Dilip Hiro

From the Publisher:  From a critically acclaimed author-a comprehensive history of the part of the world currently making headlines. The former Soviet republics of Central Asia comprise a sprawling, politically pivotal, densely populated, and richly cultured area of the world that is nonetheless poorly represented in libraries and mainstream media. Since their political incorporation in Stalin's Soviet era, these countries have gone through a flash of political and economical evolution. But despite these rapid changes, the growth of oil wealth and U.S. jockeying, and the opening of the region to tourists and businessmen, the spirit of Central Asia has remained untouched at its core. In this comprehensive new treatment, renowned political writer and historian Dilip Hiro offers us a narrative that places the modern politics, peoples, and cultural background of this region firmly into the context of current international focus. Given the strategic location of Central Asia, its predominantly Muslim population, and its hydrocarbon and other valuable resources, it comes as no surprise that the five Central Asian republics are emerging in the twenty-first century as one of the most potentially influential-and coveted-patches of the globe.

a political and cultural history of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran

Inside Central Asia

the unflinching rivalry between India and Pakistan

The longest August

For four decades Saudi Arabia and Iran have vied for influence in the Muslim world. At the heart of this ongoing Cold War between Riyadh and Tehran lie the Sunni-Shia divide, and the two countries' intertwined histories. Saudis see this as a conflict between Sunni and Shia; Iran's ruling clerics view it as one between their own Islamic Republic and an illegitimate monarchy.This foundational schism has played out in a geopolitical competition for dominance in the region: Iran has expanded its influence in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, while Saudi Arabia's hyperactive crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, has intervened in Yemen, isolated Qatar and destabilised Lebanon. Dilip Hiro examines the toxic rivalry between the two countries, tracing its roots and asking whether this Islamic Cold War is likely to end any time soon.

Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Struggle for Supremacy

Cold War in the Islamic World

First published in 1982, Inside the Middle East is a definitive study of the region. It provides a clear, concise description of the complex social, political and economic life of the Middle East. Beginning with an outline of the birth and growth of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula and the history of Israel and the Jews since 1020 B.C., the book is split in to five geographical and thematic parts. This thorough analysis in particular examines the forces at work within the Arab world, the domestic politics and economy of Israel and the state’s relationship with the West and the Soviet Bloc, and the relationship between the Arabs and the West since the Ottoman Empire. Dilip Hiro concludes with an overall analysis of the past in social, economic and political terms and considers the various possibilities for the future of the Middle East. Containing an unprecedented wealth of information and insight, this fascinating work presents a comprehensive understanding of the world’s richest and most volatile region. It remains of great relevance to scholars and students of Middle Eastern politics and history.

Inside the Middle East (Routledge Revivals)

During the first two weeks of the air campaign in January 1991, the allied forces dropped more conventional explosives on Iraq and Kuwait than during the 310 weeks of the Second World War. How did Saddam Hussein fail to draw the right lesson from the Iran-Iraq War--the United States would never allow an unfriendly nation to dominate the region containing two-thirds of the world's oil reserves? And how was President George Bush able to assemble and hold together such a formidable coalition of 28 European and Arab countries? In this perceptive and detailed account of the second Gulf War, Dilip Hiro, author of the much-acclaimed book The Longest War, reveals the complex political-economic motivation and diplomatic maneuvering that preceded the 42-day conflict as well as the historical causes and consequences of the war. He shows how Saddam Hussein, encouraged by internal discontent in Kuwait and angered by Kuwait's attempts to undermine Iraq's economy by depressing the price of oil by flooding the international market, made a grievous miscalculation in his invasion of Kuwait. Intent on halting the rise of the United States as the sole superpower in the region, Hussein instead enhanced Washington's power and prestige and curtailed Iraq's independence. Assisted by the ending of the Cold War, the United States--in a diplomatic blitzkrieg before hostilities began--was able to fashion a complex, fragile coalition and to muster 750,000 troops and an unparalleled military machine in the region. Dilip Hiro examines the strains within the alliance; the unprecedented cooperation between Washington and Moscow; the new and enhanced role of the United Nations; the financial trade-offs and material inducements between the allies; the repeated attempts at linkage with the Palestinian problem; the delicate roles of Israel, Iran, Turkey and the various Arab regimes; the use of television as an instant diplomatic tool; the causes, course and consequences of the war itself; and the prospects of stability in a region where the gulf between oil-producing and non-oil-producing countries remains as perilously wide as ever. Containing maps, a chronology of events, extensive source-notes and all relevant Security Council resolutions, the book is a comprehensive and objective chronicle of the war as well as an invaluable aid to the understanding of contemporary history and Middle Eastern affairs.

The Second Gulf War

Desert Shield to Desert Storm

Apply, Apply, No Reply : A Clean Break/Three Plays

To Anchor a Cloud

A History of Race Relations in Britain

Black British, White British

This highly controversial and topical book provides the first full, balanced account of how Iraq cheated the UN inspectors on disarmament and how the US manipulated and infiltrated the UN inspection teams and other staff to gather intelligence on Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Aimed at the general reader, it follows and assesses the role of Saddam Hussein who became president of Iraq in 1979. Dilip Hiro, an experienced journalist who has written extensively on the region, provides a historical and accessible perspective to the relationship between Iraq and Iran and examines the consequences of internationally significant events such as the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran a year after the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. Providing a full account and analysis of events in Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, he contrasts the long totalitarianism under Hussein with the evolution of the political-religious system in Iran and the development of its internal politics. This is an essential overview to the conflicts in the Gulf, and should be read by anyone with an interest in the region, its politics and its interactions with the US and UN.

Iraq and Iran after the Gulf Wars

Neighbors, Not Friends

To some, Islamic Fundamentalism means the restoration of a true religion. To others, it is a politics that stands apart from capitalism and socialism. To many Westerners, particularly in the past decade, it has come to constitute a threat to established order and international security. There can be no disputing the phenomenal importance of Islamic Fundamentalism today. Holy Wars, first published in 1989, comprises a non-partisan narrative that takes account of both the socio-cultural values expressed in Fundamentalism, and its political consequences. Dilip Hiro's starting point is that fundamentalist forces have been active Islam since the death of the Prophet Muhammad. He presents the two major sects, Sunnis and Shias, in this light. Clearly and concisely, Hiro provides the background for an understanding of what was taking place in Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Libya Egypt and Syria at the end of the 1980s. This is a comprehensive and readable work, of great relevance and value to those with an interest in Middle Eastern politics and history, and the growth of Islamic Fundamentalism.

The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism

Holy Wars (Routledge Revivals)

The Babur Nama, a journal kept by Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur (AD 1483-1530), the founder of the Mughal Empire, is the earliest example of autobiographical writing in world literature, and one of the finest. Against the turbulent backdrop of medieval history, it paints a precise and vivid picture of life in Central Asia and Afghanistan—where Babur ruled in Samarkand and Kabul—and in the Indian subcontinent, where his dazzling military career culminated in the founding of a dynasty that lasted three centuries. Babur was far more than a skilled, often ruthless, warrior and master strategist. In this abridged and edited version of a 1921 English translation of his memoirs, he also emerges as a sensitive aesthete, naturalist, poet and lover. Writer, journalist and internationally acclaimed Middle Eastern and Central Asian expert Dilip Hiro breathes new life into a unique historical document that is at once objective and intensely personal—for, in Babur's words, 'the truth should be reached in every matter'.

Journal of Emperor Babur

Babur Nama

Events in the Indian sub-continent during the 1970s, where, in the summer of 1975, the ruling party engineered a ‘constitutional’ coup by declaring a national emergency, re-emphasised the need for a fuller understanding of India’s social system and people. First published the following year, in 1976, Inside India Today attempted to fulfil that need. Drawing on personal interviews, conducted during his two years’ travels throughout the country collecting a mass of first hand evidence, and on various surveys and studies published in the press, the author sketches a broad portrait of Indian life in the villages and cities. Hiro relates this research to the existing socio-political structure of the time: the constitutional framework, the electoral system, the performance of the Indian National Congress and the Communist system. Written in an accessible, engaging style and containing a wealth of information and insight, Inside India Today is a major contribution towards the scholarship surrounding this complex and fascinating country.

Inside India Today (Routledge Revivals)

Dilip Hiro, one of the most experienced of Middle East hands, provides readers with a comprehensive chronicle of Israeli and Palestinian lives, shaped by negotiation and confrontation, right up to the present.

A Tale of Israelis and Palestinians

Sharing the Promised Land

This book provides the historical and political context to explain acts of terror, including the September 11th, and the bombing of American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar as Salaam and the West's responses. Providing a brief history of Islam as a religion and as socio-political ideology, Dilip Hiro goes on to outline the Islamist movements that have thrived in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, and their changing relationship with America. It is within this framework that the rising menace of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida network is discussed. The Pentagon's amazingly swift victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan is examined along with implications of the Bush Doctrine, encapsulated in his declaration, 'so long as anybody is terrorizing established governments, there needs to be a war' - a recipe for war without end.

The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response

War without End

This hard-hitting and timely book explores the roots of militant Islam in South Asia and how it has grown to become a source of profound global alarm. By meticulously tracking the rise of the jihadist movement from its initial violence in Afghanistan in 1980 to the present day, Dilip Hiro challenges conventional narratives of the roles of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, the United States, and India. He warns that the Line of Control in Kashmir, where jihadists seek to incite war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, is today the most dangerous border in the world. Drawing on evidence from a wide variety of sources including newly released Kremlin archives and classified U.S. Embassy documents published by WikiLeaks, the author compiles the first complete and accurate history of Islamist terrorism in South Asia. He chronicles historic links between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India and their varying degrees of destabilization at the hands of the jihadists. He also sheds unprecedented light on the close military and intelligence links that have developed between India and Israel. Finally, he outlines the ambitions of Pakistani, Afghan, and Al Qaida jihadists to establish an "apocalyptic realm" covering South, Central, and Western Asia. Compact, comprehensive, and fast paced, this book lays bare the causes of today's escalating terrorist threat, sets the historical record straight, and offers fresh strategies for defeating jihadist extremism.

Jihadists in South Asia

Apocalyptic Realm

In The Longest War, Dilip Hiro describes the causes and courses of the Iran-Iraq military conflict and its effect on the two antagonists, as well as the rest of the world. He reveals the intricate twists and turns of international diplomacy and the realpolitik behind the rhetoric, providing a comprehensive and admirably balanced account of the political and military aspects of the "longest war."

The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict

The Longest War

A history of oil--and the way it revolutionized civilian life, war, and world politics—that sets the stage for the coming oil wars of the 21st Century. When the Great Powers switched from coal to oil to run their navies just before World War I, it heralded a change in global politics comparable to the introduction of gunpowder in 1040. Oil became the chief strategic weapon of war. The victors' conclusion that oil--the "blood of the earth"--proved to be the "blood of victory" in that war has applied to all major conflagrations since. With petroleum becoming an indispensable part of modern life--from fertilizers and gasoline to plastics, polyethylene, and pharmaceuticals--it has emerged as the prized commodity for which wars are fought. [from publisher description].

The Battle for the World's Vanishing Oil Resources

Blood of the Earth

Dilip Hiro describes in detail the causes and course of the invasion of Iraq. He illuminates the role of the neoconservatives in the Bush White House and dissects Bush's leadership, showing how his own personal relationship with God has been a driving force behind the war.

The True Story of the Iraq War

Secrets and Lies

Nearly four decades ago, Dilip Hiro’s Inside India Today, banned by Indira Gandhi’s government, was acclaimed by The Guardian as simply “the best book on India.” Now Hiro returns to his native country to chronicle the impact of the dramatic economic liberalization that began in 1991, which ushered India into the era of globalization. Hiro describes how India has been reengineered not only in its economy but also in its politics and cultural mores. Places such as Gurgaon and Noida on the outskirts of Delhi have been transformed from nondescript towns into forests of expensive high-rise residential and commercial properties. Businessmen in Bollywood movies, once portrayed as villains, are now often the heroes. The marginal, right-wing Hindu militants of the past now rule the nominally secular nation, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as their avatar, one whose electoral victory was funded by big business. Hiro provides a gripping account of the role played by Indians who have settled in the United States and Britain since 1991 in boosting India’s GDP. But he also highlights the negatives: the exponential growth in sleaze in the public and private sectors, the impoverishment of farmers, and the rise in urban slums. A masterful panorama, The Age of Aspiration covers the whole social spectrum of Indians at home and abroad.

Dilip Hiro

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