Author of the famous 'What Every American Should Know" series, Rossi takes us on a tour of a region known for its rich culture, valuable energy supplies, and struggling through a religious and ethnic identity crisis that has had dramatic effects on international politics. I've gotten started on Rossi's work, which incidentally gives a decent overview of Middle Eastern history and then walks us through the various countries, chapter by chapter. So far, I'm less than impressed with the reporter's objectivity. Sure, the book is written from the perspective of what an American audience needs to know, but Rossi has an agenda. Her claims that American foreign policy in the region are oriented only towards petroleum control and her extolling of neo-con foreign policy show a bias that at times, leads the reader to believe the book's objective is more to critique the Bush administration's failed 2003 war in Iraq or inability to rein in Israeli settlement expansion rather than an objective primer. Still, to be able to differentiate the states of the region is essential and I look forward to seeing what Rossi has to offer.
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