'John Chalcraft is the Howard Zinn of Middle East studies … [This book] is essential for understanding how the region came to be so fraught in our own era.' Juan Cole, University of Michigan 'Unparalleled in both its ambitions and its achievements, this book provides … a brilliant synthetic reinterpretation of the role of popular politics …' John Sidel, London School of Economics and Political Science 'This book makes an outstanding contribution to the study of the recent history and politics of the Middle East.' Charles Tripp, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 'In its comparative and theoretical approach, this work is unmatched.' Julia Clancy-Smith, University of Arizona '[This] insightful book shows how mass mobilization helped to shape state-formation and nation-building in the region over the past two centuries, creating the backdrop … for today's tumultuous conflicts.' Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 'John Chalcraft has written a masterpiece of bottom-up analysis and interpretation over two centuries of Middle Eastern longing, struggle, and change.' Michael Provence, University of California, San Diego '… an immensely important book, and it is likely to inspire vigorous and lively debate about how to understand politics in the Middle East for years to come.' Aaron G. Jakes, Middle East Journal 'Although other scholars have studied the role of mass mobilization and street politics in the Middle East, the sheer breadth of this ambitious study sets it apart as an outstanding contribution to the understanding of political upheaval that has engulfed the region for more than a century. Analytically rich and theoretically informed, this book is a major contribution to the literature on Middle Eastern studies … Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.' M. Dorraj, Choice