Go Set a Watchman: A Novel EDITOR’S PICK!
Harper Lee
Random House [hardback], 2015
PRs 1,695
From Harper Lee comes a landmark new novel set two decades after her beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch – ‘Scout’ – returns home from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman and a world in painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past – a journey that can only be guided by one’s own conscience.
Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humour and effortless precision – a profoundly affecting work that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context and new meaning to an American classic.
What people are saying: “As Faulkner said, the only good stories are the ones about the human heart in conflict with itself. And that’s a pretty good summation of Go Set a Watchman” (Daily Beast).
“Go Set a Watchman’s voice is beguiling and distinctive, and reminiscent of Mockingbird. (It) can’t be dismissed as literary scraps from Lee’s imagination. It has too much integrity for that” (The Independent).
Remotely Colonial: History and Politics in Balochistan
Nina Swidler
Oxford University Press [hardback], 2014
PRs 995
Remotely Colonial examines tribalism and nationalism as historical processes in Kalat, which is today incorporated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Kalat was ‘remotely colonial’ in two ways. It was located on the far reaches of the Indian Empire and British interests were geostrategic rather than economic.The British designated Kalat a native state, but proceeded to marginalize the ruler in favour of sardars (chiefs) and tribal governance through jirga (tribal court) deliberations. This led to tension between local officials dealing with events on the ground and the central government, which was determined that the facade of Kalat state be maintained. Colonial subject status – tribal, client or British Protected Subject – determined rights and obligations. The fragmentation of subjecthood produced a situation in which the Kalat state became a polity with situationally defined subjects. Although the Kalat state ceased to exist in 1955, its colonial structures persist today. Sardars and jirgas have become signifiers of entrenched tradition, a tribal ‘other’ of the national state. This image allows the blame for present conditions to be pinned on the tribal sector, deflecting attention away from the state’s failure to provide basic services.
Hajj Paintings: Folk Art of the Great Pilgrimage
Ann Parker and Avon Neal
Smithsonian Institution Press [hardback], 1995
PRs 3,595
Since the seventh century, the Hajj, or Great Pilgrimage to Mecca, has been a lifelong goal of devout Muslims throughout the world. Egyptian pilgrims traditionally celebrate their sacred journey by commissioning a local artist to depict their religious odyssey on the walls of their homes. Hajj Paintings is the first visual record of the richness and variety of this native art form.
Photographer Ann Parker and writer Avon Neal spent a decade exploring towns, villages and isolated farm communities along the Nile, across the Delta, down the Red Sea coast and into Sinai. On the walls of buildings ranging from alabaster factories to mud-brick farmhouses, they found brilliant murals illuminated by the desert sun, portraying beloved icons of the pilgrims’ faith and scenes from the Qur’an. Their nearly 150 colour photographs and accompanying descriptions record the radiant palette of the mostly self-taught artists.