Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the last 500 years
Edited by H E Chehabi
I B Tauris (paperback), 2006
PRs 2,465
The most virulent offshoot of Lebanese-Iranian relations today indelibly marks the Middle East: Hizbullah. But, Iran and Lebanon have touched each other’s fortunes, on religious, political and cultural levels, for over 500 years. Beginning with the emigration of Shi’ite ulema from Jabal Amil to Safavid Persia in the 16th century, Beirut became a major destination for young Iranians aspiring to a Western education. After the Iranian revolution, in the midst of Lebanon’s civil war, Iran played a highly influential role inside the increasingly large Shi’ite community, not least with its funding and support of Hizbullah. This is a study of the centuries-long contact between these countries and provides the basis for any understanding of their effect on the world today.
About the Author
H.E. Chehabi is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. Hassan I. Mneimneh is co-director of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project in Cambridge, Mass. and an independent scholar and writer prominent in the US and UK media.
The Reluctant Journal of Henry K Larsen
Susan Nielsen
Anderson Press (paperback), 2016
PRs 795
Thirteen-year-old Henry’s happy, ordinary life comes to an abrupt halt when his older brother, Jesse, picks up their father’s hunting rifle and leaves the house one morning. What follows shatters Henry’s family, who are forced to resume their lives in a new city, where no one knows their past. When Henry’s therapist suggests he keeps a journal, at first he is resistant. But soon he confides in it at all hours of the day and night.
Reviews
Gr 6-9-Based on his therapist’s recommendation, 13-year-old Henry begins to keep a journal of his experiences as he transitions to life in a new city, a new school, and in a new apartment with his dad. It’s been a year since his older brother, unable to bear a bully’s relentless torment, took a gun to school and killed the boy and then himself. Subsequently, Henry’s mom has had a breakdown and has been in and out of a psych ward. Nielsen slowly reveals the plot, giving out clues as to what actually happened and the aftereffects of such a tragedy, always through the lens of the younger sibling. Farley, Henry’s nerdy new friend who shares his family’s love of wrestling, and classmate Alberta complement the story as they aggravate Henry and enrich his life, drawing him out of his anger and grief, and help him open up to others and try to find his way. With fully developed adult and child characters and a solid sense of middle school humor, the author has crafted an insightful and nuanced novel about bullying and suicide, and familial love and resilience.-Kathy Lyday, South Caldwell High School
Henry, 13, is in therapy, hence this journal. So, fine, he will write all about how his mom is in a psych ward, how his dad is floundering without her, their weird new neighbors, and, oh yeah, the reason they moved in the first place. It’s been less than a year since Henry’s older brother, Jesse, buckled beneath the pressure of bullying and did the unspeakable “IT.” No, they don’t speak of it. Instead, Henry focuses on his dorky new friend, Farley Wong, and comes up with a big idea: he could reunite his parents by raising enough money to buy them all tickets to a Global Wrestling Federation event—their favorite family pastime before Jesse ruined everything. There is quirk to spare here (take, for instance, the home-shopping-addicted neighbor, Mr. Atapattu), but it’s in service of a highly emotional story about a family that blames one another, and themselves, for an unimaginable tragedy. Nielsen’s balance of humor and pathos is finely honed, making this a surprisingly breezy read for so heavy a topic — Booklist
Muslims, Mongols and Crusaders
Edited by G R Hawting
Routledge (hardcover), 2005
PRs 7,400
The period from about 1100 to 1350 in the Middle East was marked by continued interaction between the local Muslim rulers and two groups of non-Muslim invaders: the Frankish crusaders from Western Europe and the Mongols from northeastern Asia. In deflecting the threat those invaders presented, a major role was played by the Mamluk state which arose in Egypt and Syria in 1250. The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies has, from 1917 onwards, published several articles pertaining to the history of this period by leading historians of the region, and this volume reprints some of the most important and interesting of them for the convenience of students and scholars.
About the Author
Gerald R. Hawting is Head of the History Department and Professor in the History of the Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His special interest and most of his publications relate to the early development of Islam in the Middle East.
Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition
Edited by Joseph E B Lumbard
Pentagon Press (hardcover), 2009
PRs 995
This fully revised edition of the critically acclaimed book contains a series of essays that explain the misconceptions that lie at the heart of Western attitudes towards Islam. Including a new essay on the role of women in Islam, an updated chapter containing insights into the concept of Jihad, and three fully revised chapters that bring the discussion up-to-date with the current global situation, this book is a must read for anyone interested in Islam and its relation to the West.
About the Author
Joseph E. B. Lumbard is a professor of Classical Islam at Brandeis University. He is the former Special Advisor for Interfaith Affairs to His Highness King Abdullah II of Jordan and is the founder and first director of the Islamic Research Institute.
The Spy
Paulo Coelho
Vintage (hardcover), 2016
PRs 595
In his new novel, Paulo Coelho, best-selling author of The Alchemist and Adultery, brings to life one of history’s most enigmatic women: Mata Hari.
Her only crime was to be an independent woman.
When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city.
As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men.
But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.
Told in Mata Hari’s voice through her final letter, The Spy is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.