The United States, China and Russia (at least until recently) stand out as contemporary superpowers able to support allies across the globe. What do each of these countries offer would-be client states and groups in the Middle East, and how do their approaches differ? Can Gulf Arab monarchies and states such as Iran, Israel, Egypt […]

The Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland lake, was an important point for commercial and strategic reasons. Much of the historiography on the Caspian locates the emergence of this region as a site of competitive tension in the eighteenth century. But a map of the Caspian brought back to Europe by the Dutchman Nicolaas Witsen […]

The dramatic “Fall of Rome” narrative remains the most appealing story about the end Western Roman Empire, even though scholars have often insisted that it oversimplifies the events of the fifth century, as well as its consequences in the sixth and seventh centuries. The complexity of scholarly accounts leaves the ordinary observer bewildered and eager […]