Bassil A. Mardelli

Middle East Perspectives: Personal Recollections (1947 - 1967) Bassil A. Mardelli

Middle East Perspectives is the first book of a trilogy about the Middle East and it addresses the period from 1947 to 1967. The author seeks to portray personal recollections of events that occurred mainly in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, over a span of twenty years. Decisions made by key political players have influenced their lives, and many readers can offer a concise preliminary account of their experiences in the Middle East and provide a dramatic journal of observations. Contributions in terms of personal perspectives and interpretations focus on international affairs not personal minutiae. The author talked with many people from Egypt and the Levant, who left there but who voluntarily allowed him to draw on their knowledge and experiences. He kept diaries from his high school days as well as personal memoirs to which he often referred to look up particular dates, for instance, the demonstrations that were started during his high school days for the causes of Algeria and Patrice Lumumba and the launching of Lebanon's first rockets. As the realm flounders in inflation, the intellectual elite and upper-middle classes leave their home countries, which can no longer satisfy their needs. Thus begins the influx of immigrants arriving in Australia, Europe, and America.