The era in which Ibn Battuta traveled to the East was exciting but turbulent, cursed by the Black Plague and the fall of mighty dynasties. His account provides a first-hand account of increased globalisation due to the rise of Islam, as well as the relationship between the Western world and India and China in the 14th century. There are insights into the complex power dynamics of the time, as well a personal glimpse of the author's life as he sought to survive them, always staying on the move. The Ri?la contains great value as a historical document, but also for its religious commentary, especially regarding the marvels and miracles that Ibn Battuta encountered. It is also an entertaining narrative with a wealth of anecdotes, often humorous or shocking, and in many cases touchingly human. The book records the journey of Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan jurist who travels to the East, operating at high levels of government within the vibrant Muslim network of India and China. It offers fascinating details into the cultures and dynamics of that region, but goes beyond other travelogues due to the dramatic narrative of its author - tragedies and wonders fill its pages - shared for the greater glory of Allah and the edification of its contemporary audience in the West.

The first part of a three-volume work devoted to mapping the transnational history of Australian film studies, Australian Film Theory and Criticism, Volume 1 provides an overview of the period between 1975 and 1990, during which the discipline first became established in the academy. Tracing critical positions, personnel, and institutions across this formative period, Noel King, Constantine Verevis and Deane Williams examine a multitude of books and journal articles published in Australia and distributed internationally though such processes as publication in overseas journals, translation and reprinting. At the same time, they offer important insights about the origins of Australian film theory and its relationship to such related disciplines as English and cultural studies. Ultimately, Australian Film Theory and Criticism, Volume 1 delineates the historical implications - and reveals the future possibilities - of establishing new directions of inquiry for film studies in Australia and internationally. Australian Film Theory and Criticism, Volume 2 and 3 are also now available from Intellect.

A three-volume project tracing key critical positions, people, and institutions in Australian film, "Australian Film Theory and Criticism "interrogates not only the origins of Australian film theory but also its relationships to adjacent disciplines and institutions. The second volume in the series, this book gathers interviews with national and international film theorists and critics to chart the development of different discourses in Australian film studies through the decades. Seeking to examine the position of film theorists and their relationship to film industry practitioners and policy makers, this volume succeeds mightily in reasserting Australian film's place on the international scholarly agenda.

As the title suggests, this collection takes the environment as its central theme, alerting us to the flood waters to come. Quirky at times and at times shocking, Noel King also casts his gaze over Irish peacekeepers in the Lebanon, a Cornish minor, and a housewife rejected by her Gaelic football-loving husband, among others.

The era in which Ibn Battuta traveled to the East was exciting but turbulent, cursed by the Black Plague and the fall of mighty dynasties. His account provides a first-hand account of increased globalisation due to the rise of Islam, as well as the relationship between the Western world and India and China in the 14th century. There are insights into the complex power dynamics of the time, as well a personal glimpse of the author's life as he sought to survive them, always staying on the move. The Ri?la contains great value as a historical document, but also for its religious commentary, especially regarding the marvels and miracles that Ibn Battuta encountered. It is also an entertaining narrative with a wealth of anecdotes, often humorous or shocking, and in many cases touchingly human. The book records the journey of Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan jurist who travels to the East, operating at high levels of government within the vibrant Muslim network of India and China. It offers fascinating details into the cultures and dynamics of that region, but goes beyond other travelogues due to the dramatic narrative of its author - tragedies and wonders fill its pages - shared for the greater glory of Allah and the edification of its contemporary audience in the West.

As the title, Prophesying the Past suggests, this collection plays with our sense of space and time moving back and forth across dates; locations; time zones; generations and even across the boundary between life and death. The poems in Prophesying the Past are never sentimental or didactic, it is left to the reader to savour the cumulative effect as the poems speak through an urbane voice; rooted in history, both social and political but always contemporary in outlook. The personas in this work give voice to the personal and economic dilemmas of a people, from wartime Ireland through to the post Celtic Tiger era. These are poems to be savoured by the generation who were there and explored by the young to find the foundations upon which they stand today.