Drysdale’s comprehensive textbook is an outstanding work of scholarship, essential reading for anyone studying or interested in the Middle East.

Peter B. Golden, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University

This superb book is the definitive geographical study of the MENA region. In accessible and engaging prose, Drysdale sweeps away the ignorance, fear, and prejudice associated with this wondrous and complex realm, offering instead a clear-sighted panorama of its land and life.

Joseph Hobbs, University of Missouri

This is an important book, covering the geography of a region which has undergone significant social, economic, and political changes during the past three decades, since the last texts were published. Focusing on the internal domestic changes and the ways in which this has impacted the wider geopolitical impact of the region in global politics is long overdue. Drysdale’s long term interest in this region makes him a most appropriate analyst of these changes and he has produced a book which will be of great interest to scholar and student alike.

David Newman, former Editor, International Journal of Geopolitics; Emeritus Professor of Geopolitics, Ben-Gurion University

In this engaging and richly illustrated textbook Alasdair Drysdale offers an informed and nuanced presentation of the Middle East and North Africa, striking a compelling balance between commonalities and differences. The author also provides pedagogical introductions to key concepts in the thematical chapters (region, physical environment, water, population, migration, religion, language, political map, economy, petroleum) while the concluding chapter offers insightful summarizing state portraits. This much needed introduction, written in the first place for American students, is therefore both accessible and thorough. Beyond US universities and beyond area studies and the discipline of geography, this book is an essential resource for all those who wish to study this region and its diversity.

Virginie Mamadouh, University of Amsterdam, and Editor of The Arab World Geographer

Drysdale presents a multi-dimensional study of the Middle East as a major world region, showing how it is both regionally distinctive and an important part of contemporary globalization processes. His analyses of physical, socio-cultural, and religious geography are comprehensive and provide important insights that are valuable for both specialists and general readers.

John Voll, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University