The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, by Derek Gregory, Blackwell, 2004. 367 pages. $27.95 paper.

Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism, by Zachary Lockman, Cambridge University Press, 2004. 308 pages. $65.00 cloth; $22.99 paper.

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror, by Mahmood Mamdani, Pantheon Books, 2004. 304 pages. $24.00 cloth.

Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Path in the Middle East by Rashid Khalidi, Beacon Press, 2004. 223 pages. $23.00 cloth.