Social Middle East

Con "La rabbia e l'orgoglio" (2001), Oriana Fallaci rompe un silenzio durato dieci anni, dalla pubblicazione di "Insciallah", epico romanzo sulla missione occidentale di pace nella Beirut dilaniata dallo scontro tra cristiani e musulmani e dalle faide con Israele. Dieci anni in cui la Fallaci sceglie di vivere ritirata nella sua casa newyorchese, come in esilio, a combattere il cancro. Ma non smette mai di lavorare al testo narrativo dedicato alla sua famiglia, quello che lei chiama "il-mio-bambino", pubblicato postumo nel 2008, "Un cappello pieno di ciliege".

Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world---a new business-minded middle class---that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.

When Emma Sky, an intrepid young British woman, volunteered to help rebuild Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, she had little idea what she was letting herself in for: a tour that would last over a decade, longer than that of any senior military or political official. As the only adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk and the closest confidante to US General Odierno, Sky was valued for her controversial voice and outsider's point of view.

April 13, 2006. A Jerusalem Post headline reads: "Jericho man murdered over home sale." The 42 year-old father of eight was kidnapped, shot seven times, thrown into his car, and set on fire, because he had sold his Jerusalem apartment to Jews. Radical Islam has long desired to seize Jerusalem and make it off limits to Christian and Jewish believers. In this revealing book, Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, reminds us that the war on terror is also a war on faith.

This audiobook explains the fault lines that have often plagued US efforts to protect its national interests in the region and how these ongoing faults have led to a precipitous decline in American influence. It also includes some recommendations as to how this decline can be reversed.

The first rule of warfare is to know one's enemy. The second is to know thyself. More than 15 years and three quarters of a trillion dollars after the US invasion of Afghanistan, it's clear that the United States followed neither rule well. America's goals in Afghanistan were lofty to begin with: dismantle al Qaeda, remove the Taliban from power, and remake the country into a democracy.

In 2011, Marwan Hisham and his two friends - fellow working-class college students Nael and Tareq - joined the first protests of the Arab Spring in Syria, in response to a recent massacre. Arm in arm they marched, poured Coca-Cola into one another’s eyes to blunt the effects of tear gas, ran from the security forces, and cursed the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad. It was ecstasy. A long-bottled revolution was finally erupting, and freedom from a brutal dictator seemed, at last, imminent.

There is a popular belief among Americans, and particularly among Christian Zionists, that the territory of historical Palestine rightfully belonged to the Jewish people because of their ancient connection to the land. Many even believe hoax claims such as that Arabs only started populating the area in a wave of mass immigration to take advantage of the economic development from Jews returning to the land in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; that no such place as “Palestine” ever really existed; and that the idea of a “Palestinian” people is a modern invention.

Six hundred years ago, the author of this landmark work of history and religious thought—an esteemed judge, poet, and scholar in Cairo—survived the bubonic plague, which took the lives of three of his children, not to mention tens of millions of others throughout the medieval world.

The destruction of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 was the greatest atrocity of World War I. Around one million Armenians were killed, and the survivors were scattered across the world. Although it is now a century old, the issue of what most of the world calls the Armenian Genocide of 1915 is still a live and divisive issue that mobilizes Armenians across the world, shapes the identity and politics of modern Turkey, and has consumed the attention of U.S. politicians for years.

In this insightful book, Ziauddin Sardar unravels the meaning and significance of Mecca. Tracing its history, from its origins as a "barren valley" in the desert to its evolution as a trading town and sudden emergence as the religious center of a world empire, Sardar examines the religious struggles and rebellions in Mecca that have significantly shaped Muslim culture.

What happens when democracy produces "bad" outcomes? Is democracy good because of its outcomes or despite them? This "democratic dilemma" is one of the most persistent, vexing problems for America abroad, particularly in the Middle East. When Islamist parties rise to power through free elections, the United States has too often been ambivalent or opposed, preferring instead pliable dictators. With this legacy of democratic disrespect in mind, and drawing on new interviews with top American officials, Shadi Hamid explores universal questions of morality, power, and hypocrisy.

For over a quarter century, Iran has been one of America's chief nemeses. Ever since Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah in 1979, the relationship between the two nations has been antagonistic: revolutionary guards chanting against the Great Satan, Bush fulminating against the Axis of Evil, Iranian support for Hezbollah, and President Ahmadinejad blaming the U.S. for the world's ills.

If you want to discover the captivating history of the Sarmatians and Scythians, then pay attention.... Masters of the horse, the Scythians and Sarmatians opened the Eurasian Steppe to nomadic civilizations like it had never seen before. For the first time, a group of tribes sharing a common culture called the Steppe their home, adapting themselves to its harshness.

Using previously unpublished documents, Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, exposes how the deeply ingrained hatred that has provoked the new terrorism has its roots in Saudi Arabia's dominant religious creed, a radical Islamic offshoot known as Wahhabism.

This book contains the proceedings of the International conference, “Shifting Identities: Changes in the social, political, and religious structures in the Middle East”, which was held in Cyprus in July 2015. The conference brought together around 50 professors, historians, theologians, social scientists and researchers from over 15 countries including Europe, the USA, and the Middle East. Case studies from Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, and Sweden were presented. Some of these case studies focused on particular community like the Armenians, Syrian orthodox, or Protestants while ...

Parvana es una chica afgana que acaba de perder a su padre. Sola, emprende la búsqueda del resto de su familia por un país desolado por la pobreza y la guerra. En su camino encontrará a otros dos niños, Asif y Leila, y a un bebé. La historia de Parvana (protagonista, también, de "El pan de la guerra", alandar 8) ofrece una visión honesta y solidaria de la situación en Afganistán, y del coraje y la esperanza de unos niños que luchan en circunstancias muy difíciles.

Like no book before it, Preachers of Hate uncovers an ancient hatred that threatens the life and livelihood of every American. The "new" anti-Semitism targets not only Jews, but Americans specifically and the West in general. It targets our values, our lifestyle, and our freedoms. It is the single most important issue we face when trying to make sense of the Arab world.

The world watched with fear in November 1979, when Iranian students infiltrated and occupied the American embassy in Tehran. The Americans were caught entirely by surprise, and what began as a swift and seemingly short-lived takeover evolved into a crisis that would see 54 embassy personnel held hostage, most for 444 days. As Tehran exploded in a fury of revolution, six American diplomats secretly escaped.

In 2014 it is possible that Israel, backed by the United States, will launch an attack on Iran. This would be a catastrophic event, risking war, bloodshed, and global economic collapse. In this passionate, but rationally argued essay, the author's attempt to avert a potential global catastrophe by showing that the grounds for war do not exist, that there are no Iranian nuclear weapons, and that Iran would happily come to a table and strike a deal.