I'm a future English and History teacher, but I've not had the opportunity to study much in Middle Eastern history. Considering the Arab-Israeli conflict, all the turmoil and terrorism, extremism and so forth, I am really interested in looking at anything on the region. However, looking up a lot of the books I've seen somewhat renowned are actually written by journalists. I'd like some suggestions of reliable, but genuinely historical works on issues such as the Iraq war, American Imperialism and involvement in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict or the growth of terrorism and extremist groups in particular Middle Eastern states.
Any suggestions accompanied with a bit of info about the book or author would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: It's okay if the books are written by journalists, but just that you would judge them to be effective, quite objective and informative.
You may find the books listed below interesting. I've tried to pick books that read well since this is your introduction to the subject:
General Overviews
Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History
Charles Tripp's The Power and the People: Paths of Resistance in the Middle East and Fawaz Gerges's The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World are both good introductions to more recent Middle East history dealing with the Arab Spring.
Rashid Khalidi, Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East
Iran
Many general histories of the Middle East tend to downplay Iran and focus more on the Arab world. For Iranian history, you should check out these books:
Michael Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic
Nicole Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Revolution
Ray Tayekh, Guardians of the Revolution: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs
Arab-Israeli Conflict
Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict
Rashid Khalidi, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood
Iraq
Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq
Joseph Sassoon, Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime provides an interesting look inside Iraqi politics and society. He uses new Iraqi government documents that were opened after the fall of Hussein's government.
Joost Hiltermann, A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja
2003 Iraq War
Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor's two-volume series, Cobra II and Endgame is by far the most comprehensive.
For a shorter account of the war from an American perspective, check out Terry Anderson's Bush's Wars.
From an Iraqi standpoint, check out Ali Alawi's The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace and Zaid al-Ali's The Struggle for Iraq's Future: How Corruption, Incompetence, and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy
To get a feel for the Iraq War's effects on everyday Iraqis, I would suggest you check out a collection of short stories by Hassan Blasim, titled The Corpse Exhibition: And Other Stories from Iraq, as well as Anthony Shadid's Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War
Islamic Extremism and Terrorism
Fawaz Gerges's The Far Enemy: How Jihad Went Global is one of the most important books on the subject.
I also highly recommend Alex Strick von Linschoten and Felix Kuehn's An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan
Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is an absolutely great read on the origins and history of al Qaeda.
Peter Bergen's The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and al Qaeda is the most comprehensive history of al Qaeda and American counter terrorist policy after September 11th. It is a little dated, though, as it was written before the death of bin Laden. Bergen has released what is effectively a sequel with Manhunt: The Ten Year Search for bin Laden from 9/11 to Abottabad.
Another great book is an edited work by Bruce Hoffman and Fernando Reinares, The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden's Death
If you're teaching, I'm sure students would find some specific events of Islamic terror interesting. For that, you might like Yaroslav Trofimov's The Siege of Mecca: The 1979 Uprising at Islam's Holiest Shrine
U.S. and the Middle East
The best overview is Douglas Little's American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945
Also check out Ussama Makdisi's Faith Misplaced: The Broken Promise of U.S.-Arab Relations, 1820-2001 and Lawrence Freedman's A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East
Steve Coll's Ghost Wars is an absolutely essential read.
For U.S.-Saudi Arabia relations, check out Rachel Bronson's Thicker than Oil: America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia
Robert Fisk's (ex-Times, current Independent foreign correspondent) Great War for Civilisation is terrific, but there are some real question marks over the authenticity of some of his interviews. Although that doubt doesn't include his interview with Osama bin Laden, I believe.
A History of the Modern Middle East is the go-to introductory textbook in the field, and it is written by notable experts. The book by Robert Fisk is definitely a great read, buy it is also biased, long winded, and episodic--and not a great introductory source for someone who wants a basic knowledge of the field before becoming a history teacher.
Thanks a lot for your replies people! The Frisk one was one that came across and was what sort of made me post this, along with one or two others. What do people think about the book The Shia Revival: How conflicts within Islam will shape the future by Vali Nasr?