In Fractured Lands, Scott Anderson makes fairly quick work of the complicated Middle East/North Africa region. Whether than just telling the reader the bottom line: that tribal and clan loyalties matter for more than loyalties to the state and are thus creating chaos throughout Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya and elsewhere, he endeavors to show the reader by profiling the plight of five people from these countries, thus giving the reader a human perspective into why the Middle East is such a mess. In failing to understand these tribal/clan/familial loyalties, we will continue to fail in the Middle East.

A fairly short, but important read.

FRACTURED LANDS by war correspondent Scott Anderson employs six narratives following a Kurdish physician and an activist from Iraq, a dissident from Egypt, student from Syria, an ISIS fighter and Libyan Air Force cadet. In explaining "how the Arab world came apart," Anderson traces the history of the region and its' dictators from the early 1970's, noting in particular the instability states with artificially drawn boundaries and America's role in Iraqi politics, particularly the invasion, which he says led to the Arab Spring revolts.

In the last third of the book, Scott also discusses the rise of ISIS and subsequent migration of people and terrorism to Europe and beyond. He argues, "it is fitting that the turmoil in the Arab world has its roots in the First World War, for like that war, it is a regional crisis that has come quickly and widely ... to influence events at every corner of the globe." What is unique is how he has chosen to tell this troubled history through the life stories of six individuals and their families. Certainly heart-wrenching at times and a much needed perspective to humanize a complex and difficult situation.

The author of the acclaimed "Lawrence of Arabia" has done it yet again. Anderson does readers an immense service by delving deep into the seeds of the Arab Spring, the revolutions themselves, and their continuing chaotic aftermath, and manages to make them all comprehensible to anyone who wants to know more about the topic but fears that the pure complexity of it all may prove to be overwhelming. With his deep insight into the nature of the strongman regimes that held sway in so many Middle Eastern countries, the weak foundations of several "artificial" states crafted primarily by colonial powers after the World Wars, and his focus on an array of men and women affected in an immense variety of ways by the upheaval in the regime, he helps provide top-notch clarity in a work that should be considered a must-read for anyone who wants to get a handle on the ongoing turbulence in the Arab world that continues to send its effects rippling across to the rest of the world.