If you could buy one book that gave you a history of the Middle East up till tod

Question: If you could buy one book that gave you a history of the Middle East up till today, what would it be!?

I bought a nice book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but now I would like somewhat of a synopsis of the history of the Middle East and how it has come to be what it is today!.

I was checking out a book by Peter Mansfield called "The History of the Middle East" but some people say that it is a chore to read!.

What are your recommendations!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

The Great War for Civilisation (The Conquest of the Middle East) by Robert Fisk!.
The best I've read so far!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A good general background to the area problems would be "Oh Jerusalem" Dominique Lapiere and Larry Collins!.
Its dieerent because the authors are not biased one way or another!. Lapiere is French, with a majpr interest in contemporary Indian history and Collins is American, and has written about the CIA!.
There first book, written in the 60's was Is Paris burning!?, which was made into a good film!.
They also wrote a good history of the partition of India, called Freedom at Midnight!. It is not a hagiography of Gandhi, but a decent examination of the background!. Though not credited, \i'm certain it was the inspiration for the mini series on Mountbatten!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Bernard Lewis is considered one of the best experts but his book is from 12 years ago and I am not sure therefore if it updated enough for you
http://www!.npr!.org/programs/totn/feature!.!.!.
There are so many good books about the Middle East conflict the problem is the political views or inclinations of the authors (Palestinian, Israeli, European etc!.)
http://www!.prometheusbooks!.com/catalog/b!.!.!.
http://www!.mideastweb!.org/biblio!.htm
http://www!.au!.af!.mil/au/aul/bibs/mepp!.ht!.!.!.

Therefore I hesitate to recommend any book!.Www@QuestionHome@Com