"In one hundred and twenty pages this book provides a compelling account of the shaping of the modern Middle East, and the critical part played in that process by the Ottoman Empire, even as it fell apart. It offers a mine of background information for anyone wishing to understand the current scene. Thirty-four well-chosen documents, mainly culled from the archives, buttress and illuminate the story."

—Jonathan Schneer, Georgia Institute of Technology, author of The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of Arab-Israeli Conflict