The Persian Gulf in History

This book surveys the history of the Persian Gulf from ancient times until the present day. Broad overview chapters by leading authorities treat the internal history of the region and describe the role outsiders - including the Portuguese, Dutch, Ottomans, British, and Americans - have played there. The book's theme is the unity and distinct identity of Gulf society and how the Gulf historically has been part of a cosmopolitan Indian Ocean world.

Lawrence G. Potter  has been Deputy Director of Gulf/2000 since 1994 and has taught at Columbia University since 1996, where he is Adjunct Associate Professor of International Affairs. A graduate of Tufts College, he received an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a Ph.D. in History (1992) from Columbia University. He taught in Iran for four years before the revolution and from 1984 to 1992 was Senior Editor at the Foreign Policy Association. He specializes in Iranian history and U.S. policy toward the Middle East. He co-edited (with Gary Sick) The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security, and Religion  (1997), Security in the Persian Gulf: Origins, Obstacles, and the Search for Consensus (New York: Palgrave, 2002) and Iran, Iraq, and the Legacies of War (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). He published “The Persian Gulf in Transition” in the Foreign Policy Association’s Headline Series (January 1998).