The Struggle for Mastery in the Fertile Crescent

In this book, Fouad Ajami analyzes the struggle for influence along the Fertile Crescent—the stretch of land that runs from Iran's border with Iraq to the Mediterranean—among three of the regional powers who have stepped into the vacuum left by the West: Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. He explains that, of the three powers competing for influence, Saudi Arabia and Iran are in it for the long haul. Each of those powers has a sense of mission and constituencies that enable them to stick it out and