Sorts through the political and military quagmire of the Middle East in language anyone can understand. Chronicles the history of the conflict seeking to inform, not blame, which will probably anger many pro-Palestinian activists who apparently think any history of the Middle East should point the finger of blame solely at Israel. Softcover.

Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D., is executive director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE), director of the Jewish Virtual Library (www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org), and a foreign policy analyst who lectures frequently on U.S.-Middle East policy. For three years, he was the editor of the Near East Report, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) weekly newsletter on U.S.-Middle East policy. Prior to working at AIPAC, Dr. Bard served as a senior analyst in the polling division of the 1988 Bush campaign. He has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, and other local and national television and radio outlets. His work has appeared in academic journals, magazines, and major newspapers. He is the author of The Water's Edge and Beyond: Defining the Limits to Domestic Influence on United States Middle East Policy; Partners for Change: How U.S.-Israel Cooperation Can Benefit America; U.S.-Israel Relations: Looking to the Year 2000; Building Bridges: Lessons for America from Novel Israeli Approaches to Promote Coexistence; Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict; Forgotten Victims: The Abandonment of Americans in Hitler's Camps; The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II; The Complete History of the Holocaust; The Holocaust (Turning Points in World History); The Nuremberg Trials (At Issue in History); The Nuremberg Trials (Eyewitness to History); From Tragedy to Triumph: The Politics Behind the Rescue of Ethiopian Jews; and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding the Brain. Forthcoming books include 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know About Israel and The Founding of Israel. Bard holds a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and a Master's degree in public policy from Berkeley. He received his B.A. in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.