Said Michael:
>Dale Eickelman's books
are both excellent and >hard core (as are his
classes).
He's an anthropologist by trade, so he throws around a
lot of social science-type stuff. This one, however,
was general readerish-enough to turn up in Barnes and
Noble, while still useful for an undergraduate reading
seminar I sat in on.
For general history, try
Albert Hourani's History of the Arab Peoples. Ira
Lapidus's A History of Islamic Societies is also good,
though I've never read the modern
sections.
Brian
Brian