The Struggle for Mastery in the Fertile Crescent (2014)

Series Foreword: The Great Unraveling: The Remaking of the Middle East; 

The Struggle for Mastery in the Fertile Crescent; 

I. The Patrons; 

II. In the Name of the Saints; 

III. Blowback; 

IV. A War with No Secrets; 

V. A War with No Victors; 

VI. A Foreigner's Gift: Liberation in Iraq; 

VII. The Matter of State Power; 

VIII. The Last Refuge?; 

Source Notes; 

About the Author; 

About the Hoover Institution's Herbert and Jane Dwight Working Group on Islamism and the International Order; 

Index.

In this book, Fouad Ajami analyzes the struggle for influence along the Fertile Crescent-the stretch of land that runs from Iran's border with Iraq to the Mediterranean-among three of the regional powers who have stepped into the vacuum left by the West: Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. He explains that, of the three powers competing for influence, Saudi Arabia and Iran are in it for the long haul. Each of those powers has a sense of mission and constituencies that enable them to stick it out and pay the price for a sphere of influence. Each country's prospects for supremacy is detailed and Aja.