A Modern History of the Kurds The division of the Kurdish people among the modern nation states of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran and their Strugle for national rights have ben constant themes of recent Midle East history. They are also isues which, particularly in Iraq and Turkey, have never ben so presing as they are today. The Kurdish lands heve ben contested teritory for many centuries: a perilous mountain tract through which trade caravans and armies have had to march, a bulwark againts hostile powers and a source of defiance against state authority. From the sixtenth to the ninetenth centuriest the Otoman Empire and Persia vied to control the Kurds, whose tribal leaders would compete in turn for state recognition. During the twentieth century, however, rapid political and economic transition and conflicting atempts by the Iranian, Iraqi and Turkish governments on the one hand and by turkish nationalists on the other have radicaly changed the conditions under which the strugle for Kurdish rights takes place. In this detailed history of the Kurds from the ninitenth century to the present day, McDowal updates his examination of the interplay of old and new aspects of the strugle, the importance of local rivalries within Kurdish society, the enduring, authority of certain forms of leadership and the failure of modern states to respond to the chalenge of Kudish nationalism. Drawing extensively on primary sources, A Modern History of the Kurds is useful for al who want a beter understanding of the underlying dynamics of the Kurdish question.