The Arab world is not one shaped by Islam, nor one simply explained by reference to the sectarian conflicts of a "mosaic" society. Instead, Barakat reveals a society that is highly complex, with many and various contending polarities. It is a society in a state of becoming and change, one whose social contradictions are at the root of the struggle to transcend dehumanizing conditions. Arguing f…
Why has the Arab world failed to achieve the political freedom, social stability, and economic improvement experienced in much of the rest of the world since the end of the Cold War? In Brutal Truths, Fragile Myths, veteran journalist Mark Huband argues that few of the region's leaders are capable of initiating the deep political changes necessary to address the challenges confronting them, and…
Arabian Sands is Wilfred Thesiger's record of his extraordinary journey through the parched "Empty Quarter" of Arabia. Educated at Eton and Oxford, Thesiger was repulsed by the softness and rigidity of Western life—"the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets." In the spirit of T. E. Lawrence, he set out to explore the deserts of Arabia, traveling among peoples who had n…
Who is Osama bin Laden—the only terrorist leader ever to have declared a holy war? What drives him and those he leads to hate a West that helped enrich and arm them? Bin Laden’s name has been linked to a number of incidents that have cost Americans their lives, including the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and the destruction of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Now, he …
Soon after the Oslo accords were signed in September 1993 by Israel and Palestinian Liberation Organization, Edward Said predicted that they could not lead to real peace. In these essays, most written for Arab and European newspapers, Said uncovers the political mechanism that advertises reconciliation in the Middle East while keeping peace out of the picture. Said argues that the imbalance …
In 1971, the seven sheikdoms at the southern end of the Persian Gulf, the Trucial States, formed the state of the United Arab Emirates, which soon found its feet on the world stage as a member of the UN, OPEC and the Arab League. This is a history and social study of the present-day UAE.
The New Arab Wars is a profound illumination of the causes of this nightmare. It details the costs of the poor choices made by regional actors, delivers a scathing analysis of Western misreading's of the conflict, and condemns international interference that has stoked the violence. Informed by commentators and analysts from the Arab world, Marc Lynch's narrative of a vital region's collapse is…
Kitab Salahuddin adalah memoar fiktif Sultan Saladin saat memimpin kaum muslim merebut kembali kota suci Yerusalem. Dinarasikan secara akrab, lugas dan terkadang nakal oleh seorang tokoh juru tulis rekaan, serangkaian kisah yang dilimpahi kehangatan mengalir di tiga kota utama kekhalifahan Islam pada masa itu Kairo, Damaskus, dan Yerusalem
In this immensely important book, journalist Robert Lacey draws on years of access to every circle of Saudi society giving readers the fullest portrait yet of a land straddling the worlds of medievalism and modernity. Part 1 : Kingdom of good Part 2 : Kingdom at war Part 3 : Al-Qaeda comes home
In this monumental work, extensively researched and more relevant than ever, David Shipler delves into the origins of the prejudices that exist between Jews and Arabs that have been intensified by war, terrorism, and nationalism. Focusing on the diverse cultures that exist side by side in Israel and Israeli-controlled territories, Shipler examines the process of indoctrination that begins i…