As the U.S. assault on Iran rages, we asked our resident Middle East expert Alex Boodrookas to provide some historical perspective. Dr. Boodrookas is an Assistant Professor of History at MSU Denver specializing in the Modern Middle East; Labor History; Immigration; Decolonization. His book is published this April by Stanford University Press and is entitled Comrades Estranged: Labor and Citizenship in the Twentieth-Century Persian Gulf.

Dr. Boodrookas has shared a helpful list of resources and a timeline of major events to accompany this podcast.

READING LIST | THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL & PALESTINE

BOOKS & ARTICLES

• Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar, “Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” MERIP. A clear,

reliable, article-length overview of the conflict available for free online.

• Rashid Khalidi, Hundred Years War on Palestine. A readable and personal history of the

conflict by a respected historian.

• James Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine Conflict. A solid and accessible summary written by a

respected historian.

• Edward Said, “Zionism from the Standpoint of its Victims,” and Ella Shohat, “Zionism from

the Standpoint of its Jewish Victims.” Two older but influential and well-written articles.

Shay Hazkani, Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War. A bottom-up history of the

pivotal 1948 war.

• Meron Benvenisti, Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948. A

personal but still scholarly account of the aftermath of the expulsions of 1948.

• Shira Robinson, Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israel’s Liberal Settler State.

A more academic but important work focused on the immediate aftermath of 1948.

Noura Erakat, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine. Focuses on the questions

of international law raised by the discrimination directed against Palestinians.

• Yael Berda, Living Emergency: Israel's Permit Regime in the Occupied West Bank. A brief

summary of the occupation and its effects

• Tareq Baconi, Hamas Contained. A history of the organization using its own documents.

For fiction, see Literary Hub’s article entitled “40 Books to Understand Palestine”

DOCUMENTARIES

• Five Broken Cameras | The Law in These Parts | The Gatekeepers | Reel Bad Arabs | Tantura

TRUSTWORTHY SOURCES FOR NEWS &ANALYSIS ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST

• MERIP | Ottoman History Podcast | New Lines Magazine | Jadaliyya | MadaMasr

An analysis of Part 1 of our series on Witches, with Brian Weiser.

Brian Weiser is Professor of History at MSU-Denver, where he teaches world history, European history, and upper-level courses such as Renaissance and Reformation, Tudor and Stuart England, and Magic in Britain. He has published a book, Charles II and the Politics of Access, and several articles on topics such as representations of and to Charles II, shaming rituals in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, and the military revolution’s effects upon honor and absolutism. His current project is: “The Playwright, the Horsegelder and the Vicar’s Wife: Shame and Shaming in Elizabethan England." His interest in Brome and Heywood’s The Late Lancashire Witches derives partly from teaching a course on Magic in early modern Britain, and partly because the play features a skimmington, a shaming ritual designed to humiliate husbands who were beaten by their wives.

For further reading:

Richard Brome’s plays, including The Late Lancashire Witches, can be found in both the original and modernized form at Richard Brome Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/brome/ . The site also has extensive notes and scholarly interpretations.

For more on Witchcraft in early modern Europe and England:

Clark, Stuart. Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Reprint. Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.

Elmer, Peter. Witchcraft, Witch-Hunting, and Politics in Early Modern England. Oxford University Press, 2016.

Levack, Brian P. The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. Longman, 1993.

Millar, Charlotte-Rose. Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England. Routledge Research in Early Modern History. Routledge, 2018.

Sharpe, J. A. Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.

Sharpe, J. A. The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, Murder, and the King of England. Routledge, 2000.

For more on the Late Lancashire Witches

Berry, Herbert. “The Globe Bewitched and ‘El Hombre Fiel’.” Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 1 (January 1984): 211–30.

Coffin, Charlotte A. “Theatre and/as Witchcraft: A Reading of The Late Lancashire Witches (1634).” Early Theatre 16, no. 2 (2014). https://doi.org/10.12745/et.16.2.5.

Findlay, Alison. “Sexual and Spiritual Politics in the Events of 1633-34 and the Late Lancashire Witches.” In The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories. Manchester University Press, 2002.

Hirsch, Brett D. “Hornpipes and Disordered Dancing in The Late Lancashire Witches: A Reel Crux?” Early Theatre 16, no. 1 (2013). https://doi.org/10.12745/et.16.1.8.

Pearson, Meg. “The Late Lancashire Witches: The Girls Next Door.” Preternatural 3, no. 1 (2014): 147–67.

Poole, Robert, ed. The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories. Manchester University Press, 2010.

Part 1 of our series on Witches featuring an impromptu performance of The Late Lancashire Witches.

Richard Brome’s plays, including The Late Lancashire Witches, can be found in both the original and modernized form at Richard Brome Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/brome/ . The site also has extensive notes and scholarly interpretations.

For more on Witchcraft in early modern Europe and England:

Clark, Stuart. Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Reprint. Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.

Elmer, Peter. Witchcraft, Witch-Hunting, and Politics in Early Modern England. Oxford University Press, 2016.

Levack, Brian P. The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. Longman, 1993.

Millar, Charlotte-Rose. Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England. Routledge Research in Early Modern History. Routledge, 2018.

Sharpe, J. A. Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.

Sharpe, J. A. The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, Murder, and the King of England. Routledge, 2000.

For more on the Late Lancashire Witches

Berry, Herbert. “The Globe Bewitched and ‘El Hombre Fiel’.” Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 1 (January 1984): 211–30.

Coffin, Charlotte A. “Theatre and/as Witchcraft: A Reading of The Late Lancashire Witches (1634).” Early Theatre 16, no. 2 (2014). https://doi.org/10.12745/et.16.2.5.

Findlay, Alison. “Sexual and Spiritual Politics in the Events of 1633-34 and the Late Lancashire Witches.” In The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories. Manchester University Press, 2002.

Hirsch, Brett D. “Hornpipes and Disordered Dancing in The Late Lancashire Witches: A Reel Crux?” Early Theatre 16, no. 1 (2013). https://doi.org/10.12745/et.16.1.8.

Pearson, Meg. “The Late Lancashire Witches: The Girls Next Door.” Preternatural 3, no. 1 (2014): 147–67.

Poole, Robert, ed. The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories. Manchester University Press, 2010.