Recommended Reading
(Multiple sources and points of view should be consulted when investigating a topic. We believe that by reading works from many authors - including those with whom you may initially disagree - you will be able to form a well-educated opinion on a topic. History and especially historical conflict is often seen differently - depending on your point of view. We urge you to look at all points of view as you learn about the issues we are addressing. At the same time, you should recognize that there are authors who would deliberately shade or alter historical events in order to promote their biased point of view. You can avoid the problem of being misinformed by reading many different sources on a topic.)
Suggestions for Additions To This List Are Welcome
For Children
5 - 8
Sitti's Secrets - by Naomi Shihab Nye
Sami and the Time of Troubles - by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland
What's the Matter, Habibi - by Betsy Lewin
The Day of Ahmed's Secret by Floren -ce Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland
8-12
Golem by David Wiseniewski
Neve Shalom W'ahat al-Salam: Oasis of Peace - by Laurie Dolphin
12+
Habibi - by Naomi Shihab Nye
Escape from Egypt - by Stacey Towle Morgan
The Middle East in Search of Peace - by Cathryn J. Long
Palestinian Teenage Refugees and Immigrants Speak Out - by Nabil Marshood
Children of Israel - Children of Palestine - by Laurel Holliday
Approaches to Peace
The Words of Peace: Selections from the Speeches of the Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize - ed by Irwin Abrams
Approaches to Peace: a reader in peace studies - ed by David P. Barush
Talking Peace - by Jimmy Carter
In Battle for Peace - by W.E.B. Du Bois
World As I See It - by Albert Einstein
Peacework: 20 years of nonviolent social change (American Friends Service Committee) - by Pat Farren
Creating True Peace - by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Art of Forgiveness, lovingkindness, and peace - by Jack Kornfield
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows: turning our grief into action for peace - by David Potorti
The Dignity of Difference - by Jonathan Sacks
God Has a Dream/ A vision of hope for our time - by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
No Future without Forgiveness - by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The Rainbow People of God: the making of a peaceful revolution - by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Documenting War and Peace
The Penguin Atlas of War and Peace - ed by Dan Smith
History and The Holy Land
Egypt, Arabia & Palestine (1850) -by W.H. Bartlett publ. Arthur Hall Virtue & Co.
Arab and Jew in the Land of Canaan - by Ilene Beatty
Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Modern Middle East -by David Fromkin
The Hittites (1952) -by O.R. Gurney (The Hittites as a legendary Palestinian tribe)
Palestine: Land of Promise (1944) -by Walter Clay Lowdermilk
Political Archaeology and Holy Nationalism: The Struggle for Palestine's Past -by Terje Oestigaard
The Palestine/ Israel Conflict
Arafat: From Defender to Dictator -by Said K. Aburish
Tears in the Holy Land (2004) -by Deanna Armbruster and Michael Emery
Our Story - The Palestinians - Ed. by Naim Ateek and Hilary Rantisi
Original Sins: Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel - by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
Intimate Enemies: Jews and Arabs in a Shared Land -by Meron Benvenisti and Thomas Friedman
The Arabs in Israel (summer 2004) -by Azmi Bishara
Peace Under Fire: Israel, Palestine and the International Solidarity Movement -by Nicholas Blincoe
The New Intifada - edited by Roane Carey - (Highly recommended)
Palestine, The Arabs and Israel - by Henry Cattan
The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians - by Noam Chomsky
Middle East Illusions - by Noam Chomsky
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict -by Dan Cohn-Sherbok
Holy War for the Promised Land - by David Dolan
Israel: One Land, Two Peoples - by Harry Ellis
Image and Reality of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict -by Norman Finkelstein
The Birth of Israel - by Simha Flapan
The Arab/Israeli Conflict: It's History in Maps -by Martin Gilbert
Nowhere to Lay Their Heads - Victor Gollancz
The Yellow Wind - by David Grossman
Bitter Harvest - by Sami Hadawi
Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege - by Amira Hass
Reporting from Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land - by Amira Hass (Highly recommended)
Palestine Papers 1917-1922; Seeds of Conflict -by Doreen Ingrams
All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 -by Walid Khalidi
Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876-1948 -by Walid Khalidi
A Compassionate Peace - A Future for Israel, Palestine and the Middle East - by Everett Mendelsohn
After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives - by Jean Mohr
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949 - by Benny Morris
Righteous Victims - A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-1999 - by Benny Morris
Warriors for Jerusalem - by Donald Neff
Six Days of War - by Michael B. Oren
The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947-1951 - by Ilan Pappe'
Occupied Voices: Stories from Everyday Life from the Second Intifada - by Wendy Pearlman
Palestine and Israel: A Challenge to Justice - by John Quigley
Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948 -by Tanya Reinhart
Palestine - The Coming Storm Center (1940) - by Harry Rimmer
The War for Palestine - ed Eugene Rogan
Palestine (A cartoon documentary) - by Joe Sacco
Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question - by Edward Said
The Politics of Dispossession: The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination 1969-1994 - by Edward Said
The Question of Palestine - by Edward Said
Water, Power and Politics in the Middle East: The Other Israel-Palestine Conflict -by Jan Shelby
Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World by Avi Shlaim (best book if you have time for only one book)
War and Peace in the Middle East by Avi Shlaim
1949 The First Israelis - by Tom Segev and Arlen N. Weinstein
One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate - by Tom Segev and Haim Waitzman
Stranger in the House - by Raja Shehadeh - (Highly recommended)
Arab and Jew - Wounded Spirits in the Promised Land - by David Shipman
Awakening Palestine (1923) -by Leon Simon
Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict -by Charles D. Smith
Demolition and Sealing of Houses As a Punitive Measure in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip During the Intifada - by Ronny Talmor
How Long O Lord? - Christian, Jewish and Muslim Voices From the Ground and Visions for the Future - Ed. by Maurine and Robert Tobin
The History of the Middle East Wars - by John Westwood
Behind the Silken Curtain - Palestine (1947)
Lebanon
Children of the Siege - by Pauline Cutting - very compelling tale from a humanitarian doctor on the situation in the Palestinian refugee camps during the Lebanese Civil War.
Arabs
The Dream Palace of the Arabs by Fouad Ajami
Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People - by Jack Shaheen
Jewish and Israeli History
Displaced Persons: The Liberation and Abuse of Holocaust Survivors - by Ted Gottfried - (Highly recommended)
Haven: The Unknown Story of 1,000 World War II Refugees - by Ruth Gruber
Second Exodus: The Full Story of Jewish Illegal Immigration to Palestine 1945-1948 -by Ze'ev Venia Hadari
Voyage to Freedom: An episode in the Illegal Immigration to Palestine -by Ze'ev Venia Hadari & Ze'ev Tsahor
Children of Israel - Children of Palestine - ed by Laurel Holliday
Commander of the Exodus - by Yoram Kanluk
Israel's Secret Wars - by Benny Morris
Zionism and Education in Palestine (1934) -by Noach Nardi
After the Holocaust - by Erna Rubenstein - (Highly recommended)
1949: The First Israelis -by Tom Segev
The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust - by Tom Segev
Iraq
The Girl Who Lost Her Smile - by Karim Alrawi
The Conquerers - by Michael Beschloss
The Fire This Time - US War Crimes in the Gulf - by Ramsey Clark
Ally to Adversary - by Rich Francona
Spiders Web - The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq - by Alan Friedman
Secret Dossier - The Hidden Agenda Behind the Gulf War - by Pierre Salinger
The Rape of Kuwait - by Jean Sassor
The Death Lobby - How the West Armed Iraq - by Kenneth Timmerman
US Politics and Foreign Policy
Anglo-American Diplomacy in Palestine and the Middle East - by Barley C. Crum
Stealth PACS - Lobbying Congress for Control of US Mid East Policy - by Richard Curtiss
Deliberate Deceptions - Facing the facts about the US-Israeli relationship - by Paul Findley
They Dare to Speak Out - by Paul Findley
Dear Mr. President (satire) - by Gabe Hudson
Blowback - The Costs and Consequences of American Empire - by Chalmers Johnson
The Coming Anarchy - by Robert Kaplan
Truth and Untruth: Political Deceit in America - by Paul McCloskey
Crashing the Party - by Ralph Nader
Democracy for the Few - by Michael Parenti
Rogue Nation - by Clyde Prestowitz
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide - by Samantha Power (Highly recommended)
Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem - by Scott Ritter
Senator Joe McCarthy - by Richard Rovere
Disposable Patriot - by Jack Terrell
Creating a New Civilization - by Alvin and Herb Toffler
Perspectives on History
At War with Asia - by Noam Chomsky
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer
Diversity Issues
A Male/Female Continuum - Paths to Colleagueship by Carol Pierce, David Wagner and Bill Page
Woman's Proper Place - by Sheila Rothman
The Future of White Men and Other Diversity Dilemmas - by Joan Steinau Lester
A Handbook for Diversity Management - by Roosevelt Thomas, Debra Plummer, Leslie Saunders etc.
Works by Those Who Would Justify Hate
Mein Kampf - by Adolph Hitler
Slander - by Ann Coulter
From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine -by Joan Peters (crude and completely discredited attempt to write the Palestinians out of history)
Understanding Religion
The Bible: no single translation of the Bible can be relied upon for accuracy. We suggest looking at many translations of the Bible. There are several "parallel" Bibles that offer side-by-side translations including:
The Layman's Parallel Bible: King James Version, New International Version, Living Bible, New Revised Standard Version
The Contemporary Parallel New Testament: King James Version, New American Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, the Message, Contemporary English Version, New King James Version
The Book of Saladin - by Tariq Ali
The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity - by Tariq Ali
What Do Jews Believe? - by David Ariel
The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism - by Karen Armstrong
A History of God - The 4000-year quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam - by Karen Armstrong
Holy War - The Crusades and their impact on modern history- by Karen Armstrong
In the Beginning: A new interpretation of Genesis - by Karen Armstrong
Islam: A short history - by Karen Armstrong
Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths - by Karen Armstrong
Muhammed - A Biography - by Karen Armstrong
Stealing Jesus - How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity - by Bruce Bawer - Highly recommended
Ideas and Men - The Story of Western Thought by Crane Brinton
Lost Scriptures: Books that did not make it into the New Testament -by Bart D. Ehrman
The Firstborn of God: Resolving the Contradictions in the Bible - by Gail Evans
Silent No More: Confronting America's False Images of Islam - by Paul Findley
Who Wrote the Bible? -by R. E. Friedman
Who Wrote the Gospels? -by R. M. Helms
Every Person's Guide to Judaism - by Stephen Einstein and Lydia Kykoff
The Bible Tells Me So: Uses and Abuses of Holy Scripture - by Jim Hill and Rand Cheadle
The Case for Christianity - by C. S. Lewis
Who Wrote the New Testament? -by B. L. Mach
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospels of Thomas - by Elaine Pagels
God is Red: A Native View of Religion - by Vine Peloria, Jr.
One Jesus, Many Christs: How Jesus inspired not one true Christianity, but many - by George J. Riley
Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World - by Edward Said
Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel -by Israel Shidak and Norton Mezvinsky
The Bible Unearthed - Archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its sacred texts - by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman
A New Christianity for a New World - by John Shelby Spong
Why Christianity Must Change or Die - by Bishop John Shelby Spong
The World's Religions - by Huston Smith