Moving beyond tired descriptions of the Middle East as a land of ideological fanatics Nathan Gonzalez exposes the cold political interests behind the ongoing conflict that pits members of the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam against each other.

Nathan Gonzalez is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and author of Engaging Iran: The Rise of a Middle East Powerhouse and America's Strategic Choice. In 2002 he received the Dean's Prize for Undergraduate Research from the University of California-Los Angeles for his research on Iraq through which he predicted that a U.S. invasion would bring about massive sectarian violence and a stronger Iran. He holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University in New York.

"Nathan Gonzalez has written the first general accessible account of the conflict within the House of Islam. . . . The Sunni-Shia Conflict is a powerful and persuasive book."-Anthony Pagden distinguished professor of political science UCLA