In 'Ala' al-Dawla al-Simnani between Spiritual Authority and Political Power: A Persian Lord and Intellectual in the Heart of the Ilkhanate, Giovanni Maria Martini investigates the personality of a major figure in the socio-political and cultural landscape of Mongol Iran. In pursuing this objective, the author follows parallel paths: Chapter 1 provides the most updated reconstruction of Simnani's (d. 736/1336) biography, which, thanks to its unique features, emerges as a cross-section of Iranian society and as a microhistory of the complex relationships between a Sufi master, Persian elites and Mongol rulers during the Ilkhanid period; Chapter 2 contains a study on the phenomenon of Arabic-Persian diglossia in Simnani's written work, arguing for its socio-religious function; in Chapters 3 to 6 the critical editions of two important, interrelated treatises by Simnani are presented; finally, Chapter 7 offers the first full-length annotated translation of a long work by Simnani ever to appear in a Western language.

The Franklin Book Programs (FBP) was a private not-for-profit U.S. organization founded in 1952 during the Cold War and was subsidized by the United States' government agencies as well as private corporations. The FBP was initially intended to promote U.S. liberal values, combat Soviet influence and to create appropriate markets for U.S. books in 'Third World' of which the Middle East was an important part, but evolved into an international educational program publishing university textbooks, schoolbooks, and supplementary readings. In Iran, working closely with the Pahlavi regime, its activities included the development of printing, publishing, book distribution, and bookselling institutions. This book uses archival sources from the FBP, US intelligence agencies and in Iran, to piece together this relationship. Put in the context of wider cultural diplomacy projects operated by the US, it reveals the extent to which the programme shaped Iran's educational system. Together the history of the FBP, its complex network of state and private sector, the role of U.S. librarians, publishers, and academics, and the joint projects the FBP organized in several countries with the help of national ministries of education, financed by U.S. Department of State and U.S. foundations, sheds new light on the long history of education in imperialist social orders, in the context here of the ongoing struggle for influence in the Cold War.

This volume explores some of the many different meanings of community across medieval Eurasia. How did the three 'universal' religions, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, frame the emergence of various types of community under their sway? The studies assembled here in thematic clusters address the terminology of community; genealogies; urban communities; and monasteries or 'enclaves of learning': in particular in early medieval Europe, medieval South Arabia and Tibet, and late medieval Central Europe and Dalmatia. It includes work by medieval historians, social anthropologists, and Asian Studies scholars. The volume present the results of in-depth comparative research from the Visions of Community project in Vienna, and of a dialogue with guests, offering new and exciting perspectives on the emerging field of comparative medieval history. Contributors are (in order within the volume) Walter Pohl, Gerda Heydemann, Eirik Hovden, Johann Heiss, Rudiger Lohlker, Elisabeth Gruber, Oliver Schmitt, Daniel Mahoney, Christian Opitz, Birgit Kellner, Rutger Kramer, Pascale Hugon, Christina Lutter, Diarmuid O Riain, Mathias Fermer, Steven Vanderputten, Jonathan Lyon and Andre Gingrich.

Covering the Arab-Israeli conflict from its origins to the present, this valuable resource traces the evolution of this ongoing, seemingly unresolvable dispute through a wide array of primary source documents. Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Documentary and Reference Guide provides a fresh, accessible, and thorough overview of the Arab-Israeli conflict, covering its origins in the late-19th century to the present-day situation and enabling readers to grasp why peace has proved so elusive, despite massive international efforts to reach a permanent and lasting solution to this protracted animosity. Chronological chapters first address the years up to the establishment of Israel in 1948, then move forward to the wars of 1956 and 1967 and their impact; the 1973 Yom Kippur War and early efforts to reach a lasting peace settlement; and the ongoing international and Israeli-Palestinian negotiations since the mid-1980s. Readers will come away with not only an understanding of why so many great powers were from the beginning interested in the fate of the territory known as Palestine and of the current issues from an international perspective, but also an appreciation of the personalities and ethnic backgrounds involved that make the conflict so difficult to resolve. Allows a wide audience of readers-from high school and college students to general readers-to understand the complex roots of the conflicting claims to the territory of Palestine Places the Arab-Israeli conflict in the broader international context of World Wars I and II and the Cold War, providing readers with an appreciation of why so many outside powers have taken an interest in the battle over this territory Relates the conflict over the territory of Palestine to both the region's imperial and colonial past and the history of 20th-century global decolonization and nationalism Includes some 90 primary source documents, including major official statements by all parties to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, including Zionists, Israel, the Arab League, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah as well as Great Britain, France, the League of Nations, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Quartet Covers key topics-such as the creation of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent wars of 1956, 1967, and 1973; the impact of Israel's territorial acquisitions in 1967; the international peace negotiations of subsequent years that slowly brought peace settlements between Israel and some Arab states; and the establishment of Palestinian rule in the West Bank and Gaza-in detail