Modern Middle News Today

Alain Silvera reviews “The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last Two Thousand Years” by Bernard Lewis.

Hilary Falb-Kalisman, Prof. of History and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder, discusses her book, "Teachers as State Builders: Education and the Making of the Modern Middle East"

Israel’s two greatest national traumas were failures of Israeli vigilance and intelligence analysis, abetted by complacency. The

Israel’s aggressiveness” has utterly failed to deliver on its alleged aspiration of living in peace and security with its neighbours

Ten reads that offer insight into the origins of today’s conflict—and what may come next.

That is the new and excellent book by Uri Kaufman, and the subtitle is The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East. Here is one excerpt: The…

As we all know Yom Kippur is a challenging enough experience without having Israel at war as part of the package. But 50 years ago this Yom Kippur, that is precisely what we woke up to as we put on our sneakers (there were no crocs yet) along with our suits and ties and went […]

The Earl Hays Press has provided virtually all printed props for the film industry since 1915. A typewriter made out of drums. A musical PSA from 1967 explaining the ZIP code. A useful, less egregious version of Comic Sans. “An innovative eraser with 5 edge sizes in one implement!” What are the world’s most rectangular or roundest countries?  Two words: cocaine sharks. A new TikTok fad involves consuming or bathing in borax, for some reason. ExxonMobil invests in carbon capture. Quaker Oa...

From the blog of Carmel Lonstein at The Times of Israel

In a new book, Yale’s Jonathan Wyrtzen argues that the conventional telling of the origins of the modern Middle East overlooks powerful local forces.