A curious figure stalks the pages of a distinct subset of mass-market romance novels, aptly called "desert romances." Animalistic yet sensitive, dark and attractive, the desert prince or sheikh emanates manliness and raw, sexual power. In the years since September 11, 2001, the sheikh character has steadily risen in popularity in romance novels, even while depictions of Arab masculinity as backward and violent in nature have dominated the cultural landscape. An Imperialist Love Story contributes to the broader conversation about the legacy of orientalist representations of Arabs in Western popular culture. Combining close readings of novels, discursive analysis of blogs and forums, and interviews with authors, Jarmakani explores popular investments in the war on terror by examining the collisions between fantasy and reality in desert romances. Focusing on issues of security, freedom, and liberal multiculturalism, she foregrounds the role that desire plays in contemporary formations of U.S. imperialism. Drawing on transnational feminist theory and cultural studies, An Imperialist Love Story offers a radical reinterpretation of the war on terror, demonstrating romance to be a powerful framework for understanding how it works, and how it perseveres.

This new addition to the "ARBA In-depth" series provides focused help in building children's and young adult collections. More than 300 critical reviews of quality reference titles by subject experts cover reference titles for this audience; all of which have appeared in the last six editions of "American Reference Books Annual," the long-trusted source of reliable reviews of recent reference publications. Author, title, and subject indexes, as well as a contributor list, are provided.

The fourth in this series of companion volumes to "ARBA," this work is designed to assist academic, public, and school libraries in the systematic selection of suitable reference materials for their collections. Its purpose is to aid in the evaluation process by presenting more than 300 critical and evaluative reviews in all areas of children's and young adult resources.

This unique book is arranged in three columns: English, Zulu, and how to pronounce the Zulu words phonetically. This dictionary and phrasebook will serve as a helpful working tool in the classroom, at home, or for businesses and tourists to South Africa. The more you know, the more you grow. So let's all grow together. Simunye.

A White Woman in a Red Man's World is a must read for all new teachers and for all teachers who plan to teach on an Indian reservation. Georgia Lucas is a master teacher who shares her actual classroom experiences along with enlightening glimpses into the everyday lives of her Indian students. This teacher's memoir spans over 20 years of living, combining anecdotes of her school, home, and social life, spiced with mysterious happenings on the Indian reservations. Upon reading this book, teachers everywhere will come to realize that they, too, have a story to tell. And students will learn to appreciate their teachers a little more as they realize what trials and struggles, as well as joy and satisfaction, are derived from teaching. Arrow Point Lessoneers Mrs. Lucas was a very innovative teacher. She kept us guessing how the next lesson would be presented, and we were usually pleasantly surprised. The lessons were always stimulating. She absolutely refused to allow our minds to wander. We were not allowed to accept defeat. After 17 years, I can still hear her voice urging me to realize my full potential and to work toward my goals. Thank you, Mrs. Lucas. Benetta

This book is a must read for anyone who is a procrastinator or who lives with someone who procrastinates. Especially interesting topics addressed include lying, sublimation, ego trips, excuses, mountains out of molehills, and hypocrisy. Anyone who denies being a procrastinator is a liar. From birth, we are all born with this inherent ability. It afflicts stock clerks as well as world leaders. Its most recommendable asset is convenience and accessibility.

This book offers insights on the study of natural language as a complex adaptive system. It discusses a new way to tackle the problem of language modeling, and provides clues on how the close relation between natural language and some biological structures can be very fruitful for science. The book examines the theoretical framework and then applies its main principles to various areas of linguistics. It discusses applications in language contact, language change, diachronic linguistics, and the potential enhancement of classical approaches to historical linguistics by means of new methodologies used in physics, biology, and agent systems theory. It shows how studying language evolution and change using computational simulations enables to integrate social structures in the evolution of language, and how this can give rise to a new way to approach sociolinguistics. Finally, it explores applications for discourse analysis, semantics and cognition.

This work is a scholarly study of Ahmadi Khani's Mem Z n, the most famous and the most important text of Kurdish classical literature. The study is totally original and is based on methodical in-depth textual analysis of the work with original translations. The author defines the work as an Aristotlean tragedy revealing its unique dramatic elements, scenes, events, structures and characters. It also delves deeper into the Sufist and philosophical levels of the text revealing the astonishing modernist nature and mode of the work as Zoroastrian Existentialism. Dr Mirawdeli offers a line-by-line translation and textual analysis of Khani's prologues in which he has presented his nationalist discourse offering an original interpretation that establishes Khani's ideas as a complete theory of Kurdish nationalism.

This book is about the enjoyment and preservation of riddles. There are many more than i have presented here, but these are a few of my favorites which i feel are worth preserving.

The nature of religion is a topic that has endlessly fascinated thoughtful humans from the times of the ancient Greeks to the present. There are many theories of and about religion. Many of them are functional theories based on the psychological, sociological, anthropological, or pragmatic uses and usefulness of religion for individuals and for groups. The weakness of such explanations is that they rely on the circular argument that the uses of religion are its source.
"How Language Creates and Sustains Religion" explores a novel theory proposing that religion, in its twin aspects of spirituality and religiosity, originates and is sustained as a result of differences between human language or verbal thought processes and the innate neurological thought process that is a characteristic of all vertebrate animals. In a tour-de-force that combines some of the latest discoveries from neurology with knowledge from psychology, evolution and linguistics, the author explains the source and the nature of religion as it springs from the evolved brain of human beings.

Learning verb conjugations and dealing with irregular verbs in the Spanish language is a serious challenge for many English speakers. Dr. Juan M. Gonzlez, an assistant professor of Spanish at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado, and Dr. Dan Bishop have developed a unique visual framework within which students can more easily learn Spanish verb irregularities.

Gonzlez and Bishop present most verb irregularities as two easily manageable groups of ten simple spelling rules and ten common vowel variations. Conjugation diagrams and charts throughout the text enhance the learning process. Verb lists specify all commonly encountered verbs that exhibit vowel variations. Special attention is also placed on the nineteen truly irregular verbs that depart significantly from these rules.

Mastering Spanish Irregular Verbs is an excellent reference volume for Spanish teachers and students alike. The verb classification scheme, visual presentations, and comprehensive verb lists significantly help the reader along the road to Spanish fluency.

"Stunningly original and wonderfully realized, this book charts a clear path through the jungle of Spanish irregular verbs. Gonzlez and Bishop have pioneered an approach that transforms what many students find an impossible task into an intellectual pleasure. As I looked over the charts which provide the center of their approach, I found myself wondering why no one thought of this before."

-Craig Werner, PhD, Chair, Integrated Liberal Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This two-volume set presents a comprehensive syntactical picture of Singapore Mandarin and discusses the distinguishing characteristics of the Chinese language and especially Singapore Mandarin. As a variety of Mandarin Chinese, Singapore Mandarin is characterised by syntactic rules taking precedence over morphological rules. The first volume provides an overview of the grammar of Singapore Mandarin and argues that word order and functional words are specifically important in the study of Singapore Mandarin. It also explains the properties and functions of the nine grammatical components, including phrase types, word classes, sentences, subjects and predicates, predicates and objects, predicates and complements, attributes and adverbials, complex predicate phrases and prepositions and prepositional phrases. The second volume describes expressions of number, quantity, time and place and composite sentences, covering seven types of compound sentences, eight types of complex sentences and connective words with a focus on conjunctions. The concluding part of the study explores the characteristics of Singapore Mandarin grammar compared with Chinese Mandarin (Putonghua) and issues of language standardisation. With rich and authentic language examples, the book will serve as a must read for learners and teachers of Mandarin Chinese and linguistics scholars interested in global Chinese and especially Singapore Mandarin.

Tang poetry is one of the most valuable cultural inheritances of Chinese history. Its distinctive aesthetics, delicate language and diverse styles constitute great literature in itself, as well as a rich topic for literary study. This two-volume set is the masterpiece of Professor Lin Geng, one of China's most respected literary historians, and reflects decades of active research into Tang poetry, covering the "Golden Age" of Chinese poetry (618-907 CE). In the first volume, the author provides a general understanding of poetry in the "High Tang" era from a range of perspectives. Starting with an indepth discussion of the Romantic tradition and historical context, the author focuses on poetic language patterns, Youth Spirit, maturity symbols, and prototypes of poetry. The author demonstrates that the most valuable part of Tang poetry is how it can provide people with a new perspective on every aspect of life. The second volume focuses on the prominent Tang poets and poems. Beginning with an introduction to the "four greatest poets"-Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, and Bai Juyi-the author discusses their subjects, language, influence, and key works. The volume also includes essays on a dozen masterpieces of Tang poetry, categorized by topics such as love and friendship, aspirationsand seclusion, as well as travelling and nostalgia. As the author stresses, Tang poetry is worth rereading because it makes us invigorate our mental wellbeing, leaving it powerful and full of vitality. This book will appeal to researchers and students of Chinese literature, especially of classical Chinese poetry. People interested in Chinese culture will also benefit from the book.

The XXXIII Conference of the American Italian Historical Asso-ciation was held in Lowell Massachusetts, where Greek immi-grants settled at the turn of the century and established a vibrant community. Italians from Calabria, Naples and Sicily soon followed. Throughout the years the two ethnic groups collaborated in many cultural activities, among which the Lowell Opera Company, under the directorship of Vito Selvaggio, originally from "Magna Graecia" in Italy, became a community leader in the cultural life of Lowell. Selvaggio, with his directorship of The Lowell Opera Company, provided a beautiful performance of Italian Operatic pieces to the conference participants.