Middle East and Pakistan
A selection of books on Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Pakistan
The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story
Hanan Al-Shaykh
Kamila is nine years old when she is taken from the poverty of her childhood village in southern Lebanon to Beirut. She has never learned to read or write though she longs to go to school. Stories, poetry and film are her passion - and a beautiful boy called Muhammad. They fall in love before Kamila is forced into an arranged marriage, despite her tears and screams. She is only fourteen years old. On her wedding night, her first daughter is conceived; four years later, Hanan is born. Kamila and Muhammad continue to see each other in secret, risking their lives. It is eight years before Kamila can bring herself to divorce her husband, as to do so means leaving her daughters behind. Beautifully evoking the dusty streets of Beirut and life in Lebanon, this is a heartbreaking memoir of an extraordinary
Bloomsbury Publishing 2010
ISBN 9781408800843
Pbk £8.99
Monuments of Syria: A Guide
Ross Burns
This is one of the
most eagerly awaited titles of the year, the subject of countless customer
emails and phone calls. First published in the early 1990s it became quite
difficult to find even thought it is the definitive guide to the region's rich
historical and archaeological remains. When we found out it was being
republished we knew we would have a stampede through the shop. This edition has
been updated and expanded with a new colour section but retains its scholarly
edge with ample chronologies and glossaries. Essential for all informed travellers
to
I B Tauris & Co Ltd 2009
(Illustrated)
ISBN 9781845119478
Hbk £14.99
A Complete Insider's Guide to Lebanon
Carole Corm, Cherine Yazbeck and Kamal Mouzawak
A full and comprehensive guide to Lebanon. Insiders share their tips about their neighbourhoods and some prestigious contributors write about art, food, literature, architecture, theatre, poetry, film and music.
Cherine Yazbeck and Kamal Mouzawak
Soukel Tayeb Press 2008
ISBN 9789953013022
Pbk £14.99
Shop Beirut
Sian Tichar (ed.)
ABCD Publishing 2009
ISBN 9780956298904
Hbk £15.00
Cradle of Islam
Mai Yamani
Is Saudi Arabia really a homogeneous Wahhabi dominated state? In 1932 the Al Saud family incorporated the kingdom of Hijaz, once the cultural hub of the Arabian world, in to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The urban, cosmopolitan Hijazis were absorbed in to a new state whose codes of behavior and rules were determined by the Najdis, an ascetic desert people, from whom the Al Saud family came. But the Saudi rulers failed to fully integrate the Hijaz, which retains a distinctive identity to this day. In "Cradle of Islam", the product of years spent in Mecca, Medina, Jeddah and Taif, Mai Yamani traces the fortunes of the distinctive and resilient culture of the Hijazis, from the golden age of Hashemite Mecca to Saudi domination to its current resurgence. The Hijazis today emphasise their regional heritage in religious ritual, food, dress and language as a response to the 'Najdification' of everyday life. The Hijazi experience shows the vitality of cultural diversity in the face of political repression in the Arab world.
I B Taurus 2009
ISBN 9781845118242
Pbk £14.99
Among the Iranians: A Guide to Iran's Culture and Customs
Sofia A. Koutlaki
Greek-born author shares the lessons she's learned firsthand as a foreigner living in Tehran. Through memorable anecdotes and in-depth explanations of Iranian customs, Koutlaki presents a side of Iran tha foreigners rarely see. Among the Iranians is also an indispensable practical guide, offering insights about Iranian dress, etiquette and food.
Intercultural Press 2010
ISBN 9781931930901
Pbk £14.99
Mirrors of the Unseen
Jason Elliot
Mirrors of the Unseen is an exploration of the immensely rich heritage of Persian culture and a unique and timely portrait of contemporary Iran.
In it we are introduced to the hair-raising streets of Tehran, and ponder the sublime architecture of Isfahan; we travel on horseback through the forests of the north (as the guest of Princess Firouz), across the bleak landscapes of Kurdistan, and re-trace Robert Byron's steps to the sites of the nation's most fabled monuments.
Mirrors of the Unseen is also a passionate enquiry into the nature of Persian and Islamic art, challenging conventional definitions of 'abstract' art and yielding astonishing insights into its geometrical and symbolic sophistication.
Profound, illuminating and characteristically charming, Mirrors of the Unseen dispels all stereotypical views of a much-misrepresented country, and offers precious insight into a land from which we are likely to hear much more in the near future.
Picador 2006
ISBN 033048656X
Hbk £16.99
Persian Fire: The First World Empire, Battle for the West
Tom Holland
In 480 BC, Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years, victory had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. As a result of those conquests, Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow, astonishingly, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out. The Persians were turned back. Greece remained free. Had the Greeks been defeated at Salamis, not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence and survival, but it is unlikely that there would ever have been such and entity as the West at all.
Tom Holland's brilliant new book describes the very first 'clash of Empires' between East and West. Once again he has found extraordinary parallels between the ancient world and our own.
Abacus 2005
ISBN 0349117179
Pbk £8.99
Daughter of the Desert: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell
Georgina Howell
At a time when women were still largely excluded from both education and the workplace, Gertrude Bell was an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer and mountaineer - but until the Iraq War of 2003 few people had heard her name. During the course of her extraordinary life she not only abandoned her privileged background of country house parties and debutante balls to become one of the first women to graduate from Oxford; she also travelled into the desert as an archaeologist, where through her command of Arabic and knowledge of tribal affiliations she became indispensable to the Cairo Office of the British government. A friend of T.E. Lawrence, she later advised the Viceroy of India and, during the First World War, travelled from Delhi to the front line in Mesopotamia where she took up and steadily upheld the principle of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq, promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state.
Pan Macmillan 2007
ISBN 0330431579
Pbk £8.99
Robert Irwin - For Lust of Knowing
Natasha Shafi writes:
Since the publication of Edward Said's renowned work, Orientalism,
the subject of the "other" and the contentious relationship between the
oriental and occidental worlds has made many aware of the unequal
distribution of geopolitical and ideological driving forces that have
determined the state of society historically as well as its most
current position.
Within For Lust of Knowing, Robert Irwin aims to
introduce an argument in favour of the orientalists in an original,
comprehensible, yet scholarly fashion. Irwin interestingly
highlights how previous scholars have been more preoccupied with their
"shared obsession" rather than obvious ideological and political
elements that should bind them.
Irwin is not shy to admit
that he is restoring and correcting the framework of the orient that
has been set by others, namely its origins and the various artistic,
military and philological comparisons between various countries and
times. In doing so he feels he "banishes the ghosts of Edward
Said's Orientalism". This of course can be left up to the reader.
Allen Lane 2006
ISBN 0713994150
Hbk £25.00
Jason Elliot - Mirrors of the Unseen
Nick Creagh-Osborne writes:
One does not have to read very far
into Jason Elliot's new book, subtitled "Journeys in
As well as the main trajectory of
the author's narrative, his asides and digressions are equally memorable: short
essays on the tiles of
The book is timely of course, as the
West squares up to the perceived threat of
Picador 2006
ISBN 9780330486576
Pbk £8.99
Wilfred Thesiger - Arabian Sands
Nick Creagh-Osborne writes:
Classic
Travel Literature at its very best, Arabian Sands is Wilfred Thesiger's
account of his two great crossings of the Empty Quarter in
Thesiger longed for a world far from the tyranny of man's machines where all pretense was stripped away and life could be lead free of all but the essential material possessions. He found this life with the Bedu and his book is written on the cusp of a time when Western man's desire for oil would completely change and destroy the world of "Arabian Sands".
Penguin 1991
ISBN 0140095144
Pbk £10.99
Damascus: Taste of a City
Marie Fadel & Rafik Schami
Syria is becoming one of the most popular destinations for Travel Bookshop customers. One of the latest books on Damascus is centred around the culinary landscape of the city, as experienced by writer Rafik Schami. Exiled in Germany for over 25 years, his sister Marie walked around the city relaying tastes, sounds and smells of the old city to him over the phone.
This is a travel book that overcomes both time and geography
Includes recipes of classic Syrian dishes.
Haus 2005
ISBN 9781906598297
Pbk £7.99
The Orientalist
Tom Reiss
Part history, part cultural biography, and part literary mystery, The Orientalist traces the life of Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince and became a best-selling author in Nazi Germany. Born in 1905 to a wealthy family in the oil-boom city of Baku, at the edge of the czarist empire, Lev escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan. He found refuge in Germany, where, writing under the names Essad Bey and Kurban Said, his remarkable books about Islam, desert adventures, and global revolution, became celebrated across fascist Europe. His enduring masterpiece, Ali and Nino, a story of love across ethnic and religious boundaries is still in print today.
Chatto & Windus 2005
ISBN 070117885x
Hbk £17.99
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-granddaughter of Iran's last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life.
Vintage 2008
ISBN 9780099523994
Pbk £7.99
