Trenchant and witty critiques of life in Cairo under British rule What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us is a masterpiece of early twentieth-century Arabic prose. Penned by the Egyptian journalist Muhammad al-Muwaylihi, this highly original work was first introduced in serialized form in his family's pioneering newspaper Misbah al-Sharq (Light of the East) and later published in book form in 1907. Widely hailed for its erudition and mordant wit, What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us was embraced by Egypt's burgeoning reading public and soon became required reading for generations of school students. Bridging classical genres and modern Arabic fiction, What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us is divided into two parts. Sarcastic in tone and critical in outlook, the first part of the book relates the excursions of its narrator, 'Isa ibn Hisham, and his companion, the Pasha, through a rapidly westernizing Cairo and provides vivid commentary on a society negotiating-however imperfectly-the clash between traditional norms and imported cultural values. The second half takes the narrator to Paris to visit the Exposition Universelle of 1900, where al-Muwaylihi casts a critical eye on European society, modernity, and the role of Western imperialism as it ripples across the globe. Paving the way for the modern Arabic novel, What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us is invaluable both for its insight into colonial Egypt and its pioneering role in Arabic literary history. An English-only edition.

Ornette Coleman's career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, during the Great Depression, the African American composer and musician was zeitgeist incarnate. Steeped in the Texas blues tradition, Ornette and jazz grew up together, as the brassy blare of big band swing gave way to bebop, a faster music for a faster, post-war world. At the dawn of the Space Age and New York's 1960s counterculture, his music gave voice to the moment. Lauded by some, maligned by many, he forged a breakaway art sometimes called 'the new thing' or 'free jazz'. Featuring previously unpublished photographs of Ornette and his contemporaries, this is the compelling story of one of America's most adventurous musicians and the sound of a changing world.

Ornette Coleman's career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, during the Great Depression, the African American composer and musician was the zeitgeist incarnate. Steeped in the Texas blues tradition, Ornette and jazz grew up together, as the brassy blare of big band swing gave way to bebop, a faster music for a faster, post-war world. At the dawn of the Space Age and New York's 1960s counterculture, his music gave voice to the moment. Lauded by some, maligned by many, he forged a breakaway art sometimes called `the new thing' or `free jazz'. Featuring previously unpublished photographs of Ornette and his contemporaries, this is the compelling story of one of America's most adventurous musicians and the sound of a changing world.

To secure a comfortable afterlife, ancient Egyptians built fortress-like tombs and filled them with precious goods, a practice that generated staggering quantities of artefacts over the course of many millennia, but one which has also drawn thieves and tomb-raiders to Egypt since antiquity. Drawing on modern scholarship, reportage and period sources, this book tracks the history of treasure-seekers in Egypt and the social contexts in which they operated, revealing striking continuities throughout time. Readers will recognize the foibles of today’s politicians and con artists, the perils of materialism, and the cycles of public compliance and dissent in the face of injustice. In describing an age-old pursuit and its timeless motivations, A Short History of Tomb-Raiding shows how much we have in common with our Bronze Age ancestors.

Meteorites are among the rarest objects on Earth, yet they have left a pervasive mark on our planet and civilization. Arriving amidst thunderous blasts and flame-streaked skies, meteorites were once thought to be messengers from the gods, embodiments of the divine. Prized for their outlandish qualities, meteorites are a collectible, a commodity, objects of art and artists' desires and a literary muse. 'Meteorite hunting' is an adventurous, lucrative profession for some, and an addictive hobby for thousands of others. Meteorite: Nature and Culture is a unique, richly illustrated cultural history of these ancient and mysterious phenomena. Taking in a wide range of sources Maria Golia pays homage to the scientists, scholars and aficionados who have scoured the skies and combed the Earth's most unforgiving reaches for meteorites, contributing to a body of work that situates our planet and ourselves within the vastness of the Universe.Appealing to collectors and hobbyists alike, as well as any lovers of nature, marvel and paradox, this book offers an accessible overview of what science has learned from meteorites, beginning with the scientific community's reluctant embrace of their interplanetary origins, and explores their power to reawaken that precious, yet near-forgotten human trait - the capacity for awe.

Cairo is a 1,400-year-old metropolis whose streets are inscribed with sagas, a place where the pressures of life test people's equanimity to the very limit. Virtually surrounded by desert, sixteen million Cairenes cling to the Nile and each other, proximities that color and shape lives. Packed with incident and anecdote "Cairo: City of Sand" describes the city's given circumstances and people's attitudes of response. Apart from a brisk historical overview, this book focuses on the present moment of one of the world's most illustrious and irreducible cities.
"Cairo" steps inside the interactions between Cairenes, examining the roles of family, tradition and bureaucracy in everyday life. The book explores Cairo's relationship with its "others," from the French and British occupations to modern influences like tourism and consumerism. "Cairo" also discusses characteristic styles of communication, and linguistic "memes," including slang, grandiloquence, curses and jokes.
Cairo exists by virtue of these interactions, synergies of necessity, creativity and the presence or absence of power. "Cairo: City of Sand" reveals a peerless balancing act, and transmits the city's overriding message: the breadth of the human capacity for loss, astonishment and delight.