Middle East patterns : places, peoples, and politics / Colbert C. Held and John Thomas Cummings ; cartography by John V. Cotter.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. 1. Physical and cultural geography -- Tricontinental junction: an introduction -- The face of the Earth -- Patterns of time: historical-geographical foundations -- Patterns of peoples, cultures, and settlements -- The desert and the sown: land use -- Riches beneath the earth -- Manufacturing and transportation -- The Earth and the state: geopolitics -- part 2. Regional geography -- Syria: Middle East heartland -- Lebanon and Cyprus: a mountain and an island -- Jordan: the land beyond and between -- Israel, Palestine and the disputed territories -- Iraq: modern Mesopotamia -- Saudi Arabia: development in the desert -- The Gulf and its oil states -- Oman and Yemen: the southern fringe -- Egypt: a river and a people -- Turkey: bridgeland in Anatolia -- Iran: complex republic on the plateau -- Glossary -- Geological time chart.