Echoes of the Past

 by Gretchen Beilfuss Witt Rowan Public Library

                Looking at the political arena from recent months brings to mind the idea that the founding fathers had of having an educated citizenry.    It is often difficult to keep up with the barrage of information available, but it behooves us to try to "catch up" and understand how situations became what they are as well as understanding the history of certain countries or peoples.  To this end, the library has recently acquired a couple of wonderful series of books.  These sets are specifically designed to appeal to young adults; however, they can be a terrific resource for everyone.   Both series are currently located in the new book section.

                 The first series "Cause & Effect In History" examines particular events or conflicts - for example the American Revolutionary War or the Fall of Rome - giving a general overview of the events, but also analyzing the facts,  giving examples and mixing primary and secondary documentation.   The "Cause and Effect:  World War II"  includes timelines, period photographs and sidebars which look at African Americans in the War, the Versailles Treaty, Pearl Harbor, and the invasion of the Soviet Union.   It also looks at how World War II, the NATO action in Korea and the differences of the two allies, the US and the Soviet Union, influenced the Cold War.   Another book in the series looks at the September 11 Attacks and examines how the Afghan-Soviet War and other Middle East conflicts may have contributed to that fateful day.

                The second set of books deals with "Major Nations of the Modern Middle East" including Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.    Understanding the Middle East is so important to the current political and military situation.   For example, many Americans understanding of Iraq begins with the 2003 invasion of the international coalition, yet this area has a long and complicated history.  Once known as Mesopotamia and identified as "the cradle of civilization" it has seen much, the Sumerian Empire, then the Assyrian, then the Persians controlled it only to fall to Alexander the Great.  By 1530 the Ottomans control this area and did so until after the First World War when the country of Iraq was actually formed under the Big Four at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.  The British hand picked the ruling monarch from the Saudi Hashemite family despite the opposition of the Iraqi Shi'i and Kurds.   The book "Iraq" goes on to describe the history of the people, the religious, political and economic concerns, the significant communities and customs and their foreign relations.  It is a solid but succinct overview of the salient points of a country's history and the effects on today's global state of affairs.  Each book in the series gives similar information and lends itself to understanding the entire region and its complex interactions.