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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history
This collection of twenty-eight essays presents an up-to-date
survey of pre-Islamic Iran, from the earliest dynasty of Illam to
the end of Sasanian empire, encompassing a rich diversity of
peoples and cultures. Historically, Iran served as a bridge between
the earlier Near Eastern cultures and the later classical world of
the Mediterranean, and had a profound influence on political,
military, economic, and cultural aspects of the ancient world.
Written by international scholars and drawing mainly on the field
of practical archaeology, which traditionally has shared little in
the way of theories and methods, the book provides crucial pieces
to the puzzle of the national identity of Iranian cultures from a
historical perspective. Revealing the wealth and splendor of
ancient Iranian society - its rich archaeological data and
sophisticated artistic craftsmanship - most of which has never
before been presented outside of Iran, this beautifully illustrated
book presents a range of studies addressing specific aspects of
Iranian archaeology to show why the artistic masterpieces of
ancient Iranians rank among the finest ever produced. Together, the
authors analyze how archaeology can inform us about our cultural
past, and what remains to still be discovered in this important
region.
When Vickie Spring promised her dad who had served in both WWII and
the Korean War, that she would one day write his story and the
others with whom he served, she never imagined the challenges that
lay ahead of her. After months of searching, thirteen men were
found that had fought in Korea alongside her dad. Vickie has
compiled these brave and noble men's personal accounts of their
experiences during the Korean War. Their stories are heartfelt and
compelling. Each story will be given to the Smithsonian Institute
in Washington, D.C. for generations to experience each man's
laughter, pain, and suffering. Here are their stories...
Gandhi's involvement in Middle Eastern politics is largely
forgotten yet it goes to the heart of his teaching and ambition -
to lead a united freedom movement against British colonial power.
Gandhi became involved in the politics of the Middle East as a
result of his concern over the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate
following the First World War. He subsequently - at the invitation
of the Jewish Agency - sought to reconcile Jews and Arabs in a
secret deal at the time of the Mandate of Palestine. However,
Jewish and British interference coupled with the Arab Revolt and
the rise of the Muslim League in India thwarted Gandhi's efforts in
the region. Like so many who would follow, Gandhi was unable to
solve the problems of the Middle East, but this book for the first
time reveals his previously obscure attempt to do so.
Gandhi's experience in the Middle East was in marked contrast to
his other successes around the world and is crucial for a full
understanding of his life and teachings. Gandhi in the Middle East
offers many new and revealing insights into the goals and limits of
an international statesman at a critical period of imperial
history.
Experiences of battle and hardship in early 20th century China
The siege of the foreign legations in Peking in 1900 is a familiar
moment in history principally because it joined in common adversity
the ministers, citizens and military men of several nations in a
defence within exotic surroundings against the Boxers and Imperial
Chinese Army. The United States, Japan, Russia, Italy, The
Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium,
Germany and Spain were all involved. The first attempt to relieve
the besieged failed and the multi-national garrison was left to its
own devices for several weeks. This account of the siege from
within, by an American civilian, provides the reader with an
invaluable insight into one of the most unusual episodes of modern
military history. Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust
jacket.
What have English terms such as 'civil society', 'democracy',
'development' or 'nationalism' come to mean in an Indian context
and how have their meanings and uses changed over time? Why are
they the subjects of so much debate - in their everyday uses as
well as amongst scholars? How did a concept such as 'Hinduism' come
to be framed, and what does it mean now? What is 'caste'? Does it
have quite the same meaning now as in the past? Why is the idea of
'faction' so significant in modern India? Why has the idea of
'empowerment' come to be used so extensively? These are the sorts
of questions that are addressed in this book. Keywords for Modern
India is modelled after the classic exploration of English culture
and society through the study of keywords - words that are 'strong,
important and persuasive' - by Raymond Williams. The book, like
Williams' Keywords, is not a dictionary or an encyclopaedia.
Williams said that his was 'an inquiry into a vocabulary', and
Keywords for Modern India presents just such an inquiry into the
vocabulary deployed in writing in and about India in the English
language - which has long been and is becoming ever more a
critically important language in India's culture and society.
Exploring the changing uses and contested meanings of common but
significant words is a powerful and illuminating way of
understanding contemporary India, for scholars and for students,
and for general readers.
Originally published in 1952, al-Din, by prominent Egyptian scholar
Muhammad Abdullah Draz (1894-1958), has been critically acclaimed
as one of the most influential Arab Muslim studies of universal
'religion' and forms of religiosity in modern times. Written as an
introductory textbook for a course in the "History of Religions" at
King Fuad I University in Cairo-the first of its kind offered at an
Egyptian institution of higher learning-this book presents a
critical overview of classical approaches to the scholarly study of
religion. While ultimately adapted to an Islamic paradigm, the book
is a novel attempt to construct a grand narrative about the large
methodological issues of Religious Studies and the History of
Religions and in relation to modernity and secularism. Translated
for the first time in English by Yahya Haidar, this book
demonstrates how the scholarly academic study of religion in the
West, often described as 'Orientalist', came to influence and help
shape a counter-discourse from one of the leading Arab Muslim
scholars of his time.
A comprehensive examination of the complex domestic environment and
the quarrelsome neighbors that contribute to Lebanon's condition as
one of the most violent and unstable countries in the Middle East.
Global Security Watch-Lebanon is the first volume to consider all
factors-political, economic, religious, and actions by its
neighbors-that have contributed to Lebanon's violent past and that
shape its current security status. In Global Security
Watch-Lebanon, author David Sorenson explores Lebanon's
arcane-almost dysfunctional-political structure and economic
system, as well as the complex religious makeup of a country that
is home to Christians, Jews, and Arabs with no majority faith.
Sorenson also looks at how the nation has often served as a focal
point of diplomatic and military conflict for other nations,
including Syria, Iran, and Israel, as well as how ill-informed
American policies toward Lebanon have ultimately harmed American
strategic interests in the Middle East. Primary source documents
include the Preamble to the 1926 Lebanese Constitution, provisions
of the 1989 Ta'if Accords, the report of the assassination of Rafiq
Hariri, and UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the
Israeli-Hezbollah war of 2006 Includes a chronology of key events
in the history of Lebanon from earliest human civilizations there
to the 2006 war
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of state-society
development in the most volatile region of the world. In the Middle
East, various anti-systemic movement and radical Islam often
clashed and resisted the political, cultural, economic, and
military domination of the region by the world's major imperial
powers. Emadi investigates state, revolution, and development in
the Middle Eastern states of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria in
the immediate post-World War II period. Maintaining that the state
is an instrument of class domination, exhibiting a certain degree
of autonomy in the creation and design of domestic development
programs, he details the role of class in an attempt to provide a
better understanding of the diverse factors at work. Politics of
the Dispossessed provides an alternative analysis of development in
regional politics and its context in world politics, aspects that
are generally neglected by most mainstream studies. It examines
state formation, internal development strategies, and how class
conflict and ideology led to class alliance on an international
basis, as well as the external interference in the internal affairs
of these societies. It also explores the process of political and
ethnic integration of the Middle East into the global economic
system and the resulting counter-strategies of the nationalist and
Islamic resistance to the increasing superpower domination of the
international system.
This book is the collaborative response of engaged scholars from
diverse countries and disciplines who are disturbed by the
contemporary resurgence of anti-democratic movements and regimes
throughout the world. These movements have manifest in vitriolic
"nationalist" polemics, state-supported violence, and exclusionary
anti-immigrant policies, less than a century after the rise and
fall and horrific devastations of fascism in the early 20th
century.
This book presents a rough sketch of Dr. Yat-sen Sun's (1866-1925)
requirements for modernizing China and elaborates on Sun's desire
for the then China to implement a sweeping wave of economic
reconstruction and development reforms concerning its railroads and
highways, river conservancy and irrigation, new ports and modern
cities, by absorbing international capital coming to China. In the
preface to this book, first published in 1922, Yat-sen Sun posits,
"Unless the Chinese question can be settled peacefully, another
world war greater and more terrible than the one just past will be
inevitable." In order to solve the "Chinese question," he suggested
that the country's vast resources be developed internationally
under a socialistic scheme, both for the good of the world in
general and the Chinese people in particular. It was his hope that
such a scheme would abolish the prevalent spheres of influence of
the time, and that the class struggle between capital and labor
could be avoided. In this book, Yat-sen Sun presents his solutions
for three great questions of global importance: International War,
Commercial War and Class War.
The percentage of women aged 15-49 in Egypt who have undergone the
procedure of female circumcision, or genital mutilation/cutting
(FGM/C) stands at 91%, according to the latest research carried out
by UNICEF. Female circumcision has become a global political
minefield with 'Western' interventions affecting Egyptian politics
and social development, not least in the area of democracy and
human rights. Maria Frederika Malmstrom employs an ethnographic
approach to this controversial issue, with the aim of understanding
how female gender identity is continually created and re-created in
Egypt through a number of daily practices, and the central role
which female circumcision plays in this process. Viewing the
concept of 'agency' as critical to the examination of social and
cultural trends in the region, Malmstrom explores the lived
experiences and social meanings of circumcision and femininity as
narrated by women from Cairo. It is through the examination of the
voices of these women that she offers an analysis of gender
identity in Egypt and its impact on women's sexuality.
The history of Singapore has been widely conflated with the history
of its economic success. From its heyday as a nexus of trade during
the imperial era to the modern city state that boasts high living
standards for most of its citizens, the history of Singapore is
commonly viewed through the lens of the ruling elite. Published in
two volumes in 1998 and 2000, Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs The Singapore
Story epitomizes this top-down definitive narrative of the nation's
past. The history of post-war Singapore has largely been reduced to
a series of decisions made by the nation's leaders. Few existing
studies explore the role and experiences of the ordinary person in
Singapore's post-war history. There are none that do this through
ethnography, oral history, and collective biography. In a critical
study that has no parallel among existing works on Singapore
history, this book dispenses with the homogenous historical
experience that is commonly presumed in the writing of Singapore's
national past after 1945 and explores how the enforcement of a
uniform language policy by the Singapore government for cultural
and economic purposes has created underappreciated social and
economic divides among the Chinese of Singapore both between and
within families. It also demonstrates how mapping distinct
economic, linguistic, and cultural cleavages within Singaporean
Chinese society can add new and critical dimensions to
understanding the nation's past and present. Chief among these, the
author argues, are the processes behind the creation and
entrenchment of class structures in the city state, such as the
increasing value of English as a form of opportunity-generating
capital.
The purpose of this book is to illustrate that reading is a
subjective process which results in multivalent interpretations.
This is the case whether one looks at a text in its historical
contexts (the diachronic approach) or its literary contexts (the
synchronic approach). Three representative biblical texts are
chosen: from the Law (Genesis 2-3), the Writings (Isaiah 23) and
the Prophets (Amos 5), and each is read first by way of historical
analysis and then by literary analysis. Each text provides a number
of variant interpretations and raises the question, is any one
interpretation superior? What criteria do we use to measure this?
Or is there value in the complementary nature of many approaches
and many results?
This book takes a comprehensive look at the PLO, examining its
origins, legal status, goals, and strategies. Jamal R. Nassar
investigates the PLO's role in regional and international politics
and unveils the dynamics of the power relationships responsible for
the organization's successes and failures. The book discerns
patterns and trends in the PLO's activities and studies the
conditions under which these patterns and trends develop. Nassar
places the PLO in a global perspective, delving into the basis of
the organization's legitimacy and its prospects for participation
in the peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The book's
organization and comprehensive coverage--beginning with a thorough
historical background of the Palestinian experience--make it an
excellent study for the student of Middle Eastern politics.
Nassar probes the rise of the PLO to its present position as a
major actor in the Middle East--one that is no less significant
than a number of sovereign states. He shows that the PLO is a
complex power that cannot hope to achieve its objectives
independently of other regional powers but can prevent these powers
from resolving the Arab-Israeli dispute. The book outlines the many
peace initiatives that have been foiled by the PLO and reveals how
Israel's refusal to talk to the PLO will likely thwart the
achievement of peace. Students and scholars of Middle East and
Palestinian politics, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism,
political ideologies, revolutionary movements, transnational
politics, and contemporary history will find Jamal Nassar's book on
the PLO an invaluable resource.
An American woman plays a redeeming role amidst America's duplicity
and betrayal of the Philippine struggle for independence during the
revolution against Spain, which culminated in the Spanish-American
and Philippine American wars. The fiction/nonfiction novel
highlights the military and romantic exploits of the dashing and
legendary hero, 23-year old General Gregorio Del Pilar, then the
youngest in the Philippine army and American Christine Kelcher's
intimate relationship with him and her allegiance to his country.
Aide-de-camp to Philippine president Emilio Aguinaldo in exile in
Hong Kong, the young general was euphoric over the coming of the
Americans, espousing to his president acceptance of their offer of
help in liberating Manila from the Spanish. When Commodore George
Dewey and General Wesley Merritt betrayed the insurgency in a
secret agreement with the Spanish to wage a mock battle to liberate
the city to the exclusion of the insurgents "to protect the pride
and honor of Spain," the general vowed to protect the president
from capture, "or else the Republic dies." Military maneuvers by
Major Peyton March and Colonel Charles Gilbert and their well-armed
and well-trained soldiers are matched by surprise maneuvers by the
insurgent general, making his last stand in Tirad Pass with 60
soldiers against 600 Texas Volunteers of the 33rd Infantry Regiment
of the U.S. Expeditionary Force. The president avoided capture for
11 months more after the battle.
The movement of goods and passengers between port cities not only
stimulates growth in coastal trading networks and centers but also
inevitably changes the social and economic lives of people in these
port cities and, subsequently, of their fellow compatriots farther
inland. Studies of port cities have focused on the interactive
political and economic relationship between trading centers. The
center of attention in this book is socioeconomic life and cultural
identity, which are shaped by the movement of goods, people,
knowledge, and information, particularly when the community faces a
crisis. Transnational studies focus on cross-border connections
between people, institutions, commodities, and ideas, with an
emphasis on their global presence. This book looks at the responses
of different localities to the same global crisis. It gathers a
selection of the fifty papers presented at the conference on
"Coping with Transnational Crisis: Chinese Economic and Social
Lives in East Asian Port Cities, 1850-1950," held in Hong Kong on
June 7-11, 2016. The period from the 1850s to the outbreak of war
in the Pacific in the late 1930s encompasses two major
transnational crises with significant impacts on the Chinese
population in Southeast Asian port cities in terms of their way of
living and the construction of their identity: the emergence of
bubonic plague in the 1880s and 1920s and the global economic
crisis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The authors discuss the
social and economic lives in various South East Asian port cities
where many residents had to cope with these transnational crises.
They do so through examining institutional measurements, rituals
and festivals, communication, knowledge and information exchange as
well as identity (re)construction. In addition, they explore how
local communities responded to knowledge and information between
the port cities and cities as well as inland locations. The
chapters in this book offer solid grounds for future comparisons,
not only based on a specific time or event but also on how society
reacted over time, space, and various types of crises.
"Fight of the Phoenix" is a historical personal account of
duties as an Advisor in the Delta of Vietnam in 1972. The author
counters claims of other Advisors and Academics and sets the record
straight on the vicious nature of the Communist insurgency that
killed their own people and the spectacular success of the Phoenix
Program throughout the country and especially in the Delta Region
MR-4 in targeting and neutralizing the enemy Viet Cong
insurgents.
In the tumultuous negotiations of the Sino-British Joint
Declaration of 1984, the United Kingdom willingly signed over Hong
Kong's reigns to the People's Republic of China, but with the
presupposition that the PRC would faithfully implement the
principle of "one country, two systems" for the following fifty
years. Yet since the handover in 1997, the PRC has failed to allow
Hong Kong a higher degree of autonomy. "One Country, Two Systems"
in Crisis elucidates how China's intervention has curtailed Hong
Kong's civil liberties; how freedom of speech is at the mercy of
the government; and how deception has turned the "Pearl of the
Orient" into the rubber stamp of the Chinese Communist Party.
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