Names such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been emerging in the world's eye over the past decade as exotic hotspots, wealthy from oil production and advanced in the means of technology. However, at the same time, the Arab Gulf States have managed to maintain their traditional culture, adapting it to modern life. With complete coverage on Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, Culture and Customs of the Arab Gulf States is a must-have for every high school and public library shelf. Clear and vivid descriptions of contemporary life in the Arab Gulf help students discover how traditions of the past have evolved into customs today. This exhaustive volume covers topics such as religion, festivals, cuisine, fashion, family life, literature, the media, and music, among many others. Up-to-date and comprehensive, this volume offers a unique and contemporary depiction of culture in some of the world's wealthiest, up-and-coming nations.

Students and other readers looking to more fully understand and appreciate Israelis of all backgrounds and their ways of life and culture now have a solid source of engaging, balanced, and accurate information. Israel's brief, turbulent history and the Arab-Israeli conflict are always taken into account in the narrative; however, the emphasis here is nonpolitical and encompassing of the heterogeneous culture of its citizens, including Jews, Arabs, Druze, and others. The predominant Jewish culture itself is multicultural, with immigrants from all over the world. Israel, a tiny state about the size of New Jersey, weighs on the consciousness of the world more than it might small land mass might seem to merit. Located at the junction of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Israel has been a natural trade and migration route since prehistoric times. The region is also the birthplace of monotheism and an important religious site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide. Culture and Customs of Israel is the first in-depth survey available and comes at a particularly crucial juncture in history, as the balanced perspective adds a needed cultural dimension. Narrative chapters provide a clear overview of the history and religious nexus and discuss the crucial roles of literature and media to the citizens, issues in Israeli art and identity, the diversity in cuisine, a surprisingly traditional view of gender roles, social customs for all ethnicities, and the role of music and dance in nation building. A volume map, photos, chronology, and glossary complement the text.

The city of Acre is a microcosm of Israeli society. Its citizens include veteran Jewish settlers and newer Jewish immigrants from both western and Arab backgrounds; indigenous Palestinian residents and newer internal Palestinian refugees; large Jewish and Palestinian working-class populations and a smaller Jewish and Palestinian elite. These various groups hold competing interests and visions of what it means to be a resident of Acre and how Acre fits into a broader Israeli national identity.
Rebecca Torstrick's study focuses on the conditions that promote and hinder coexistence between Acre's Jewish and Palestinian citizens. Using a historical survey based partly on municipal archives, interviews with residents of a mixed Arab-Jewish neighborhood, a study of how children are educated about Jewish-Arab relations, and a look at local elections, the author explores the ways in which people jockey for power in this community.
One of the main findings of the study is that Arab-Jewish coexistence in Acre works best when the national state does not intrude. State-controlled institutions promote particular identities for Israelis (both ethnic/racial and national) and attempt to use these constructions to limit the social relationships that develop within local communities to those that serve national interests. Thus the book argues that identities are not "free floating" fragments; they are embedded in institutional structures that channel the possibilities for social relations in particular directions.
This book will be of interest both to a general audience and to scholars in political science, sociology, Middle Eastern area studies, anthropology, and cultural studies, as well as to analysts of conflict resolution.
Rebecca L. Torstrick is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University-South Bend.