Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Biographical Dictionary

It is surprising to note how little biographical information on political leaders is available, aside from the odd newspaper or magazine article. This makes Reich's book on the subject a truly original reference work as well as a very useful one.

The parameters are broad, extending in time from World War II to the present and in space from Morocco to Iran, Turkey to the Sudan. Israel has nine entries, the most, followed by Egypt and Turkey with five each. At the other end, Bahrain and Qatar have only one entry each. Seventy individuals are included. All are males; the oldest (Chaim Weizman) was born in 1874 and the youngest (Walid Jumblatt) in 1949. Sixty-three biographees are Muslims; of them, 57 are Sunnis, 4 Shi'is, and 2 Ibadis. Of the non-Muslims, 9 are Jewish (and Israeli), 5 Christian, 2 Druze, and 1 'Alawi.

The editor has adopted the policy, probably wise, of finding biographers generally sympathetic to the figure they are covering, though this can lead to some odd assertions. Mary-Jane Deeb commits herself to no more than describing Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi as "rather controversial." According to Helena Cobban, Yasir 'Arafat is "a man of his word." For the most part, however, the accounts are factual, reliable, and useful. Outstanding entries include those on Saddam Husayn (written by Amatzia Baram) and on the late shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (by Marvin Zonis).

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