THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST A PERSONAL HISTORY

JEREMY BOWEN

Picador, 368pp, £20

As befits its title, wrote Justin Marozzi in the Times, this is a ‘very personal story, covering the period from Bowen’s arrival as a 29-year-old correspondent reporting on the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 to today’. Ian Birrell in the Spectator described Bowen as necessarily ‘drenched in the blood and misery’ that soils the Middle East, a view shared by Marozzi, who described the book as covering ‘an awful lot of bloody wars, taking in everywhere from Tunis and Tripoli to Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem, the occupied Palestinian territories, Baghdad, Beirut and beyond’.

It is to Bowen’s credit that this is not an ego trip

Birrell thought it was to Bowen’s credit that this work is not a ‘selfglorifying ego trip’, adding that a bit more of the personal might have been welcome. Colin Freeman in the

Telegraph commended Bowen for ‘wearing his knowledge lightly’, going on to describe how ‘Over what must have been gallons of tea and coffee, we meet everyone from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah through to Colonel Gaddafi and President Assad. Like an erudite dinner guest, Bowen knows when to provide context and detail, and crucially, when to stop.’

NJ Mcgarrigle in the Irish Times said we should be thankful for Bowen’s work ‘with its rich historical detail, its composure and balance, and its readability’. Marozzi recorded that Bowen ends with a ‘clarion call to powerful states looking at the region. “Do no more harm. Then try to make things better.” But such is the force of everything that has come before, it is difficult to muster much optimism.’ In the end, wrote Mcgarrigle, Bowen makes no predictions and offers no solutions, but his Personal History is ‘a solid footing for anyone stepping into a complex and compelling region’ – into those lands famously described by Amos Oz as ‘pregnant with suppressed violence’.