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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Selected Works

Paul J. Rich

Middle East Studies

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Hay's Two Years In Kurdistan, Paul J. Rich Dec 2008

Hay's Two Years In Kurdistan, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

The British invasion during World War I of what is now Iraq has been a focus of a number of my books and a number of books that I have edited. My argument has been a simple one, that had American policy makers bothered to familiarize themselves with the abortive British incursion and the disasters that ensued, the American invasion of Iraq might have been tempered. Look before you leap.


Rupert Hay And Kurdistan, Paul J. Rich Dec 2008

Rupert Hay And Kurdistan, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

Among my Middle East contributions have been editions of classic texts, many relating to the British era in the Middle East. I have nursed into print no less than three editions of Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan, and this piece is the introduction to the latest edition. I count myself lucky that I have worked on the Middle East rather than some less significant area, as it has certainly kept some of my work in print.


Creating The Arabian Gulf - Jacket, Paul J. Rich Dec 2008

Creating The Arabian Gulf - Jacket, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

The design of the cover for the newest edition of Creating the Arabian Gulf really surprised me, as the publisher found an illustration of Arab youths with oranges -- in the book I mention an incident during British days where a Qatari lad was beaten for stealing an orange, an illustration of the rags to riches life of the Gulf Arabs. That there would be such an apt picture still amazes me.


Iraq And Hubris, Paul J. Rich Dec 2006

Iraq And Hubris, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

This review is perhaps too glib, but it reflects my concern about the need for more information about the Middle East and the way policy makers in Washington sometimes show an extraordinary lack of information about the region. Otherwise informed individuals look blankly at me when I mention the part played by Lord Curzon or Gertrude Bell. Part of the problem is that a good many books about the Middle East don't get reviewed at all, which means they fall (along with their insights) like a stone. My support over the years of the Digest of Middle East Studies is …


Introduction To The Middle East: Syllabus, Paul J. Rich Dec 2001

Introduction To The Middle East: Syllabus, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

This is a syllabus for Mexican undergraduate students, some of whom had real hurtles with English. In addition to the listed reading, Spanish translations of the Koran (technically the Holy Koran cannot be translated) were distributed so each had a copy. This was referenced during the lectures. Map work was one of the core demands.


Ends And Means In Iraq, Paul J. Rich Dec 1993

Ends And Means In Iraq, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

Certainly in 1994 I did not think the history of Mesopotamia would be as important in 2010 as it appears.


The Bahrain Schools, Paul J. Rich Dec 1986

The Bahrain Schools, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

The history of education in the Gulf includes a number of early school schemes that emulated British elitist secondary education, the sort of pedagogy that one associates with the English public schools. My opinion has been that this emphasis on a traditional and non vocational curriculum was a contributor to the challenges that countries faced that had been under British sway.