The Market of Seleukia

showing us the enthralling interplay of politics, avarice, hate, national pride, and religious fanaticism in that part of the globe.' The New Yorker The Market of Seleukia is a portrait of the Middle East at the catalytic moment of the Suez Crisis. 'As a work of descripton and evocation [The Market of Seleukia] is wonderful ... showing us the enthralling interplay of politics, avarice, hate, national pride, and religious fanaticism in that part of the globe.' The New YorkerThe Market of Seleukia is a portrait of the Middle East at the catalytic moment of the Suez Crisis. Jan Morris covers the vast, colourful and dramatic ground of Egypt and Sudan; Lebanon, Syria, Jordan; the Arabian Peninsula; Iraq and Iran. With superb liveliness and lucidity, she traces the complicated and shifting patterns in this most tangled of webs: the Anglo-American oil war; the American Soviet struggle for dominance; the explosive impact of Nasser's nationalism; irrigation and reclamation; Islam; Israel. But Market of Seleukia is much more than political reporting: with wit, style and feeling, it captures the very texture of the Middle East. It is brilliantly observed and magnificently written, a book of major importance for today.