Reading Lists

• The Great Game,Peter Hopkirk
• Lonely Planet Central Asia, Lonely Planet
• The Lost Heart of Asia, Colin Thubron
• Central Asia Map, Nelles
• Samarkand: Recipes & Stories from Central Asia and the Caucasus, Caroline Edenand Eleanor Ford
• The Ancient Silk Road Map, Odyssey Maps
• The Silk Road, Frances Wood
• Insight Guide Silk Road, Insight Guides
• Lonely Planet Central Asia Phrasebook, Justin Jon Rudelson
• Odyssey Tajikistan and the High Pamirs, Robert Middleton
• The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane, Beatrice Forbes Manz
• Odyssey Guide Kazakhstan, Dagmar Schreiber
• Traditional Textiles of Central Asia, Janet Harvey
• Empires of the Silk Road, Christopher I. Beckwith
• In Xanadu, A Quest, William Dalrymple
• Everyday Life in Central Asia, Jeff Sahadeo
• Birds of Central Asia, Raffael Aye
• Lost Enlightenment, S. Frederick Starr
• The Silk Road, A Very Short Introduction, James A. Millward
• The Silk Road, A New History, Peter Frankopan
• Qaraqalpaqs of the Aral Delta, David and Sue Richardson
• Vanishing Jewels: Central Asian Tribal Weavings, George O’Bannon
• The Turkic Speaking Peoples: 2,000 Years of Art And Culture from Inner Asia to the Balkans, Ergun Çağatay and Doğan Kuban
• Central Asia: One Hundred Thirty Years of Russian Dominance, A Historical Overview (Central Asia Book Series), Edward A. Allworth
• Unraveling the Silk Road: Travels and Textiles in Central Asia, Chris Aslan
• Red Sands: Reportage and Recipes through Central Asia, Caroline Eden

Central Asia and Silk Road blog articles

• The Magic Lantern, The Revolution of ‘89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague, Timothy Garton Ash
• Bury Me Standing, Isabel Fonseca
• Lonely Planet Eastern Europe, Lonely Planet
• Eastern Europe Map, Freytag & Berndt
• National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel, A Guide to Eastern Europe, Ruth Ellen Gruber
• Lonely Planet Eastern Europe Phrasebook, Lonely Planet
• Mamushka, A Cookbook, Olia Hercules
• A History of Slovakia, The Struggle for Survival, Stanislav K. Kirschbaum
• Eastern Europe!, Tomek E. Jankowski
• The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe, Dennis Hupchick, Harold Cox
• The Romani Gypsies, Yaron Matras
• Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History, Robert D. Kaplan
• All Rivers Run to the Sea, Elie Wiesel
• In Europe’s Shadow, Robert D. Kaplan
• The Broken Road, Patrick Leigh Fermor
• The Spies of Warsaw, Alan Furst
• The Bridge on the Drina, Ivo Andric, Lovette F. Edwards (Translator)
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
• Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes – Through Darkness and Light, Caroline Eden

Central & East Europe blog articles

• The Magic Lantern, The Revolution of ‘89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague, Timothy Garton Ash
• The Habsburgs, Embodying Empire, Andrew Wheatcroft
• Budapest 1900, John Lukacs
• Prague, A Traveler’s Literary Companion, Paul Wilson (Editor)
• Lonely Planet Central Europe, Lonely Planet
• Central Europe Map, Freytag & Berndt
• Publications Lonely Planet Central Europe Phrasebook, Lonely Planet
• A Time of Gifts, Patrick Leigh Fermor
• Danube, Claudio Magris
• A Nervous Splendor, Vienna 1888-1889, Frederic Morton
• Danubia, A Personal History of Habsburg Europe, Simon Winder
• Germania, In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History, Simon Winder
• Germany, Memories of a Nation, Neil MacGregor
• A Concise History of Hungary, Miklos Molnar, Anna Magyar (Translator)
• Bury Me Standing, Isabel Fonseca
• Kingdom of Auschwitz, Otto Friedrich
• Prague in Black and Gold, Scenes from Life in a European City, Peter Demetz
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera

Central & East Europe blog articles

• Belarus, The Last Dictatorship in Europe, Andrew Wilson
• Culture Smart! Belarus, Anne Coombes
• Bradt Guide Belarus, Nigel Roberts
• Belarus Map, Freytag & Berndt
• Romania Moldova Map, Freytag & Berndt
• Communism: A History, Richard Pipes
• The Bielski Partisans, Nechama Tec
• Return to Diversity, Joseph Rothschild
• Soviet Blitzkrieg, The Battle for White Russia, 1944, Walter S. Dunn
• The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture, Charles King
• The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe, Dennis Hupchick, Harold Cox
• The Reconstruction Of Nations, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Timothy Snyder
• The Romani Gypsies, Yaron Matras
• On the Road to Babadag, Andrzej Stasiuk
• The Danube, Nick Thorpe
• My Life, Marc Chagall
• Burning Lights, Bella Chagall, Marc Chagall, Norbert Guterman
• Bury Me Standing, Isabel Fonseca
• Central and Eastern European Wildlife, Bradt Guide

Belarus

Moldova

• Street Without a Name, Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria, Kapka Kassabova
• The Balkans, A Short History, Mark Mazower
• Eyewitness Guide Bulgaria, Eyewitness Guides
• Bulgaria Map, Freytag & Berndt
• All Along the Danube, Marina Polvay
• A Concise History of Bulgaria, R.J. Crampton
• Black Sea, Neal Ascherson
• Bury Me Standing, Isabel Fonseca
• Balkan Ghosts, Robert D. Kaplan
• In Search of Dracula, Raymond McNally
• Lords of the Horizons, Jason Goodwin
• The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-2011, Misha Glenny
• The Fragility of Goodness, Why Bulgaria’s Jews Survived the Holocaust, Tzvetan Todorov
• The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe, Dennis Hupchick, Harold Cox
• Blue River, Black Sea, Andrew Eames
• The Broken Road, Patrick Leigh Fermor
• The Danube, Nick Thorpe
• Bai Ganyo, Aleko Konstantinov
• The Turkish Gambit, Andrew Bromfield, Boris Akunin

Bulgaria blog articles

• Kingdom of Auschwitz, Otto Friedrich
• Culture Smart! Poland, Greg Allen
• The Zookeeper’s Wife, Diane Ackerman
• Polish, A Language Map, Kristine K. Kershul
• A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron, Lynne Olson, Stanley Cloud
• Eyewitness Guide Poland, Eyewitness Guides
• Bloodlands, Timothy Snyder
• Poland Map, Michelin Travel Publications
• Bury Me Standing, Isabel Fonseca
• Heart of Europe, The Past in Poland’s Present, Norman Davies
• Night, Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel  
• No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland’s Forces in World War II, Kenneth Koskodan
• The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution, Alex Storozynski
• Resistance, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Israel Gutman
• Poland, James Michener
• The Essential Guide to Being Polish, Anna Spysz, Lech Walesa  
• The Spies of Warsaw, Alan Furst
• The Magic Lantern, The Revolution of ‘89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague, Timothy Garton Ash
• To Begin Where I Am, The Selected Prose of Czeslaw Milosz, Czeslaw Milosz, Madeline G. Levine
• The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe, Dennis Hupchick, Harold Cox

Poland blog articles

• Bury Me Standing, Isabel Fonseca
• Bucharest Map, Cartographia
• Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History, Robert D. Kaplan
• Bradt Guide Transylvania, Lucinda Mallows
• Rough Guide Romania, Rough Guide
• Culture Smart! Romania, Debbie Stowe
• Romania Moldova Map, Freytag & Berndt
• The Mountains of Romania, James Roberts
• A Concise History of Romania, Keith Hitchins
• In Search of Dracula, Raymond McNally
• Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, Julian Rubinstein
• Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans, Dennis Hupchick
• The Broken Road, Patrick Leigh Fermor
• Romania, An Illustrated History, Nicolae Klepper
• Dracula, Bram Stoker
• All Rivers Run to the Sea, Elie Wiesel
• The Historian, A Novel, Elizabeth Kostova
• Between the Woods and the Water, Patrick Leigh Fermor
• In Europe’s Shadow, Robert D. Kaplan

Romania blog articles

• Borderland, A Journey through the History of Ukraine, Anna Reid
• Kiev Map, Freytag & Berndt
• Return to Ukraine, Ania Savage
• Culture Smart! Ukraine, Anna Shevchenko
• Bradt Guide Ukraine, Andrew Evans
• Lonely Planet Ukrainian Phrasebook, Lonely Planet
• Mamushka, A Cookbook, Olia Hercules
• Ukraine Map, ITMB
• Black Sea, Neal Ascherson
• Kiev: A Portrait, 1800-1917, Michael F. Hamm
• Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
• Odessa, A History, 1794-1914, Patricia Herlihy
• The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel, Isaac Babel
• Odessa, Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, Charles King
• The Cossacks, Leo Tolstoy
• The Gates of Europe, A History of Ukraine, Serhii Plokhy
• The Fixer, Bernard Malamud
• The Reconstruction Of Nations, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, Timothy Snyder
• The Ukrainians, Unexpected Nation, Andrew Wilson
• Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes – Through Darkness and Light, Caroline Eden

Ukraine blog articles

• Beginning with My Streets, Czeslaw Milosz, Madeline G. Levine
• The Baltic, A History, Michael North
• Eyewitness Travel Guide Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Eyewitness Guides
• Baltic States Map, Freytag & Berndt
• Culture Smart! Estonia, Clare Thomson
• Culture Smart! Lithuania, Lara Belonogoff
• A Concise History of the Baltic States, Andrejs Plakans
• A History of the Baltic States, Andres Kasekamp
• Among the Russians, Colin Thubron
• Estonia and the Estonians, Toivo U. Raun
• Set Sail for Murder, Carolyn G. Hart
• The Baltic Revolution, Anatol Lieven
• The Christening, Denise Neuhaus
• The Northern Crusades, Eric Christiansen
• The Dogs of Riga, Henning Mankell
• Walking Since Daybreak: A Story of Eastern Europe, and the Heart of Our Century, Modris Eksteins
• The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages, Alain Erlande-Brandenburg
• Lonely Planet Baltic States Phrasebook, Eva Aras, Inna Feldbach, Jana Teteris, Alan Trei

Baltics blog articles

• The Balkans, A Short History, Mark Mazower 
• Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History, Robert D. Kaplan
• The Bridge on the Drina, Ivo Andric, Lovette F. Edwards (Translator)
• Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Macedonia Map, Michelin Travel Publications
• DK Eyewitness Top Ten Dubrovnik & Dalmatian Coast, Eyewitness Guides
• Lonely Planet Southeastern Europe, Lonely Planet
• Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia, Rebecca West, Christopher Hitchens 
• City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas, Roger Crowley
• The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans (Palgrave Concise Historical Atlases), Dennis Hupchick
• The Balkans in World History, Andrew Wachtel
• The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-2011, Misha Glenny
• The Myth of Ethnic War, Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s, V. P., Jr. Gagnon
• To End a War, Richard Holbrooke
• How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, Slavenka Drakulic
• Once upon a Yugoslavia, Surya Green
• Bosnian Chronicle, Ivo Andric
• Girl at War, Sara Novic
• Yugoslavia, Death of a Nation, Laura Silber, Allan Little

Balkans blog articles

• Taste of Persia, A Cook’s Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan, Naomi Duguid
• The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, Hooman Majd
• A History of Modern Iran, Abrahamian Ervand
• Culture Smart! Iran, Stuart Williams
• Odyssey Guide Iran, Helen Loveday
• Lonely Planet Farsi Phrasebook, Yavar Dehghani
• Iran & Tehran Map, ITMB
• The New Persian Kitchen, Louisa Shafia
• A History of Iran, Empire of the Mind, Michael Axworthy
• 44 Days, David Burnett
• All the Shah’s Men, Stephen Kinzer
• Persian Fire, Tom Holland
• Shah of Shahs, Ryszard Kapuscinski
• The Struggle for Iran, Christopher de Bellaigue
• Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi
• Things I’ve Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi
• The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay, Hooman Majd
• The Shah, Abbas Milani
• My Uncle Napoleon, Iraj Pezeshkzad, Dick Davis (Translator)
• The Conference of Birds, Farid-Ud-Din Attar

Iran blog articles

• Iraq: The Ancient Sites & Iraqi Kurdistan (Bradt Travel Guide), Geoff Hann, Tina Townsend-Greaves
• A Modern History of the Kurds, David McDowall
• The Miracle of the Kurds: A Remarkable Story of Hope Reborn in Northern Iraq, Stephen Mansfield
• Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied, Toby Dodge
• The Modern History of Iraq, Phebe Marr
• A Concise History of the Middle East, Arthur Goldschmidt Jr
• The Fall of the Ottomans, The Great War in the Middle East, Eugene Rogan
• Making the Arab World! Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East, Fawaz A. Gerges
• Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, The Making of the Prophet of Islam, Dr. Sean W. Anthony
• The Middle East Crisis Factory, Tyranny, Resilience and Resistance, Iyad El-Baghdadi, Ahmed Gatnash
• The Modern Middle East, A History, James L. Gelvin
• The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East (Short History), Roger Hardy
• Mapping the Middle East, Zayde Antrim
• The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Michael Provence
• The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908-1923, Sean McMeekin
• The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African History (Oxford Handbooks), Jens Hanssen (Editor), Amal N. Ghazal (Editor)
• The Crucible of Islam, G. W. Bowersock
• Understanding and Teaching the Modern Middle East (The Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History), Omnia El Shakry (Editor)
• A History of the Modern Middle East 6th Edition, William L. Cleveland and Martin Bunton
• Orientalism, Edward W. Said
• A History of the Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani
• The Venture of Islam, Marshall G. S. Hodgson
• Being Arab, Samir Kassir
• A History of Islamic Societies, Ira M. Lapidus
• State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, Roger Owen
• Over-Stating the Arab State, Nazih N. Ayubi
• The International Politics of the Middle East, Raymond A. Hinnebusch
• A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, David Fromkin
• The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, Ibn Khaldun
• Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism, Zachary Lockman
• Water on Sand: Environmental Histories Of The Middle East And North Africa, Alan Mikhail
• A Political Economy of the Middle East, Melani Cammett, Ishac Diwan, Alan Richards
• Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman, Montgomery Watt
• The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800, Jonathan P. Berkey
• How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs, Elizabeth F. Thompson
• Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, George Saliba
• Beyond Islam, Sami Zubaida
• The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, Donald Quataert
• Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair, Adeed Dawisha
• Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Arab Middle Class, Keith David Watenpaugh
• The Middle East and the Making of the Modern World, Cyrus Schayegh
• The Arab State and Neo-Liberal Globalization: The Restructuring of State Power in the Middle East, Laura Guazzone, Daniela Pioppi
• The Making of the Modern Middle East: A Personal History, Jeremy Bowen

• The Rough Guide to Jordan, Rough Guides
• Lonely Planet Jordan, Jenny Walker, Paul Clammer
• Nationalist Voices in Jordan: The Street and the State, by Betty S. Anderson
• A Concise History of the Middle East, Arthur Goldschmidt Jr
• The Fall of the Ottomans, The Great War in the Middle East, Eugene Rogan
• Making the Arab World! Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East, Fawaz A. Gerges
• Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, The Making of the Prophet of Islam, Dr. Sean W. Anthony
• The Middle East Crisis Factory, Tyranny, Resilience and Resistance, Iyad El-Baghdadi, Ahmed Gatnash
• The Modern Middle East, A History, James L. Gelvin
• The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East (Short History), Roger Hardy
• Mapping the Middle East, Zayde Antrim
• The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Michael Provence
• The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908-1923, Sean McMeekin
• The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African History (Oxford Handbooks), Jens Hanssen (Editor), Amal N. Ghazal (Editor)
• The Crucible of Islam, G. W. Bowersock
• Understanding and Teaching the Modern Middle East (The Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History), Omnia El Shakry (Editor)
• A History of the Modern Middle East 6th Edition, William L. Cleveland and Martin Bunton
• Orientalism, Edward W. Said
• A History of the Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani
• The Venture of Islam, Marshall G. S. Hodgson
• Being Arab, Samir Kassir
• A History of Islamic Societies, Ira M. Lapidus
• State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, Roger Owen
• Over-Stating the Arab State, Nazih N. Ayubi
• The International Politics of the Middle East, Raymond A. Hinnebusch
• A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, David Fromkin
• The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, Ibn Khaldun
• Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism, Zachary Lockman
• Water on Sand: Environmental Histories Of The Middle East And North Africa, Alan Mikhail
• A Political Economy of the Middle East, Melani Cammett, Ishac Diwan, Alan Richards
• Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman, Montgomery Watt
• The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800, Jonathan P. Berkey
• How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs, Elizabeth F. Thompson
• Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, George Saliba
• Beyond Islam, Sami Zubaida
• The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, Donald Quataert
• Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair, Adeed Dawisha
• Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Arab Middle Class, Keith David Watenpaugh
• The Middle East and the Making of the Modern World, Cyrus Schayegh
• The Arab State and Neo-Liberal Globalization: The Restructuring of State Power in the Middle East, Laura Guazzone, Daniela Pioppi
• The Making of the Modern Middle East: A Personal History, Jeremy Bowen

• Behind the Kingdom’s Veil Inside the New Saudi Arabia Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Susanne Koelbl
• A History of Saudi Arabia, Madawi al-Rasheed
• Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia, Toby Craig Jones
• Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril, Paul Aarts & Carolien Roelants
• Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Scott Anderson
• Jeddah Old and New Hardcover, James Buchan
• Travel guide: Saudi Arabia Paperback, Pablo Narval

Saudi Arabia blog articles

• Lonely Planet, Oman, Lauren Keith, Jade Bremner, Tharik Hussain, Jessica Lee, Josephine Quintero, Jenny Walker
• Bradt guide, Oman, Diana Darke, Tony Walsh
• Monsoon Revolution Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman, 1965-1976,  Abdel Razzaq Takriti
• A Concise History of the Middle East, Arthur Goldschmidt Jr
• The Fall of the Ottomans, The Great War in the Middle East, Eugene Rogan
• Making the Arab World! Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East, Fawaz A. Gerges
• Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, The Making of the Prophet of Islam, Dr. Sean W. Anthony
• The Middle East Crisis Factory, Tyranny, Resilience and Resistance, Iyad El-Baghdadi, Ahmed Gatnash
• The Modern Middle East, A History, James L. Gelvin
• The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East (Short History), Roger Hardy
• Mapping the Middle East, Zayde Antrim
• The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Michael Provence
• The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908-1923, Sean McMeekin
• The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African History (Oxford Handbooks), Jens Hanssen (Editor), Amal N. Ghazal (Editor)
• The Crucible of Islam, G. W. Bowersock
• Understanding and Teaching the Modern Middle East (The Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History), Omnia El Shakry (Editor)
• A History of the Modern Middle East 6th Edition, William L. Cleveland and Martin Bunton
• Orientalism, Edward W. Said
• A History of the Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani
• The Venture of Islam, Marshall G. S. Hodgson
• Being Arab, Samir Kassir
• A History of Islamic Societies, Ira M. Lapidus
• State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, Roger Owen
• Over-Stating the Arab State, Nazih N. Ayubi
• The International Politics of the Middle East, Raymond A. Hinnebusch
• A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, David Fromkin
• The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, Ibn Khaldun
• Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism, Zachary Lockman
• Water on Sand: Environmental Histories Of The Middle East And North Africa, Alan Mikhail
• A Political Economy of the Middle East, Melani Cammett, Ishac Diwan, Alan Richards
• Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman, Montgomery Watt
• The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800, Jonathan P. Berkey
• How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs, Elizabeth F. Thompson
• Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, George Saliba
• Beyond Islam, Sami Zubaida
• The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, Donald Quataert
• Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair, Adeed Dawisha
• Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Arab Middle Class, Keith David Watenpaugh
• The Middle East and the Making of the Modern World, Cyrus Schayegh
• The Arab State and Neo-Liberal Globalization: The Restructuring of State Power in the Middle East, Laura Guazzone, Daniela Pioppi
• The Making of the Modern Middle East: A Personal History, Jeremy Bowen

Oman blog articles

• The Making of the Modern Gulf States: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Rosemary Said Zahlan
• All in the Family, Michael Herb
• Travel Guide to the United Arab Emirates, Rough Guides
• United Arab Emirates travel, Lonely Planet | Middle East
• A Concise History of the Middle East, Arthur Goldschmidt Jr
• The Fall of the Ottomans, The Great War in the Middle East, Eugene Rogan
• Making the Arab World! Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East, Fawaz A. Gerges
• Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, The Making of the Prophet of Islam, Dr. Sean W. Anthony
• The Middle East Crisis Factory, Tyranny, Resilience and Resistance, Iyad El-Baghdadi, Ahmed Gatnash
• The Modern Middle East, A History, James L. Gelvin
• The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East (Short History), Roger Hardy
• Mapping the Middle East, Zayde Antrim
• The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Michael Provence
• The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908-1923, Sean McMeekin
• The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African History (Oxford Handbooks), Jens Hanssen (Editor), Amal N. Ghazal (Editor)
• The Crucible of Islam, G. W. Bowersock
• Understanding and Teaching the Modern Middle East (The Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History), Omnia El Shakry (Editor)
• A History of the Modern Middle East 6th Edition, William L. Cleveland and Martin Bunton
• Orientalism, Edward W. Said
• A History of the Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani
• The Venture of Islam, Marshall G. S. Hodgson
• Being Arab, Samir Kassir
• A History of Islamic Societies, Ira M. Lapidus
• State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, Roger Owen
• Over-Stating the Arab State, Nazih N. Ayubi
• The International Politics of the Middle East, Raymond A. Hinnebusch
• A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, David Fromkin
• The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, Ibn Khaldun
• Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism, Zachary Lockman
• Water on Sand: Environmental Histories Of The Middle East And North Africa, Alan Mikhail
• A Political Economy of the Middle East, Melani Cammett, Ishac Diwan, Alan Richards
• Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman, Montgomery Watt
• The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800, Jonathan P. Berkey
• How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs, Elizabeth F. Thompson
• Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, George Saliba
• Beyond Islam, Sami Zubaida
• The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, Donald Quataert
• Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair, Adeed Dawisha
• Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Arab Middle Class, Keith David Watenpaugh
• The Middle East and the Making of the Modern World, Cyrus Schayegh
• The Arab State and Neo-Liberal Globalization: The Restructuring of State Power in the Middle East, Laura Guazzone, Daniela Pioppi

UAE blog articles

• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford
• On the Trail of Genghis Khan, Tim Cope
• Modern Mongolia, Reclaiming Genghis Khan, Paula Sabloff (Editor)
• Lonely Planet Mongolian Phrasebook, J. Bat-Ireediu
• Odyssey Guide Mongolia, Carl Robinson
• Mongolia Map, Gizi Map
• Culture Smart! Mongolia, Alan Sanders
• Moving With The Seasons, Liza Carter
• Genghis Khan and the Quest for God, Jack Weatherford
• Hunting With Eagles, Palani Mohan
• The Mongols, A Very Short Introduction, Morris Rossabi
• Genghis Khan, His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy, Frank McLynn
• Wild East, The New Mongolia, Jill Lawless
• Mongolian Folktales, Hilary Roe Metternich
• The Blue Sky, Galsan Tschinag
• The White Mountain, Galsan Tschinag
• Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, Michael Novacek
• Birds of Mongolia, Gombobaatar Sundev, Christopher W. Leahy
• Young Mongols: Forging Democracy in the Wild, Wild East, Aubrey Menard
• My Mongolia: A Personal Encounter, J. Peter Morrow
• On the Trail of Ancient Man: A Narrative of the Field Work of the Central Asiatic Expeditions, Roy Chapman Andrews
• Across Mongolian Plains, Roy Chapman Andrews
• Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists, Morris Rossabi
• A Field Guide to the Birds of Mongolia, Chris Smith
• Into Wild Mongolia, George B. Schaller
• Hunting with Eagles: In the Realm of the Mongolian Kazakhs, Palani Mohan
• The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire, Jack Weatherford
• Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chinggis Khan, Paul Kahn
• The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East, Nicholas Morton
• Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, Christopher I. Beckwith
• Hearing Birds Fly, Louisa Waugh
• Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race, Lara Prior-Palmer
• Walking the Gobi: A 1,600-Mile Trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair, Helen Thayer
• Daring Greatly: A Memoir of the Mongol Derby, Bianca Farmas-Griffith
• Dateline Mongolia: An American Journalist in Nomad’s Land, Michael Kohn
• Rowing to Baikal: Sixty Days on Mongolia’s Selenge River, Peter W Fong

Mongolia blog articles

• Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang
• Mao Zedong, Jonathan Spence
• China Road, Rob Gifford
• Eyewitness Guide China, Eyewitness Guides
• China Adventure Map, National Geographic
• Culture Smart! China, Kathy Flower
• Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook, Hua-Yuan L. Mowry, Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson
• Age of Ambition, Evan Osnos
• The Forbidden City, Geremie R. Barme, Mary Beard (Editor)  
• The Forbidden City, Center of Imperial China, Gilles Beguin, Dominique Morel
• Understanding China, John Bryan Starr
• The River at the Center of the World, Simon Winchester
• Search for Ancient China, Corinne Debaine-Francfort
• The Arts of China, Michael Sullivan
• In Manchuria, Michael Meyer
• A Single Pebble, John Hersey
• China, A Traveler’s Literary Companion, Kirk Denton (Editor)
• Cave Temples of Dunhuang, Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road, Neville Agnew
• Age of Ambition, Evan Osnos
• China Road, Rob Gifford
• Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang
• Understanding China, John Bryan Starr
• Eyewitness Guide China, Eyewitness Guides
• China Adventure Map, National Geographic
• Culture Smart! China, Kathy Flower
• Eyewitness Guide Beijing and Shanghai, Eyewitness Guides
• Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook, Hua-Yuan L. Mowry, Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson
• China in Ten Words, Hua Yu, Allen Barr (Translator)
• Shanghai, The Rise and Fall of the Decadent City 1842-1949, Stella Dong
• The Forbidden City, Geremie R. Barme, Mary Beard (Editor) 
• The People’s Republic of Amnesia, The Legacy of Tiananmen Square, Louisa Lim
• The Terra Cotta Army, China’s First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation, John Man
• Wealth and Power, China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century, Orville Schell, John Delury
• Postcards from Tomorrow Square, James Fallows
• Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler
• Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature, Yunte Huang
• Chinese Wildlife, Martin Walters
• Understanding China,  John Bryan Starr
• Life Along the Silk Road, Susan Whitfield
• The Terra Cotta Army, China’s First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation, John Man
• Odyssey Guide The Silk Road, Xi’an to Kashgar, Judy Bonavia
• Northwest China Map, MapLink
• China North Map, Nelles
• The Ancient Silk Road Map, Odyssey Maps
• Insight Guide Silk Road, Insight Guides
• Empires of the Silk Road, Christopher I. Beckwith
• The Great Game, Peter Hopkirk
• The Silk Road, Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, Frances Wood
• The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China, William Lindesay
• The Mummies of Urumchi, Elizabeth Wayland Barber
• China Road, Rob Gifford
• The Emperor Far Away, David Eimer
• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford
• Riding the Iron Rooster, Paul Theroux
• Shadow of the Silk Road, Colin Thubron
• In Xanadu, A Quest, William Dalrymple
• Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing, Anna Ansari

• Age of Ambition, Evan Osnos
• China Road, Rob Gifford
• Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang
• Understanding China, John Bryan Starr
• Eyewitness Guide China, Eyewitness Guides
• China Adventure Map, National Geographic
• Culture Smart! China, Kathy Flower
• Eyewitness Guide Beijing and Shanghai, Eyewitness Guides
• Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook, Hua-Yuan L. Mowry, Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson
• China in Ten Words, Hua Yu, Allen Barr (Translator)
• Shanghai, The Rise and Fall of the Decadent City 1842-1949, Stella Dong
• The Forbidden City, Geremie R. Barme, Mary Beard (Editor) 
• The People’s Republic of Amnesia, The Legacy of Tiananmen Square, Louisa Lim
• The Terra Cotta Army, China’s First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation, John Man
• Wealth and Power, China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century, Orville Schell, John Delury
• Postcards from Tomorrow Square, James Fallows
• Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler
• Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature, Yunte Huang
• Chinese Wildlife, Martin Walters

• Understanding China,  John Bryan Starr
• Life Along the Silk Road, Susan Whitfield
• The Terra Cotta Army, China’s First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation, John Man
• Odyssey Guide The Silk Road, Xi’an to Kashgar, Judy Bonavia
• Northwest China Map, MapLink
• China North Map, Nelles
• The Ancient Silk Road Map, Odyssey Maps
• Insight Guide Silk Road, Insight Guides
• Empires of the Silk Road, Christopher I. Beckwith
• The Great Game, Peter Hopkirk
• The Silk Road, Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, Frances Wood
• The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China, William Lindesay
• The Mummies of Urumchi, Elizabeth Wayland Barber
• China Road, Rob Gifford
• The Emperor Far Away, David Eimer
• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford
• Riding the Iron Rooster, Paul Theroux
• Shadow of the Silk Road, Colin Thubron
• In Xanadu, A Quest, William Dalrymple

China blog articles

• Essential Tibetan Buddhism, Robert Thurman
• Tibet Map, Gizi Map
• Lonely Planet Tibetan Phrasebook, Sandup Tsering
• Tibet, An Unfinished Story, Lezlee Brown Halper
• To a Mountain in Tibet, Colin Thubron
• My Journey to Lhasa, Alexandra David-Neel
• Lonely Planet Tibet, Lonely Planet
• The Dragon in the Land of Snows, Tsering Shakya
• The Open Road, Pico Iyer
• The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen
• Freedom in Exile, The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama
• Seven Years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrer
• In Exile from the Land of Snows, John Avedon
• In the Land of the Blue Poppies, Frank Kingdon-Ward, Tom Christopher, Jamaica Kincaid
• The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Patrick Gaffney, Andrew Harvey, Sogyal Rinpoche
• Tibetan Folk Tales, Fredrick Hyde-Chambers, Audrey Hyde-Chambers
• Peaks on the Horizon, Two Journeys in, Tibet, Charlie Carroll
• Trespassers on the Roof of the World, Peter Hopkirk

Tibet blog articles

• Lonely Planet Taiwan travel guide, Piera Chen and Dinah Gardner
• Taiwan Travel Guide 2025: The Ultimate Companion for Travelers, Alexa E. Carlson
• Two Trees Make a Forest Taiwan, Jessica J. Lee
• Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan, Jonathan Manthorpe
• Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel, Shuang-zi Yang
• Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation (A Cookbook), Clarissa Wei
• A Culinary History of Taipei: Beyond Pork and Ponlai (Big City Food Biographies), Katy Hui-wen Hung & Steven Crook
• Taiwan in 100 Books, John Grant Ross
• Loving Taipei: The Local Travel Guide to Taipei, Taiwan, Cindy Liu
• A Pail of Oysters, Vern Sneider

• The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History,Don Oberdorfer
• The Dawn of Modern Korea, Andrei Lankov
• CultureShock! Korea: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, Sonia Vegdahl
• The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Country is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture, Euny Hong
• The Korean War, Max Hastings
• Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History, Bruce Cumings
• The Vegetarian, Han Kang
• Korean History in Maps, Michael D. Shin
• Korea: A New History of South and North, Victor Cha, Ramon Pacheco Pardo
• History of Korea: A Captivating Guide to Korean History, Including Events Such as the Mongol Invasions, the Split into North and South, and the Korean War (Asian Countries), Captivating History
• Korea: A History, Eugene Y. Park 
• Guide to Korean Culture, Korean Culture and Information Service 
• Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles, Simon Winchester
• Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop, Ramon Pacheco Pardo
• Three Tigers, One Mountain, Michael Booth
• Korea: The Impossible Country, Daniel Tudor

• Tasting Georgia, Carla Capalbo
• Kaukasis, A Culinary Journey, Olia Hercules
• For the Love of Wine, Alice Feiring
• The Georgian Feast, Darra Goldstein
• The Caucasus, An Introduction, Thomas De Waal
• Lonely Planet Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan, John Noble
• Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan Map, Freytag & Berndt
• Culture Smart! Azerbaijan, Nikki Kazimova
• Black Sea, Neal Ascherson
• The Orientalist, Tom Reiss
• The Ghost of Freedom, Charles King
• Kurban Said, Ali and Nino, A Love Story, Paul Theroux
• An Armenian Sketchbook, Vasily Grossman
• Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
• Russia’s Steppe Frontier, The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800, Michael Khodarkovsky
• Hadji Murad, Leo Tolstoy, Aylmer Maude
• Highlanders, Yo’av Karny
• Passage to Ararat, Michael J. Arlen, Clark Blaise
• Stories I Stole, A Journey to Georgia, Wendell Steavenson
• Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing, Anna Ansari
• Georgian Khachapuri and Filled Breads, Carla Capalbo
• Samarkand: Recipes & Stories from Central Asia and the Caucasus, Caroline Eden
• Green Mountains: Walking the Caucasus with Recipes, Caroline Eden

South Caucasus blog articles

• Istanbul, Memories and the City, Orhan Pamuk
• DK Eyewitness Top Ten Istanbul, Eyewitness Guides
• A Traveller’s History of Turkey, Richard Stoneman
• Classical Turkish Cooking, Ayla Esen Algar
• Istanbul and Beyond, Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey, Robyn Eckhardt
• Eyewitness Guide Turkey, Eyewitness Guides
• 1453, The Holy War For Constantinople, Roger Crowley
• Turkey Map, Freytag & Berndt
• A Short History of Byzantium, John Julius Norwich
• Ancient Turkey, A Traveller’s History, Seton Lloyd
• Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place, Mary Lee Settle
• Crescent and Star, Stephen Kinzer
• Birds Without Wings, Louis De Bernieres
• Lords of the Horizons, Jason Goodwin
• The Janissary Tree, Jason Goodwin
• Turkey, What Everyone Needs to Know, Andrew Finkel
• The Towers of Trebizond, Rose MacAulay, Jan Morris (Introduction)
• The Lycian Shore, Freya Stark
• Anatolian Days & Nights, Angie Brenner, Joy Stocke

Turkiye blog articles

• Russian Short Stories, Robert Chandler 
• The Cold War, Michael Hopkins
• Culture Smart! Russia, Anna King
• Insight Guide Russia, Insight Guides
• Russia Map, International Travel Maps
• Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook, James Jenkin, Inna Zaitseva
• Gulag, A History, Anne Applebaum
• The Routledge Atlas of Russian History, Martin Gilbert
• Lenin’s Tomb, David Remnick
• Natasha’s Dance, A Cultural History of Russia, Orlando Figes
• Speak, Memory, Vladimir Nabokov
• Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia, W. Bruce Lincoln
• Stalin, The Court of the Red Tsar, Simon Sebag Montefiore
• Travels in Siberia, Ian Frazier
• Russka, Edward Rutherfurd
• Catherine the Great, Robert K. Massie
• The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin, Andrew Bromfield 
• Among the Russians, Colin Thubron
• Peter the Great, His Life and World, Robert Massie

Western Russia blog articles

• The Ghost of Freedom, Charles King
• Let Our Fame Be Great, Oliver Bullough
• A Small Corner of Hell, Anna Politkovskaya
• A Hero of Our Time,  Mikhail Lermontov
• Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer In The Caucasus, A World-System Biography,  Georgi M. Derluguian
• Highlanders, A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory, Yo’av Karny
• Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan Map, Freytag & Berndt
• Lonely Planet Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan, John Noble
• Russia’s Steppe Frontier, The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800, Michael Khodarkovsky
• The Caucasus, An Introduction, Thomas De Waal
• Allah’s Mountains, The Battle for Chechnya, Sebastian Smith
• Chechnya Diary, Thomas Goltz
• The New Tsar, The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin, Steven Lee Myers
• Ali and Nino, A Love Story, Kurban Said, Paul Theroux (Afterword)
• Stories I Stole, A Journey to Georgia,  Wendell Steavenson
• Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
• Hadji Murad, Leo Tolstoy, Aylmer Maude (Translator)

North Caucasus blog articles

• Midnight in Siberia, A Journey into the Heart of Russia, David Greene
• Dersu the Trapper, V.K. Arseniev, Malcolm Burr
• Lonely Planet Trans-Siberian Railway, Simon Richmond
• Russia Map, International Travel Maps
• Eyewitness Guide Moscow, Eyewitness Guides
• Trans-Siberian Handbook, Bryn Thomas
• Gulag, A History, Anne Applebaum
• Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia, Nina Tumarkin
• The Museum at the End of the World, Encounters in the Russian Far East, Alexia Bloch, Laurel Kendall
• Where the Sea Breaks Its Back, Corey Ford
• In Siberia, Colin Thubron
• The Consolations of the Forest, Sylvain Tesson
• The Long Walk, Slavomir Rawicz
• The Other Side of Russia, Sharon Hudgins
• Travels in Siberia, Ian Frazier
• Snow in May, Stories, Kseniya Melnik
• The People’s Act of Love, James Meek
• The Sun Maiden and the Crescent Moon, Siberian Folk Tales, James Riordan

Siberia & the Russian Far East blog articles

• In Siberia, Colin Thubron
• Dersu the Trapper, V.K. Arseniev, Malcolm Burr
• Trans-Siberian Handbook, Bryn Thomas
• Russia Map, International Travel Maps
• Lonely Planet Trans-Siberian Railway, Simon Richmond
• Gulag, A History, Anne Applebaum
• Russia of the Tsars, Peter Waldron
• Siberia, A Cultural History, Anthony Haywood
• The Conquest of a Continent, W. Bruce Lincoln
• To the Edge of the World, The Story of the Trans-Siberian Express, Christian Wolmar
• Train, Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World, Tom Zoellner
• Tent Life in Siberia, George Kennan, Larry McMurtry
• Midnight in Siberia, A Journey into the Heart of Russia, David Greene
• The Other Side of Russia, Sharon Hudgins
• The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux
• Travels in Siberia, Ian Frazier
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
•  Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan: Passerines, Norman Arlott

Trans-Siberian Railway blog articles