Why do capitalism, imperialism, and war continue to shape the modern Middle East? And how can we study these phenomena without reducing them to culture, religion, or morality? This book introduces historical materialism as a rigorous scientific methodology for analyzing society, history, and political economy. Drawing on Marx, Lenin, and Louis Althusser, it explains the key concepts of dialectical and historical materialism and demonstrates their application to contemporary questions of neoliberalism, oil, militarism, and U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. Accessible yet theoretically sophisticated, the book provides students and scholars with a systematic guide to one of the most influential traditions in social theory.