Supplemental Materials

Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East

Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East draws students into the U.S. policy debate on one of the world's most volatile regions. Students examine the Arab-Israeli conflict, the role of oil in geopolitics, the politicization of Islam, the significance of the Iranian Revolution, and other historical issues that have shaped U.S. relations in the region.

Online Resources From the Choices Program

Graphic Organizers

Using Google Earth - Views from the Middle East

This Google Earth file is for use with a lesson published in Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East. The lesson is designed to help students explore how geography affects politics. Students use the information they gather using Google Earth to prepare for a simulation of a regional summit.

If you are having trouble opeining the file above: Right click (or hold down the control key and click) on the link above and download or save the file to the desktop. Before opening the downloaded file, make sure you have the Google Earth application, which you can download free at earth.google.com.

The Political Geography of the Middle East
This Powerpoint is for use with a lesson plan in Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East.

Web Links

U.S. Department of State
Information on U.S. policy and the "Road-Map to Peace." The website also contains information about U.S. policy in Iraq.

U.S. Energy Information Administration
Statistics about U.S. energy consumption, imports, production, etc.

Maps of the Middle East
The Perry-Casteñada Map Collection at the University of Texas.

Council on Foreign Relations
Middle East page provides up-to-date articles, reports, and analyses of events in the region. Various "backgrounders" are particularly useful.

PBS NewsHour
Provides news coverage of Middle East topics, interviews with leaders, expert analysis, and maps and other aids.

Books

Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East, Second Edition (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000). 585 pages.

Gordon, Michael R. and Trainor, Bernard E. The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (Boston: Little, Brown, 1995). 551 pages.

Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.) 446 pages.

Quandt, William B. Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967, Revised Edition. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001). 488 pages.

Yergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991). 877 pages.

NOTE: This is a selected list of resources focused on the topic of the curriculum, Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East. Additional resources will be added to this site as they become available. See the two-page flyer about this curricula for more details.