Table of Contents

Physical And Cultural Geography; Tricontinental Junction: An Introduction; Patterns of Time: Historical-Geographical Foundations; The Lands and the Waters; The Skies and the Winds: Climate; Soils, Vegetation, and Animal Life; Patterns of Peoples and Cultures; The Desert and the Sown: Land Use; Riches Beneath the Earth; Manufacturing and Transportation; Where People Congregate; The Earth and the State: Geopolitics; Regional Geography; Syria: Middle East Heartland; Lebanon and Cyprus: A Mountain and an Island; Jordan: The Land Beyond; Israel and Occupied Territories: Palestine or Eretz Yisrael? Iraq: Modern Mesopotamia; Saudi Arabia: Development in the Desert; The Gulf and Its Oil States; Oman; and Yemen: The Southern Fringe; Egypt: A River and a People; Turkey: Bridgeland in Anatolia; Iran: New Republic on the Plateau; Epilogue.

About the Author

Colbert C. Held is Retired Diplomat-in-Residence at Baylor University. He served for fifteen years as a Foreign Service Officer with assignments in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, as well as successive temporary missions in every country in the Middle East.