A History of Modern Libya by Dirk Vandewalle

Dirk Vandewalle is one of only a handful of scholars who have made frequent visits to Libya over the last four decades. His formidable knowledge of the region is encapsulated in his history of Libya which was first published in 2006. The history - based on original research and interviews with Libya's political elite - traces Libya's history back to the 1900s with a portrait of Libya's desert terrain, its peoples and the personalities that shaped it development. It then examines the harrowing years of the Italian occupation in the early twentieth century, through the Sanusi monarchy and, thereafter, to the revolution of 1969 and the accession of Qadhafi. The following chapters analyse the economics and politics of Qadhafi's revolution, offering insights into the man and his ideology as reflected in his Green Book. In the wake of the civil war and Qadhafi's demise, the time is ripe for an updated edition of the history which will cover the years from 2005 to the present. These were the