Now combined into a single volume, these three brief history texts provide a concise and eye-opening overview of the history of the Middle East. Each is written by a leading expert, and all have been hailed as outstanding introductions for the general reader. These texts have been widely translated and adopted at universities in Turkey, Norway, Italy, and Germany, as well as throughout North America.

Now combined into a single volume, these three brief history texts provide a concise and eye-opening overview of the history of the Middle East. Each is written by a leading expert (The Arabs by Heinz Halm, The Ottoman Empire by Suraiya Faoqhi, and Iran by Monika Gronke), and all have been hailed as outstanding introductions for the general reader. These texts have been widely translated and adopted at universities in Turkey, Norway, Italy, and Germany, as well as throughout North America.

No country in the Islamic Middle East presents as unique and distinguished a history and culture as Iran, which has managed to maintain its inherent characteristics - some of them from pre-Islamic times - over the course of centuries of changing dynasties and rulers. The Shiite faith, the official religion of Persia/Iran since 1501, stands in contrast to the Sunni Arabs who dominate the greater region. Iran endured European colonialism in the 20th century to a greater extent than any other Middle Eastern country, yet after the revolution of 1979, which made Iran the first Islamic Republic, Shiism and Persian culture remain intact. Monika Gronke presents the history of this country from the Islamization of the 7th century to the present in a clear and lively style, and describes the cultural, social, and religious developments that shaped Iran and the Iranian self-image.

Art. Latino/Latina Studies. The B-movie THE GIANT CLAW is Gronk's Citizen Kane in this reprise of Mitch MacFee's and Mlle Mathematician's meeting with, what else, a giant claw. Drawing for Gronk is writing, or perhaps writing is drawing, possibly a book of poetry, since its language is images, each page organized with the fragility of poems, laced with elegant verbal and visual puns. 100 illustrations. Foreword by Gail Wronsky translated into Spanish by Alicia Partnoy.