Middle East

From the doctrines of Islam and the practices of Muslims, to the significance of Islam in the modern world, this volume provides a concise introduction to all aspects of the Islamic faith. It covers: - Islamic belief and practice- Theology and law- Sufism and Shi'ism- Fundamentalism- Islam today- Wo... More

Thomas Allsen is one of the foremost historians of the Mongol empire. His latest book breaks new scholarly boundaries in its exploration of cultural and scientific exchanges between Iran and China. Contrary to popular belief, Mongol rulers were intensely interested in the culture of their sedentary ... More

Gil Merom argues that modern democracies fail in insurgency wars because they are unable to find a winning balance between expedient and moral tolerance for the costs of war. Small wars are lost at home when a critical minority shifts the balancing element from the battlefield to the marketplace of ... More

Corbin, the BBCUs senior correspondent specializing in the Middle East, has broken many stories on the growth of Al Qaeda over the past decade. Here she explores how one man with a medieval view of good and evil, living in a cave, brought the world's only remaining superpower to its knees.Jane Corbi... More

Especially after the September 11 attacks, books on the Middle East are flooding bookstore shelves. Yet, regarding the Palestine-Israel conflict -- the most notrious and ingrained conflict of the twentieth century -- the general reader is left with very little in the way of introductory explanations... More

"Between Sea and Sahara" is one of the great classics of travel-writing about the Middle East. Fromentin's masterpiece is a symbol of nineteenth century Europe's fascination with the Orient and a tale of passion and adventure set in Algeria in the third decade of French colonization. This is a compe... More

Through an investigation of the violence that marked the partition of British India in 1947, this book analyses questions of history and memory, the nationalisation of populations and their pasts, and the ways in which violent events are remembered (or forgotten) in order to ensure the unity of the ... More

The Politics of India since Independence provides a comprehensive study of the major political, cultural, and economic changes in India during the past forty five years. Paul Brass focuses on the consequences of the centralising drives of the national leadership to create a strong, unified nation, a... More

They called themselves "Vampires, " "Dragons, " and "Egyptian Kings." They were divided by race, ethnicity, and neighborhood boundaries, but united by common styles, slang, and codes of honor. They fought--and sometimes killed--to protect and expand their territories. In postwar New York, youth gang... More

"The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict "traces not only the tangled and bitter history of the Arab-Jewish struggle from the early 20th century to the present. It also illustrates the move towards finding peace and the efforts to bring the horrors of the fighting to an end through negotiat... More

In "Resistance and Control in Pakistan," one of the world's leading authorities on Islam, Akbar S. Ahmed, illuminates what is happening in the Muslim world today and assesses the underlying causes. He does this by telling the dramatic story of the revolt of the Mullah of Waziristan in northwest Paki... More

In the years before the communist coup and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Veronica Doubleday set up home in the ancient city of Herat with her husband, who was researching Central Asian music. At first, her only glimpses of women were as shadows--faceless and voiceless. Gradually, however, she ... More

forces that govern our lives. In Skywatchers, Shamans, and Kings, acclaimed author E. C. Krupp takes us on a fascinating journey to all corners of the world to visit the shrines and temples, tombs and caves where ancient priests and rulers communed with the gods of the sky. These are the sacred plac... More

Meet the great and the famous, from Cleopatra to Tutankhamun, and the not-so-famous like the grave-robber Amenwah, Nakht the gardener and Sebaster the hairdresser.Meet the great and the famous, from Cleopatra to Tutankhamun, and the not-so-famous like the grave-robber Amenwah, Nakht the gardener and... More