Includes index.

Rise and fall : a civilized prehistory, 8500 to 300 B.C. / Zahi Hawass -- Through a glass darkly : Alexander's conquest through the Crusades, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1400 / Andrew Wheatcroft -- The Ottoman age, 1400 to 1914 / Andrew Wheatcroft -- End of an age, birth of conflict, 1914-1920 / David Fromkin -- Century of strife, 1920-2002 / Sandra Mackey -- Judaism : hear, O Israel / Yossi Klein Halevi -- Christianity : and the word became flesh / Charles M. Sennott -- Islam : the word of the Prophet / Milton Viorst.