Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1957- ) [ROCK REF DS37.E523] The standard reference for articles by the foremost scholars on Islamic culture in its widest sense. History however does not extend far into the 20th century. Articles are entitled by Arabic terminology in Roman transliteration, a hindrance to the beginner. Excellent bibliographies.
Encyclopaedia Iranica. Ed. Ihsan Yarshater. (London: Routledge, 1982- ) [ROCK REF DS253.E53x] Modeled on the Encyclopedia of Islam with many of its virtues; covers the contemporary period but without biographical articles on living persons.
Islamic Desk Reference. Ed. Ernst von Donzel. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994.) [ROCK REF DS35.53 .I83 1994 ] Basically short definitions, an extreme distillation of Encyclopedia of Islam; its usefulness is as a companion to the latter, as it uses English terminology and spelling.
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World.(NY: Oxford, 1995.) [ROCK REF DS35.53.O95 1995] Intended to pursue the Encyclopedia of Islam program into more recent times, with emphases on Islam in relation to politics and societies.
Biographical Dictionary of the Middle East. Ed. Yaacov Shimoni. (New York: Facts on File, 1991.) [ROCK REF DS62.4.B56 1991] Short biographical notices of Arab, Israeli and Irani figures in politics, history and literature from the present and recent past.
Middle East Contemporary Survey. (New York: Holmes & Meiers, 1976- ) [ROCK REF DS62.8.M53- from vol. 19, 1995-] Annual volumes of long articles dealing in depth with politics and economic aspects. Very good, but some time lag- 1998 is most recent volume.
Historical Dictionaries. (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.) This is a series of books pertaining each to a specific country ( Historical Dictionary of Algeria,
Historical Dictionary of Egypt; other volumes include Afghanistan, Israel, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the Gulf States, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Sudan, Tunisia and Turkey) as well as the Persian Gulf War and the recent wars in Afghanistan. They vary some but all include good timelines ancient to modern, maps, brief definitions and good bibliographies.
Middle East Studies Handbook. Ed. Jere L. Bacharach. (Seattle: University of Washington, 1984.) [ROCK REF DS61.B3 1984] Useful mainly for its charts, dynastic tables, calendric conversions and maps.
Handbook of Political Science Research on the Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Bernard Reich. (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.) [JQ1758.A58 1998] Chapters on individual countries, each by one expert. Bibliographies.
Historical Atlas of the Middle East. G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1993.) [ROCK REF G2206.S1F7 1993] Maps of different epochs and regions with explanatory remarks, extending into the 20th century.
Index Islamicus. (London: Mansell, 1956-1992; E. Grinstead: Bowker-Saur, 1995- ) [ROCK REF DS35.3 .I534; also CD-ROM] Indexes scholarly articles published in Western languages and Turkish since 1906, and books since 1981. The entries are organized by topic; they are indexed by author and subject. Quarterly issuances cumulated into bound volumes; the CD-ROM should ameliorate the problem of having to search successive volumes, but is sometimes cranky.
Middle East: Abstracts and Index. (Pittsburgh: Library Info & Research, 1978- ) [ROCK REF DS41.M44] This indexes scholarly as well as more general publications and statistical reports. They are arranged by geographical region, as well as a supplementary volume on a different topic each year (e.g., in 2000, "Refugees.")
World Bibliographical Series. (Santa Barbara, CA: Clio.) These each bear the title of a specific country. Many are dated , and many of the listings are difficult or impossible to come by.
Revised volumes are considerably improved; worth a look.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/area/MiddleEast/
Compiled by Frank Unlandherm of Columbia University. Good links on a number of important topics. He also maintains http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/area/Jewish/
http://www.arabinfo.org
"Arab and Muslim Network Information." Some in Arabic; has current news, links covering various Arab nations and the US government.
http://meria.biu.ac.il/
This is simply one of the best resources for modern research. The Middle East Review of International Affairs exists as a paper journal; its articles are available by subscription online as well as this web which keeps its research guides on various topics, which are fine compendia of print and internet sources. Individual issues of the Review include recent publications and websites which have come to the editors' attention.
http://wwwcrl.uchicago.edu/info/handbook/hb40mide.html
Has a bibliography of Western books on The Middle East since the Rise of Islam. Also collections of internal documents of the American and British State Departments relating to the Middle East.
http://www.usrom.com
Political, economic and defense news.
http://list.org/~mdoyle/introduction.html
"Geopolitical Guide to the Middle East." Geopolitical theory, regional geography, issues.
http://www.utoronto.ca/cisecime
A bibliography of recent economic integration in the Middle East.
http://www.megastories.com/iraq/index.htm
Links to stories concerning Iraq under sanctions.
http://www.megastories.com/mideast/index.htm
Israel and palestinians; Arab-Israeli wars; political Islam.
http://www.cfr.org/public/pubs/palinstfull.html
"Strengthening Palestinian Public Institutions," an assessment of those institutions.
http://www.passia.org/index_new.htm
Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. They also put out numerous useful print publications.
http://www.peace-now.org/english/about.htm
Peace Now's site in English.
http://www.israel-un.org/
Israel's UN mission.
http://tehran.stanford.edu
A good place to start for information on Iran.
