Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa A Biographical Dictionary

Subjects:

• Political Science » Comparative Politics
• History » Middle Eastern History
• Multicultural Studies » Middle East Studies

Awards:

• Choice Outstanding Academic Book, 1990
• Library Journal Best Reference Book, 1990

Reviews:

• This masterful compilation of biographical essays on prominent Middle East and North African political leaders fills a void in the current reference literature. The essays, of substantial length and written by experts, cover 70 persons who have made an impact on world events since World War II. Designed to be used as a basis for further research, the subjects are cross-referenced and indexed by country and topic. A detailed chronology of events is included, and each entry is followed by a list of works by and about the person. . . . This valuable work is highly recommended for large general collections as well as scholarly libraries.
  —Library Journal
• This volume profiles 70 men and women who have had a significant impact on the political development of the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa, Iran, Israel, and Turkey, since WW II. The entries are in alphabetical order and include biographical details, analyses of the individuals' personal development and impact on the political evolution of their countries, and short bibliographies of works by and about the entrants (the latter category largely in English). The personalities included were chosen by surveying major works about the region and by querying specialists about potential subjects. Essays, by 52 scholars and other specialists range in length from 4 to 12 pages. The volume also includes a chronology of events from 1869 to 1989, a short bibliography of general works on the political elite of the region, notes on each contributor, an index by country of the personalities included, and a general index listing each person profiled as well as events, other persons mentioned in the entries, organizations, and places. This title is strongly recommended for libraries of all types, as it not only provides succinct analyses of leaders well known in the West, but also synthesizes information that may otherwise be difficult to locate and in languages other than English on political figures whose names are not immediately recognized by the general reader.
  —Choice
• In public and academic libraries these essays will be a valuable counterweight to the impressionistic information one can cull about the region's living leaders from the media. Both the biographies of active politicians and those out of power or deceased should be useful to anyone who wants to understand the present political situations in these countries.
  —Booklist
• . . . the profiles included in this volume provide detailed analyses and assessments of the careers and achievements of many of the major Middle Eastern and North African political leaders of the post-World War Two period. The volume is an invaluable reference guide for students of the region, and a must addition to the library of anyone interested in learning about the people who shaped and continue to shape the political landscape of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa.
  —Middle East Focus
• Major Middle Eastern and North Afrrican political leaders are profiled in this biographical reference volume. It is one of the few systematic examinations of the political personalities and leaders in this area of the world and focuses on the period since World War II. The profiles include basic 'who's who' information but reach far beyond that to explore the personal and political evolution of the individuals, their methods, programs, and goals, and their contributions to the political past, present, and probable future of their own countries, the Middle East and North African, and the international arena. A brief bibliography of works by and about the subject follows each essay and provides sources of future reserach and information.
  —Shofar

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa
• Ferhat Abbas
• Abdallah al-Salim al-Sabah
• Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud
• Abdullah ibn Hussein
• Michel Aflaq
• Salim Rubay Ali
• Yasser Arafat
• Hafez al-Assad
• Sabri Khalil al-Banna (Abu Nidal)
• Menachem Begin
• Zine el Abidine Ben Ali
• Ahamed Ben Bella
• Chadli Bendjedid
• David Ben-Gurion
• Salah al-Din Bitar
• Houari Boumediene
• Habib Bourguiba
• Camille Chamoun
• Fuad Chehab
• Moshe Dayan
• Suleyman Demirel
• Bulent Ecevit
• Levi Eshkol
• Fahd bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud
• Faisal bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud
• Farouk
• Allal al-Fasi
• Pierre Gemayel
• George Habash
• Hassan II
• Hussein ibn Talal
• Saddam Hussein
• Idris I
• Ismet Inonu
• Isa bin Sulman al-Khalifah
• Abd al-Fattah Ismail
• Jabir al-Ahamed
• Kamal Jumblatt
• Walid Jumblatt
• Rashid Karami
• Khalifah ibn Hamad al Thani
• Ruhollah Khomeni
• Sadiq al-Mahdi
• Golda Meir
• Adnan Menderes Mohammed V
• Ali Nasser Mohammad
• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
• Mohammad Mossadegh
• Hosni Mubarak
• Mustafa al-Nahhas
• Gamal Abdul Nasser
• Jafar Mohammed Nimeiri
• Turgut Ozal
• Shimon Peres
• Qabus bin Said
• Muammar Quaddafi
• Abdul Karim Quasem
• Shukri al-Quwatli
• Yizhak Rabin
• Rashid bin Said Al Maktum
• Anwar al-Sadat
• Musa al-Sadr
• Nuri Said
• Said bin Taymur
• Ali Abdullah Salih
• Yizhak Shamir
• Chaim Weizmann
• Yahya
• Zayed bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan
• Listings of Subjects by Country
• Chronology
• Bibliographical Note
• Index