history mideast

Hardcover. London, Clifton Books, 1st, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 152 pages, with illustrations. Minor dust jacket edge wear, otherwise, very clean and tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 194 pages. The Jordan Rift Valley, stretching from the Red Sea to Lebanon, was ripped open millions of years ago by vast forces within the earth. This geological object has also been a part of human history ever since early humans used it as a path in their journey out of Africa. And for a quarter of a century it has been part of the biography of Haim Watzman, an Israeli journalist. In the autumn of 2004, as his country was riven by a fierce debate over its borders, Watzman took a two-week journey up the valley. Along the way he met scientists who try to understand the rift through the evidence lying on its surface--an archaeologist who reconstructs the fallen altars of a long-forgotten people, a zoologist whose study of bird societies has produced a theory of why organisms cooperate, and a geologist who thinks that the valley will some day be an ocean. He encountered people whose life and work on the shores of the Dead Sea and Jordan River have led them to dream of paradise and to seek to build Gardens of Eden on earth--a booster for a chemical factory, the director of a tourist site, and an aging socialist farmer who curates a museum of idols. And he discovered that the geography's instability is mirrored in the volatility of the tales that people tell about the Sea of Galilee.

Softcover. Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press, reprint, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 283 pages. A particularly vicious and bloody civil war has racked Algeria for a decade. Amnesty International notes that since 1992, in a population of 28 million, 80,000 people have been reported killed, and the actual total is almost certainly higher. This terrible war overshadows Algeria's long and complex history and its prominence on the world economic stage-second in size among African nations, Algeria has the longest Mediterranean coastline and contains the world's fifth-largest natural gas reserves. Algeria, 1830-2000 is a comprehensive narrative history of the country. Benjamin Stora, widely recognized as the leading expert on Algeria, presents the story of this turbulent area from the start of formal French colonialism in the early nineteenth century, through the prolonged war for independence in the latter 1950s, to the internal strife of the present day.This book adapts and updates three short volumes published originally in French by La Decouverte. For this English edition, Stora has written a new introductory chapter on Algeria's colonial period (1830-1954) and has revised the final section to bring the volume up to date.

Hardcover. NY, Dragonfly Books, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 32 pages. The inspiring story of an Iraqi librarian's courageous fight to save books from the Basra Central Library before it was destroyed in the war.It is 2003 and Alia Muhammad Baker, the chief librarian of the Central Library in Basra, Iraq, has grown worried given the increased likelihood of war in her country. Determined to preserve the irreplacable records of the culture and history of the land on which she lives from the destruction of the war, Alia undertakes a courageous and extremely dangerous task of spiriting away 30,000 books from the library to a safe place.Told in dramatic graphic-novel panels by acclaimed cartoonist Mark Alan Stamaty, Alia's Mission celebrates the importance of books and the freedom to read, while examining the impact of war on a country and its people.

Hardcover. NY, Dragonfly Books, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, hardcover, 32 pages. The inspiring story of an Iraqi librarian's courageous fight to save books from the Basra Central Library before it was destroyed in the war.It is 2003 and Alia Muhammad Baker, the chief librarian of the Central Library in Basra, Iraq, has grown worried given the increased likelihood of war in her country. Determined to preserve the irreplacable records of the culture and history of the land on which she lives from the destruction of the war, Alia undertakes a courageous and extremely dangerous task of spiriting away 30,000 books from the library to a safe place.Told in dramatic graphic-novel panels by acclaimed cartoonist Mark Alan Stamaty, Alia's Mission celebrates the importance of books and the freedom to read, while examining the impact of war on a country and its people.

Hardcover. London, Octagon Press, reprint, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in dust jacket with fading to spine, 203 pages. Subtitled: "An Account of Travels in Asia and Africa, and Four Years Studying the Dervishes, Sufis and Fakirs, by Living Among Them." The author documents the largely ignored and forgotten ancient mystic organizations and their practices. Pages tanning otherwise a clean copy.

Softcover. Elibron Classics, reprint, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 472 pages plus 35 page Notes to the Mission. A facsimile reprint of a title first publishe in 1834 in London. VOLUME 1 ONLY.

Hardcover. London, Verso Books, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 425 pages. The Israeli army, officially named the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), was established in 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, who believed that 'the whole nation is the army'. In his mind, the IDF was to be an army like no other. It was the instrument that might transform a diverse population into a new people. Since the foundation of Israel, therefore, the IDF has been the largest, richest and most influential institution in Israel's Jewish society and is the nursery of its social, economic and political ruling class. In this fascinating history, Bresheeth charts the evolution of the IDF from the Nakba to wars in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and the continued assaults upon Gaza, and shows that the state of Israel has been formed out of its wars. He also gives an account of his own experiences as a young conscript during the 1967 war. Clean copy.

Softcover. London, Penguin Books, 2rd Ed., 1992, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 547 pages, b&w illustrations. Newly revised and containing information from recent excavations and discovered artifacts, Ancient Iraq covers the political, cultural, and socio-economic history from Mesopotamia days of prehistory to the Christian era. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1st, 1968, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn and darkened dust jacket, 421 pages with frontispiece map, illustrations and 16 photographic plates. Important economic, religious, and social study of the ancient Jewish settlement on the island of Elephantine. During the 5th century B.C., the southern frontier of ancient Egypt was guarded by an Aramean garrison at Syene (modern Aswan) and a Jewish garrison on the adjacent island of Elephantine. This study is an interpretation of the well-known group of Aramaic papyrus texts found on the site at the beginning of the 20th century. Names on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Softcover. New York University Press, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 349 pages. An in depth and scholarly report on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an essential actor on behalf of modern-day Kurds. The Kurds, who number some 28 million people in the Middle East, have no country they can call their own. Long ignored by the West, Kurds are now highly visible actors on the world's political stage. More than half live in Turkey, where the Kurdish struggle has gained new strength and attention since the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq. Clean copy.

Softcover. Manchester University Press , 1st pbk, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 416 pages, b&w illustrations. During the Algerian War the French army engaged in the 'emancipation' of Muslim women as part of a strategy of subverting the nationalist movement whilst also inflicting widespread violence. First comprehensive study in English of the role of Muslim women during the Algerian war, bringing a unique interdisciplinary approach to the subject. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press, reprint, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 868 pages, terra-cotta cloth covers, b&w illustrations, maps tables. Clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 196 pages. investigates the intersection between post-colonial and feminist criticism, via the Western fascination with veiled women of the Orient. Her original and compelling argument calls into question dualistic conceptions of identity and difference, West and East masculinist assumptions of Orientalism, and Western feminist discourses that seek to 'liberate' the veiled woman. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Roberts Brothers, 1st, 1895, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Two volumes complete. 811 pages, many b&w illustrations. Green cloth with black rule, gilt design and lettering, top edge gilt. Volume one with fraying to cloth at top of spine, previous owner's sticker inside front covers. Otherwise clean, very good set.

Softcover. London, Sidgwick & Jackson , reprint, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in pictorial wrappers, 192 pages, b&w illustrations. An abridged version of the two volume, 1892 book of Curzon's travels on the following route: Ashkabad, Kuchan, Kelat-I-Nadiri, Meshed, Teheran, The Northern Provinces, Teheran, Ishfahan, Shiraz to Bushire. Clean copy, minor corner wear.

Softcover. London, Phoenix Press, reprint, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 500 pages. The youngest member ever of the esteemed Academie Francaise--and winner of the Legion of Honor--produces a towering, erudite study of the humble men and women who were Christ's very first followers. Historically rich, it captures everything from the occupations, families, and homes to the flowers and birds native to the land. ".wealth of information.about customs, language, habits, clothes, food and all the other features.will make the reading of the New Testament far more real and vivid."--The Times. Clean copy.

Hardcover. London, George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1st, 1873, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 699 pages. Hardcover. Beautifully rebound first edition. Blue cloth covers with title in gilt on black leather spine label. Features black & white illustrations and full color tipped-in plates. Clean, tight. A very nice copy.

Softcover. London, IB Tauris, 1st pbk, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 314 pages, color and b&w illustrations. In this first biography of Alexander Griboyedov in English, Laurence Kelly paints a vivid picture of a man of remarkable literary talent and diplomatic gifts that were nevertheless overshadowed by ill-fortune. Involved in the 1825 Decembrist plot to overthrow the Tsarist state and the mission to further Russia's expansionist agenda in the Caucasus, the famous writer was eventually murdered by zealous mobs in Tehran. This book makes an invaluable contribution to the diplomatic history of Russia, the Caucasus and Iran at the same time illuminating the life and works of a writer who was among nineteenth-century Russia's most respected and prominent writers. Clean copy.

Hardcover. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1st , 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, yellow cloth with gilt stamping, 283 pages. Between 1805 and 1879, Egypt evolved into a modern state with a Western-style military force and a central bureaucracy headed by an elite corps of European-trained officials. Viceroy Muhammad Ali and his successors used this new state apparatus to augment their autocratic power and to profit as intermediaries between Egypt and the capitalist West. This study is invaluable for it's unique and exhaustive research into the structure and foundations of the ruling elite and the process by which modern bureaucracy was built up in Egypt. It also highlights the dangers of rapidly developing a country's material infrastructure using massive outside assistance without adjusting for the destabilizing social changes that are the inevitable result. Clean copy.

Softcover. London/NY, Routledge , 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 288 pages, illustrated in b&w. Empire Building is a study of how and why Western architecture was exported to the Middle East and how Islamic and Byzantine architectural ideas and styles impacted on the West.The book explores how far racial theory and political and religious agendas guided British architects (and how such ideas were resisted when applied), and how Eastern ideas came to influence the West, through writers such as Ruskin and buildings such as the Crystal Palace.Beautifully written and lavishly illustrated, Empire Building takes the reader on an extraordinary postcolonial journey, backwards and forwards, into the heart and to the edge of empire.

Hardcover. Reading, Garnet, 1st UK, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 118 pages. Illustrated with black & white photographs by Freya Stark. 1/2" deep closed tear at top right corner of first 4 pages - appears to be publishers error. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Insignia Publishing Company, 2nd pr., 1998, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 347 pages. The first book about Gulf War Syndrome. An intensely personal account of the struggle of two dedicated public servants to expose one of the largest government cover-ups of modern history. A former CIA analyst exposes the officially sanctioned deceptions that have made Gulf War veterans the walking wounded of Desert Storm. NOTE: The first blank page has been torn out but does not affect the rest of the book, in clean condition.