Shifting sands: the unraveling of the old order in the Middle East

Penny Johnson

The significance of a screwdriver

[1] Lines in the sand : the Great War and the remaking of the Middle East

Avi Shlaim

The post-Ottoman syndrome

James Barr

The divisive line : the birth and long life of the Sykes/Picot Agreement

Salim Tamari

Why did you rename your son? : diaries of the Great War from the Ottoman front

[2] In the present tense : the unravelling of the old order

Khaled Fahmy

Opening politics' black box : reflections on the past, present and future of the Egyptian revolution

Tamim al-Barghouti

Cracked cauldrons : the failure of states and the rise of new narratives in the Middle East

Justin Marozzi

A long view from Baghdad

Ramita Navai

Iran : coming in from the cold?

Alev Scott

Civic courage : the clue to Turkey's future?

[3] Living and writing in the Middle East : fiction, imagination and history

Mai al-Nakib

Living and writing in Kuwait : what fiction can do

Selma Dabbagh

Writing the Middle East, writing Gaza

Marilyn Booth

Fiction's histories : writers and readers in the Middle East

[4] Syria in crisis

Dawn Chatty

What you don't read about the Syrian humanitarian crisis

Robin Yassin-Kassab

Syria seen and represented

Malu Halasa

Defying the killers : the emergence of street culture in Syria

[5] Afterword

Raja Shehadeh

Palestine and hope.