Longrigg's attempt has been to offer an objective but informed account of the different nationalities and social forces found in Middle Eastern environments, urban and rural, in terms of the particular circumstances, problems and hopes of the dozen separate and more or less divided states of the region.

I THE REGION, II ANTIQUITY, III NINE CENTURIES OF ISLAM, IV MODERN TIMES, V PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES, VI THE ARAB COUNTRIES, VI I THE NON-ARAB COUNTRIES, VIII PUBLIC LIFE, I X PRIVATE LIFE AND SOCIETY, X LANDS AND FACTORIES, XII CONCLUSION AND PROSPECT

Brig. Stephen H. Longrigg was a member of the council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. James Jankowski is professor of history at the University of Colorado-Boulder.