Having said that, the oppression of women (and people generally) through religion, ALL of them: that part is crystal clear.

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I can't think of one truly excellent, non-geeky general history of the region, but here's a short list of really good books, all of which are enjoyable to read (if you like that sort of thing), will give you a LOT of really good information (a lot of which you're not likely to see anywhere else), and several of which have awesome titles!

1. Heavy Metal Islam, Mark LeVine - LeVine is a professor and musician and he spent five years seeking out the metal heads (and other underground musicians) from Morocco to Pakistan, and he really manages to turn expectations on their heads while giving a lot of good background information, as well.

2.Muhajababes, Allegra Stratton - an exploration, by a young British woman who essentially just up and decided to do it, of religiousity in the region, particularly as regards newly religious women. "Muhajababes" is a term she coined to mean women who wear hijab, but also work at being babes.

3. City of Oranges, Adam Le Bor - a really human discussion of the creation and continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of the experiences of the city of Jaffa.

4. The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You A Happy Birthday, Meil MacFarquhar - this one won't be out until May, I think, but it's really really good. The subtitle is "Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East" and that's a really good description. The author is a long time foreign correspondent who happened to also be born and raised in an expat community in Libya.

5. A World of Trouble , Patrick Tyler - subtitle: "The White House and the Middle East -- from the Cold War to the War on Terror." This is the wonkiest one, a really, really good discussion of 5 decades of foreign policy, which more often than not failed because of the human foibles and cultural expectations of a succession of Administrations.

Whew! See how big a geek I am?

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@Brigit: I'm totally guessing here, but I think that has something to do with it. Saudi is fiercely insular, and though they have millions of pilgrims coming on hajj every year, they seem to be very good at controlling and shaping what those people do and where they do it.

Qatar on the other hand (again, I learned ALL this just this week) is only 1/5 or so Qatari. Everyone else is from elsewhere, and while the biggest group is from other Arab nations, that still provides an influx of really broadly varying cultures.

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/sorrrrrrryyyyyy

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@kelsium: Tomato, tomahto -- you can call me whatever you want, darling!

@Kolme: I agree, and yet there's really only so much we can ask of people. It takes a lot of time and money, and very few people have enough of both at any given time. Books are a good substitute in a pinch! That and, of course, getting to know people over on this side of the ocean, if one has the chance.

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And only in a room separate from the men.

What's hilarious is the reasoning behind restricting women's movement. It's because they fear the men AROUND the women will not control themselves and just set to raping and being horrible.

Misogynistic AND misanthropic.

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