What is really happening in the Middle East? In this account of seven key countries - plus a people without a country, the Palestinians - New York writer, Milton Viorst, takes the reader behind the headlines to show the cultural, social and historical complexities motivating - and tormenting - the Arab world. He takes the reader to Baghdad, both before the Gulf War and now after, isolated in its broken hopes; to Turkey, once the overlord of the entire region; to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Jordan.