires, and regimes that have featured in the Levant's dramatic story since Pompey came from Rome chasing pirates more than 2,000 years ago. The completely revised new edition features updates on Israeli-Palestinian affairs, Lebanon's paralysis since the political murders, social and environmental pressures in Jordan and Syria, and Turkey's regional role. It concludes with a special chapter on the meltdown in Syria since 2011, which has made the largest country in the Levant a theater of horror.