Triple bill of romantic dramas based on the novels by Nicholas Sparks. In 'Dear John' (2010), while Special Forces Army Sergeant John Tyree (Channing Tatum) is home on leave, he meets beautiful college student Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) and the two fall in love. When the time comes for Savannah to return to college, she promises to write to John during his 12-month enlistment overseas. However, their budding love affair is put to the test when John decides to re-enlist in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. 'Safe Haven' (2013), follows the fortunes of a guarded young woman who unexpectedly finds love in a North Carolina town. Katie Feldman (Julianne Hough) stands out on arrival in Southport. Beautiful but highly reserved, she makes it clear that she expects to have little involvement in the social life of the town and its inhabitants. However, an unforeseen chain of events brings Katie close to Alex (Josh Duhamel), a widower who runs a store while also attempting to bring up his young children. As she inexorably falls in love with Alex and the children Katie begins to let down her guard, but doing so threatens to raise the dark secret she has been protecting. Will she find a way to reconcile the trauma of her past with the possibility of a brighter future? 'The Best of Me' (2014), charts the relationship between Dawson Cole (Luke Bracey/James Marsden) and Amanda Collier (Liana Liberato/Michelle Monaghan), two people from opposite sides of town, who fall deeply in love as teenagers. However, Amanda's parents don't approve of Dawson and their relationship is short-lived due to a number of unfortunate events outside of their control. 20 years later, the pair are reunited at a mutual friend's funeral and it doesn't take long for their romance to rekindle. But although it seems the universe is conspiring to bring them back together after all this time, it seems there are still other forces at work which are determined to keep them apart...

Emerging Scholarship on the Middle East and Central Asia: Moving from the Periphery provides fresh analysis and cutting-edge critique of phenomena and events across the region. Working out of diverse disciplinary traditions, the authors call on varied theoretical frameworks in order to challenge entrenched stereotypes and long-standing perspectives. This volume explores emerging directions in scholarship across a range of issues, including: the Gulf; Saudi strategizing; Afghan refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran; contemporary Turkish politics; the current Syrian conflict; Middle Eastern and Central Asian art; perceptions of security threats from Afghanistan; and the potential future role of China in the region. The authors in this volume have given wide-berth to dominant approaches to scholarship on the region, while grappling with overlooked issues and marginal populations in order to advance new frameworks. On the Periphery deserves a central place in future scholarly engagement with the Middle East and Central Asia.