Social groups: religious groups and communities Books
Harvard University, Asia Center Superstitious Regimes
Book SynopsisWe live in a world shaped by secularism—the separation of numinous power from political authority and religion from public political, social, and economic realms. This book explores the modern recategorization of religious practices and people and examines how state power affected the religious lives and physical order of local communities.Trade ReviewSuperstitious Regimes offers a penetrating analysis of the complex confrontation between the Chinese Nationalist regime and the many faces of Chinese religion, largely during the Nanjing Decade...The broad outlines of this struggle are well known, at least to scholars of Chinese religion. Nedostup's signal contribution is to examine in much greater detail a number of case studies from the Nationalists' base area in Jiangsu, grounding her work in an impressive variety of legal cases, archival materials, memoirs, newspapers, and magazines. Her efforts on this front are nothing short of herculean...This is a superb study, deserving of wide readership. Its evidence and insights should be incorporated into more general studies of the Republican period, which have tended to treat religion as a side story. For scholars and China-watchers fascinated by the current religious revival in China, this volume is yet another proof that the Communists inherited rather than created their religious problems, and a model of the sort of research we should attempt to carry out in the context of contemporary China. Finally, Superstitious Regimes is a profound reflection on the nature and limits of secularism as part and parcel of the experience of modernity. -- David Ownby * Journal of Asian Studies *Nedostup is a historian of modern Chinese politics, particularly of the Kuomintang (KMT); she explores the formation and the effects of the KMT's religious policies in order to shed new light on processes of state building and social reforms. But, in stark contrast to the many previous historians who have broached such topics in rather naive ways, she has a solid and nuanced understanding of what religion actually was in Republican-period Chinese society and never confuses ideological categories with social practice. She has notably taken stock of the most recent research on Republican-period redemptive societies (by Prasenjit Duara, David Ownby, and David Palmer) and has thus been able to astutely critique the characterizations of such religious groups by politicians. Her work is therefore extremely useful for scholars in the fields of religious studies and political, intellectual, and social history. For this alone, Nedostup's study is a historiographical milestone that demonstrates that the subject of religion is entering mainstream scholarship on Chinese modern history. That this milestone reflects an impressive command of a staggering body of primary and secondary literature, features sophisticated theorizations, and is rendered in finely crafted prose, speaks further to the importance and desirability of Superstitious Regimes... The state side of the story has been masterfully told by Nedostup, and it is very unlikely that her work will be superseded any time soon. -- Vincent Goossaert * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *Table of ContentsTables, Maps, and Figures Note on Romanization and Measurements 1. Introduction: Religion, Modernity, Nationalism Part I: Of Legislation and ling 2. Inventing Religion 3. Temples and the Redefinition of Public Life Part II: Material Motives 4. Jiangsu Temples as Target and Tactic 5. Idealized Communities and the Religious Remainder Part III: Transactional Modernity 6. Embodying Superstition 7. Affective Regimes 8. Conclusion: Superstition's Legacy Appendix: Three Major KMT Laws on Temples Notes Works Cited Index
£35.66
Harvard University Press Beyond Terror and Martyrdom
Book SynopsisKepel urges us to escape the ideological quagmire of terrorism and martyrdom and explore the terms of a new and constructive dialogue between Islam and the West. This book sounds the alarm to the West and to Islam that both of these exhausted narratives are bankruptneither productive of democratic change in the Middle East nor of unity in Islam.Trade ReviewThis book, from one of France's shrewdest interpreters of the Muslim world, provides a highly readable end-of-term conspectus of the subsequent violent encounter between America and the jihadists. It also offers an intriguing argument. In Gilles Kepel's telling, it is not only Mr. Bush whose strategy failed after September 11th. Osama bin Laden's strategy failed too....Instead of throttling jihadism, the American occupation of Iraq recruited an army of new martyrs to the cause. But far from rallying the Muslim world at large to its banner, the murderous jihad in Iraq--and al Qaeda's killing of many Muslims in other Muslim lands--ended up repelling the very audience this epic struggle was intended to attract...[Kepel] has a rare ability to tell a tale in a way that is easy to follow and yet does justice to the granular complexities of the Muslim world. * The Economist *Kepel offers an erudite critique of "the narratives of both Bush and Bin Laden which considered force or violence to be a prerequisite for change in the Middle East." The book surveys the propagation of the "war on terror" that eventually led to "the fiasco in Iraq," but unlike many critiques of the Iraq War, this study focuses on the internecine fighting between various national and sectarian Muslim groups, providing rich historical and cultural context for the internal regional politics that often have derailed U.S. policy. His analysis shifts to Europe, where he examines how different national policies of integration and "multiculturalism" in France and England have resulted in dramatically different experiences of terrorism. Kepel offers alternatives to the American "war on terror" that he believes will help "to transcend terror and martyrdom and to ensure the decisive marginalization of jihadist radicalism." His prescriptions are as insightful and thoughtful as his critiques, making this a valuable read for those interested in the Middle East and current affairs generally. * Publishers Weekly *[Kepel] now looks at the events and forces fueling the clash between militant Islamism and the West, and traces the political blindness, anger, and misunderstanding that lead from the "war on terror" to the fiasco in Iraq and the quagmire in Afghanistan. His narrative is brisk, sharp, detailed, and deadly...But what interests Kepel more than just the clash of forces in the Middle East and in cyberspace is the way myths and delusions have taken hold and the advantage the unscrupulous have taken of the inflamed emotions and vulnerable religious beliefs. -- Michael Binyon * New Humanist *Kepel's detailed analysis of the conflicting tactics, strategies, justifications and goals that underscore these ideologies is among the clearest available to date. His tour of the global political landscape illuminates not only the broad contours of Islamist thinking since 2001, but also the nuanced political theologies that pit sects, tribes, jihadis and governments against one another. -- Paula Newberg * Globe and Mail *Its real achievement lies in [Kepel's] analysis of how we come to be where we are now. In a nutshell, the two grand narratives which set the stage in the Nineties have collapsed. If Bush's "war on terror" has been a calamitous failure, so have al Qa'ida's "martyrdom operations." Theatrical jihadism has not only failed to unify global Islam: it has also bolstered the rise of al Qa'ida's Shi'ite rivals in Iran. Kepel charts the disintegration of both crusades, and sheds much light along the way...Equally illuminating are his discussions of how the conflict's flare-ups in Europe have played out in relation to each country's context. -- Michael Church * The Independent *[An] enlightening book...Kepel exposes the flaws and fantasies in the jihadist, as well as American, propaganda arsenals. -- Charles Glass * New Statesman *This book by a respected French analyst...adds something new to the literature on al-Qaeda's challenge to the United States. -- Oliver Miles * Times Literary Supplement *Beyond Terror and Martyrdom is a crisply written indictment that portrays the Bush administration and Al Qaeda as equally immoderate ideological doppelgängers...Kepel charts the unintended consequences of the chaos unleashed in the Middle East, such as the re-emergence of Iran as a regional power, now with nuclear pretensions and a trigger-happy president spouting apocalyptic threats and arming extremists from Iraq to Lebanon to Gaza--a development greeted with wariness not only by the United States, but by Al Qaeda and its Sunni allies, and by vulnerable Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. And neither Bin Laden nor Bush could have anticipated the backlash and erosion of support from their respective constituencies when the airwaves were flooded with gruesome images of the Iraqi insurgent Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi beheading helpless victims, or of the sufferings of detainees at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. Beyond Terror and Martyrdom neatly deconstructs the twin narratives of the "war on terror" and jihadist martyrdom, both of which Kepel considers essentially bankrupt. -- Scott Appleby * Commonweal *Kepel knows his Middle East, and he is arguably the foremost expert on political Islam...Illustrative of his ability to capture the complexity of these years is the fact that he treats not just the Bush administration and al Qaeda but also such diverse people and places as Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; the Maronite Lebanese leader General Michel Aoun; the Danish cartoon affair; Pope Benedict XVI; and the situations of Muslims in different European countries. As for the U.S. role in this ongoing tragedy, think of Kepel's account as a harsh but deserved rebuke from "old Europe." -- L. Carl Brown * Foreign Affairs *Gilles Kepel...[has] done more than most writers to open the minds of Western readers to the world of Islam. [He has] written learned and stimulating books on the politics of the Middle East, as well as on the Islamic presence in contemporary Europe...Kepel's latest book to appear in English, Beyond Terror and Martyrdom, is a strong critique of what he calls the two "grand narratives" that have created so much havoc in the Middle East, and by extension in Europe too. -- Ian Buruma * New York Review of Books *This work presents a philosophically important argument that adds much-needed subtlety and quality to what has too often become a shrill debate: the war on terror vs. the war against Islam. Kepel compellingly shows how the two competing sides--neoconservatives on the one hand, radical Islamic fundamentalists on the other--offered a doomsday vision of the world where each staked their own claims to power, claims that ultimately proved impossible to achieve. These were utopian ends--universal democracy or a unified Islamist state--that justified violent means and were fundamentally bankrupt. The author convincingly explains what caused these failures. More importantly, he begins to consider what lessons can be learned so that the world can emerge from these nightmare visions into more balanced and peaceful hopes for the future. Meticulously researched and written in an extremely accessible manner, this work should be regarded as an important alternative to how we usually cover world security issues. For once, it does not seem like there is an axe to grind, or perhaps, it is better put that Kepel is grinding an axe deservedly against both sides. -- M. D. Crosston * Choice *
£24.26
Harvard University Press The Menorah
Book SynopsisSteven Fine explores the cultural and intellectual history of the Western world’s oldest continuously used religious symbol. This meticulously researched yet deeply personal history explains how the seven-branched menorah illuminates the great changes and continuities in Jewish culture, from biblical times to modern Israel.Trade Review[Fine’s] absorbing [book] traces the history and symbolism of an object which has served as an emblem of Judaism far longer than the Magen David… An illuminating read. -- Simon Rocker * Jewish Chronicle *Magisterial…Fine displays a savvy approach to his study of the menorah. -- Jonathan Kirsch * Jewish Journal *Especially helpful are the numerous illustrations and vivid color photographs, many taken by Fine himself or his research team. Positioned alongside the relevant prose, the images help the reader grasp Fine’s insightful interpretations of the evolving iconography. -- Elizabeth Shanks Alexander * Jewish Review of Books *Fine weaves into his story references to the menorah in Jewish and Christian literature and scholarship over the ages, ranging from Josephus to modern times. He notes that menorahs can be found not only in synagogues around the world but in Christian churches as well, especially in Rome but also throughout the world. -- Eugene J. Fisher * Catholic News Service *Fine meticulously documents how this well-known, still-extant artifact became a familiar and important symbol for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, despite initially representing the Romans’ defeat of the Jews in Jerusalem. -- Amanda Folk * Library Journal *Steven Fine’s The Menorah is a remarkably comprehensive and accessible study of this most ancient of all Jewish symbols, from its Biblical roots in Ancient Near Eastern culture through its Roman re-casting and Christian appropriation down to its contemporary uses and misuses by Israeli messianic extremists and anti-semitic parties in the former Soviet Union. By drawing upon his extensive training as a scholar of Rabbinics, archaeology, and Jewish art history, Fine has been able to produce not only an unprecedented study of a Jewish icon, but the basis for a meditation upon the nature of visual iconicity itself in Jewish culture. -- David Stern, Harvard University[An] engaging study of the menorah in history and legend… Lavishly illustrated in color… The menorah deserves a full-length study to sort out fact from fiction; Steven Fine has unquestionably provided it. As well as meeting the highest scholarly standards, his book is also a page-turner, introducing the reader—especially the non-Jewish reader—to an unknown world of imagery, to conspiracy theories involving Freemasons as well as Jews, to the politics of modern Israel, and to ultra-Orthodox Judaism in its many forms. -- John Barton * Times Literary Supplement *Delightfully written…A significant contribution to the study of Jewish religious art and symbolism as well as of the impact of symbolism. This volume should find many uses for students of Jewish religion and comparative religion as well. -- Shaul Stampfer * Religious Studies Review *
£22.46
Harvard University Press How the Soviet Jew Was Made
Book SynopsisIn post-1917 Russian and Yiddish literature, films, and reportage, Sasha Senderovich finds a new cultural figure: the Soviet Jew. Suddenly mobile after more than a century of restrictions under the tsars, Jewish authors created characters who traversed space and history, carrying with them the dislodged practices and archetypes of a lost world.Trade ReviewHow the Soviet Jew Was Made makes an eloquent case for Yiddish-language works being part of Russian/Soviet literature…A deeply researched work, with insightful, often brilliant analyses. -- Yelena Furman * Los Angeles Review of Books *[A] brilliant new study…This is an energetic approach for generations of Russian-speaking American Jews navigating a fraught historical identity, and also for artists and intellectuals who do not think immigrants owe America for their acculturation and citizenship, but rather that a complex, prosperous, artistic, and intellectual America is impossible without us. -- Gary Shteyngart * New York Review of Books *Maps a fascinating landscape of Jewish literary expression in Eastern European Jewish life during the period between the Russian Revolution and the emergence, over the next few decades, of the Soviet Union…Senderovich’s study is indispensable for understanding this rich segment of Jewish creativity. The book charts how a generation of Jewish writers and filmmakers explored, and sought to demystify, the meaning of ‘becoming Soviet’ in response to an emergent Soviet empire demanding ideological consensus among its newly emancipated, deterritorialized Jewish citizens. -- Donald Weber * Jewish Book Council *[How the Soviet Jew Was Made] is a story of enormous creativity in both Russian and Yiddish, which revealed the tensions inherent in being a ‘Soviet Jew’. This victimized figure may have needed ‘saving’ by the West during the Cold War in the form of safe passage out of the USSR, but Senderovich’s meticulous study is less interested in how the Soviet Jew was viewed from outside the USSR than in the struggle that his chosen writers and film-makers underwent in the attempt to make sense of their post-revolutionary selves. -- Bryan Cheyette * Times Literary Supplement *An extraordinary overview of the serious scholarly writing on the multiple dimensions of Jewish life in the Russian/Soviet space. * Association of Jewish Libraries News and Reviews *A deeply researched book that explores literary and cinematic representations of Jews in the USSR between 1917 and the 1930s…[Senderovich’s] comparative approach offers a wider view of the Soviet cultural landscape, where Russian and Yiddish richly interacted with each other. By extension, Senderovich’s book is also an invitation to further expand the scope of Yiddish studies through multilingual approaches. -- Nobuto Sato * In Geveb *Senderovich focuses on the texts of several Jewish writers of the early Soviet period that depict the experience of Jews from shtetls who found themselves under Bolshevik rule. His subtle literary analysis takes in novels, short stories, and films. -- Maria Lipman * Foreign Affairs *Through its intensive engagement with works of post-revolutionary Jewish literature, Senderovich's monograph offers a new reading of Jewish-Soviet literature of the interwar period that enriches the debate about Jewish creativity and identity in the young Soviet Union…An innovative examination of the complex processes that shaped this identity. -- Leonie Rogg * H-Soz-Kult *Wonderful…Tells the story of the development of the unique cultural type of the Soviet Jew during the first two decades of the Soviet Union’s existence. -- Brett Winestock * Studies in American Jewish Literature *Those willing to put in the effort will get a lot out of How the Soviet Jew Was Made. -- Gary Saul Morson * Mosaic *Senderovich doesn’t reheat old material. He provides fresh insight, as well as material few have seen. -- Paul Goldberg * Jerusalem Post *Powerlessness, insecurity, and trauma suspended the Soviet-Jewish figure in a hesitant middle ground. Senderovich’s achievement is in deftly illustrating the tensions of this moment, when speculating on the outcome of the revolution for eastern European Jewry could provoke both great hope and visceral dread in a single text. -- James Benjamin Nadel * The Pickle (Vashti Media Ltd.) *The Russian Revolution of 1917 transformed the Jewish community of the former empire. Soviet modernity meant freedom, the possibility of the new, and the pressure to discard old ways of life, all embodied in the novel cultural figure of the Soviet Jew. In insightful readings of Yiddish and Russian literature, films, and reportage, Senderovich urges us to see the Soviet Jew as a particular kind of liminal being as he offers a profound meditation on culture and identity in a shifting landscape. -- Alice Nakhimovsky, author of Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl: Yiddish Letter Manuals from Russia and AmericaWith incisive exegesis, Senderovich develops a new reading of Soviet Jewish identity formation and expands the canon of twentieth-century Jewish writings in the process. This book establishes Senderovich as an important and original voice in Jewish literary studies. -- Jeffrey Veidlinger, author of In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918–1921 and the Onset of the HolocaustAn erudite exploration of how Russian and Yiddish writers imagined a totally new kind of person, the Soviet Jew. Senderovich shows how war, revolution, and the first years of Soviet power made it possible to construct a Jewish figure and assign it competing ideological meanings. In that way, the Jews were like the Soviet Union itself. Disciplinarily wide-ranging and original, this book will excite readers. -- Gabriella Safran, author of Wandering Soul: The Dybbuk’s Creator, S. An-skyIn this compelling book, Senderovich describes the new Jewish narratives that were born with the Soviet Union. Caught between the excitement of revolutionary messianism and the tragedy of mass violence, Soviet Jewish writers in both Yiddish and Russian created new Jewish archetypes that built on humor, folklore, and music and engaged with debates in Marxist philosophy. Two Jewish literary languages, in dialogue with one another, came to define a new Jewish culture with its own touchstones and ciphers. -- Amelia M. Glaser, author of Songs in Dark Times: Yiddish Poetry of Struggle from Scottsboro to PalestineSenderovich follows the Russian Jews as they navigated across space and time on their journey to becoming Soviet. In richly erudite readings of the most significant interwar works of Soviet Jewish literature, journalism, and cinema in Yiddish and Russian, he explores the convoluted creation process of a new Soviet Jewish identity and makes a strong case for a more nuanced and better informed understanding of the fluid relationship between the two components of this ambivalent hybrid formation. -- Mikhail Krutikov, author of Der Nister’s Soviet Years: Yiddish Writer as Witness to the People
£31.46
Harvard University Press Hidden Caliphate
Book SynopsisWaleed Ziad examines the development of Sufi-led Muslim revivalist networks. From the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis inspired reformist movements and articulated responses to the fracturing of Muslim political power. They fostered a “hidden caliphate” that sustained cohesion from Afghanistan to Siberia and China.Trade ReviewBrilliant…An outstanding book, which makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Sufism, modern Islamic thought, and the social and political history of the Persianate world. -- Fitzroy Morrissey * Asian Affairs *An important work…Ziad provides a riveting account of how history has buffeted the fortunes of the Mujadidi Sufis, from Punjab to the Peshawar valley, Kabul, Bukhara and Turkey. -- Farrukh Husain * Friday Times *Hidden Caliphate announces the arrival of a major new scholar. By focusing on the more recent past of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Ziad recenters the study of the Sufi tradition, which all too often has been relegated to the realm of metaphysics and poetry. He brings a contested period to light with encyclopedic insight. I heartily recommend this book. -- Omid Safi, author of The Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam: Negotiating Ideology and Religious InquiryA major achievement. In this innovative, well-written book Ziad shows us a region knit together by the networks of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis. He is the first to set out their massive influence across Central Asia, Afghanistan, and northwest South Asia, and in the process reveals how limited was the understanding of the colonial powers in the Great Game. -- Francis Robinson, author of The Mughal Emperors: And the Islamic Dynasties of India, Iran and Central Asia, 1206–1925Equipped with an impressive array of primary sources, Ziad skillfully dismantles restrictive notions of region and sovereignty and casts aside binaries such as that of Sufis and ulama. He then offers us a breathtaking view of a Persian cosmopolis held together by vibrant networks of Naqshbandi Sufis in the politically turbulent eighteenth century. This hugely important book should be read across a range of disciplines. -- Supriya Gandhi, author of The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal IndiaA pioneering study of the Mujaddidi Sufi networks that spanned the eastern Islamic world, from Siberia to India, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Grounded in a prodigious range of sources, Hidden Caliphate shows how the order’s doctrinal, ritual, and institutional dimensions offered intellectual and social cohesion for Muslims across this vast region before and after the advent of colonial domination. -- Devin DeWeese, author of Studies on Sufism in Central AsiaRefreshingly original, Hidden Caliphate shows how the Mujaddidi Sufis combined high textual tradition with ecstatic Sufism and local rituals and thus built a seminal authority to unite diverse communities across Central Asia, Afghanistan, and South Asia. Ziad brings a vital new perspective on a region long understood only through the narrow lens of European imperial histories. -- Muzaffar Alam, author of The Mughals and the Sufis: Islam and Political Imagination in India, 1500–1750A brilliant transregional study of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi scholastic–religious networks (the batini khilafat) in Khurasan, Hindustan, and Transoxiana that significantly advances the field of Persianate studies. Ziad traces sacred networks of cultural and economic exchange as well as the leadership structure that helped maintain a degree of stability during a time of political decentralization. A must-read for all interested in Sufism, the Persianate sphere in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the history of the Afghan empire. -- Jo-Ann Gross, Professor of History, Emeritus, The College of New Jersey
£33.11
Harvard University Press The Burdens of Brotherhood
Book SynopsisHeadlines from France suggest that the country's Jews and Muslims are inevitably at odds. But the past tells a different story. In this sweeping history from World War I to the present, Ethan Katz shows that Jewish-Muslim relations were more complex, shaped by everyday encounters and perceptions of deeply rooted similarities as well as differences.
£25.16
Princeton University Press Selected Poems of Shmuel HaNagid
Book SynopsisThe first major poet of the Hebrew literary renaissance of Moslem Spain, Shmuel Ben Yosef Ha-Levi HaNagid (993-1056 ce) was also the Prime Minister of the Muslim state of Granada, and one of the leading religious figures in a medieval Jewish world that stretched from Andalusia to Baghdad. This book features different versions of HaNagid's poems.Trade ReviewPeter Cole, Winner of a 2010 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Winner of the 1998 Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Translation Prize, Modern Language Association Peter Cole is the recipient of a 2007 MacArthur Fellowship "...a wonder of poetic alchemy. [Cole's] deftly cadenced translations embody, as Pound demanded, 'trace of that power which implies the man'. They are delicately poised between fidelity to the Hebrew and an ear finely-tuned to the possibilities of a modern, poetic idiom in English ... At last HaNagid's gift resonates for the English reader."--Poetry Nation Review (England) "Cole's vigorous inventive translation is equal to the task of rendering the work of a poet whose range encompassed commerce and God, war and wine. HaNagid emerges as a man of identifiably modern--even enlightened--breadth, even as the rest of Europe languished in its Dark Ages."--Publishers Weekly "Thanks to [Cole's] Selected Poems of Shmuel HaNagid and Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol, those of us who don't know Hebrew can, for the first time, hear why HaNagid and Ibn Gabirol have been revered for centuries."--Eliot Weinberger, Lingua Franca "Taut, light-footed translations ... remarkable in the degree to which they carry over the distinct poetic complexities of the original while retaining a crisp, contemporary sense of American poetics ... the quality of motion and emotion comes through directly."--Village Voice Literary Supplement "... magnificent ... offers a comprehensive and rich selection of HaNagid's poems ... Cole has paid close attention to the rhythm and syntax of the Hebrew distich, and he reconstructs them with exemplary grace in his English lines. In the quatrains and shorter poems he incorporates a scattering of full rhyme, though always with a light touch, and in some poems he introduces surprising ruptures and daring enjambments into the syntactic flow, imparting a resilience and tension to the text that were missing in the work of his predecessors."--Ha'aretz (Israel) "[Cole's HaNagid] represents the admission of the Hebrew Golden Age into the world of general literature. And high time, too."--Commentary "Fresh, worldly, intimate, and wise ... supple, and sensitive translations."--Booklist "Samuel the Nagid astonishes as a personality, and when read does not disappoint. Cole's generous offering of verse translations brings to the English reader the full range of the Nagid's poetry: accounts of the terrors and exultations of war; poems about love and lovely, frail pleasures; poems of grief; considerations of mortality ... and snappy epigrams on society and the human condition ... a fine, breathing, contemporary version of an old master."--Prooftexts "Translating HaNagid is an immense challenge ... yet Cole, a Jerusalem poet, meets the challenge. The poems are melodic with the music of English ... The images are fresh without being anachronistic. Excellent notes explain not only the Biblical, but the Arabic borrowings."--The Jerusalem Report "Cole has condensed enormous learning into a tightly composed and subtly informing format."--The Jerusalem Post "Entertainingly complex, intriguingly foreign, and strikingly human."--The Forward "Cole ... brings to this work his exquisite sensitivity to matters of art and Judaism. The poems are delightful and significant still, across the ages."--Conservative Judaism "I do not believe that the miracle of ... Hebrew rebirth in Andalusia could find a more attractive English version today."--Zvi Yagendorf, Ariel "Excellent."--American PoetTable of ContentsPreface Introduction An Andalusian Chronology On Fleeing His City The Miracle at Sea A Curse The Apple Jasmine The Gazelle The Fawn Where's That Coy Gazelle In Fact I Love That Fawn I'll Show You a Fawn They Stole My Sleep His Brother's Illness On the Death of Isaac, His Brother The Friends The House of Prayer The Critique The Pain What Are These A Day of Distress The Victory Over Seville The Dream The War with Yadir On Lifting the Siege Your Manuscript Shines To Yehosef, His Son Pass of Sand Among My Friends Rise Early Your Years Are Sleep Sad Friend How I Helped the Wise Rouge in Appearance Take the Crystal Truth Is Hard When the Lord Is with You One Who Works and Buys Himself Books How Could You Loathe Forgive the Man Who Sinned Against You If You're Finding the Good at Fault Delay Your Speech I'd Suck Bitter Poison from the Viper's Mouth If You Don't Have the Power to Pay He Who Lingers at the Court of the King In Business Don't Get Involved If You Shame a Man People Welcome the Rich He Whose Heart in His Heart If You Leave a Long-Loved Friend Respect and Discretion The Rich Are Small You Who'd Be Wise When You're Desperate It's Heart that Discerns Stab Your Heart Is There Any Frustration Did Your Father Leave You Glory Could Kings Right a People Gone Bad The King He'll Bring You Trouble The Wise Understand Assistants Come to Judgment in Groups The Good Students Tend What's Familiar Is Sometimes Distanced The Heart Holds Hidden Knowledge First War Soar, Don't Settle Commerce Has Markets Three Things The Foolish Enemy's Face Tells All Man's Wisdom Is in What He Writes Gazing Through the Night Lovers of Life The Multiple Troubles of Man Be Glad, She Said Earth to Man Your Loved Ones Depress You Soul Opens Inside You The Child at One or Two Fear Five to the Power of Five I Quartered the Troops for the Night Why Repeat the Sins Time Defies and Betrays the Patricians You Felt the Fear of Death Why Should the Hearts of You Purists Luxuries Ease You're Trapped, My Tongue Friends, a Fence Surrounds Us Youth Brings Us He Who Depends on the Princes On Their Couches Stretched Out at the Treasury Come Up and See the Court Suffer the World The Market Flutter or Rest See the Fraud Flow By The Earthquake Two Eclipses The Tyrant Who Rules the Homeless and Poor My Spirit The Black of My Hair Ask the Dead and They'll Tell You Send the Lord to the People Cast Your Bread Know of the Limbs You Mock Me Now in Your Youth You Think There's No Hell That Will Hold You You Look Through Open Eyes Everything Hidden Notes Bibliography
£31.50
Princeton University Press Islam in South Asia in Practice
Book SynopsisBrings together the work of more than thirty scholars of Islam and Muslim societies in South Asia that highlight a wide variety of genres, many rarely found in standard accounts of Islamic practice, from oral narratives to elite guidance manuals, from devotional songs to secular judicial decisions arbitrating Islamic law.Trade Review"[Islam in South Asia in Practice] successfully achieves its place as both a challenge to the Orientalist models of scholarship of the past as well as makes accessible the arguments and primary sources to a larger audience... [T]he overall quality and tone of the articles is one that ... pushes the field in important and meaningful ways, but manages to do so in a manner that can play well in classrooms."--Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, Journal of Contemporary Asia "[T]he concentration of information and insight provided here--from Islamic doctrine to the mechanics of religious practices, sacred texts and spiritual discipline--goes a long way towards capturing the multifaceted meaning of what it has meant to live one's life as a Muslim at different times and in different places in South Asia."--Sarah Ansari, Journal of Islamic Studies "[G]iving access to a wide-range of texts, Islam in South Asia in Practice as an anthology is a rich source of the study of modern/pre-modern South Asian Islam--its religious practices, institutions, and worldview. Islam in South Asia in Practice can better serve as an introduction as well as guide and reference book, respectively, to a wide-ranging texts and practices and scholarly debates and discussions on South Asian Islam. In sum, given the extensive variety of topics and issues and broad selection of themes and concerns it covers is a must read for all those students and scholars who are interested in the history of Islam in South Asia in general and 'in practice' in particular."--Tauseef Ahamd Parray, Islam and Muslim Societies JournalTable of ContentsPrinceton Readings in Religions v Note on Translation, Transliteration, and Acknowledgments vii List of Illustrations xiii Contributors xv Preface: Islam in South Asia in Practice by Barbara D. Metcalf xvii Maps xxvi Introduction: A Historical Overview of Islam in South Asia by Barbara D. Metcalf 1 Devotion and Praise: To Allah, Muhammad, Imams, and Elders Introduction by Barbara D. Metcalf 43 Chapter 1: Satpanthi Ismaili Songs to Hazrat Ali and the Imams by Ali S. Asani 48 Chapter 2: The Soul's Quest in Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Hindavi Romance by Aditya Behl 63 Chapter 3: Pilgrimage to the Shrines in Ajmer by Catherine B. Asher 77 Chapter 4: Women's Grinding and Spinning Songs of Devotion in the Late Medieval Deccan by Richard Eaton 87 Chapter 5: Qawwali Songs of Praise by Syed Akbar Hyder and Carla Petievich 93 Chapter 6: Na't: Media Contexts and Transnational Dimensions of a Devotional Practice by Patrick Eisenlohr 101 Chapter 7: Shi'i Mourning in Muhurram: Nauha Laments for Children Killed at Karbala by Syed Akbar Hyder and Carla Petievich 113 Chapter 8: Islam and the Devotional Image in Pakistan by Jamal J. Elias 120 Holy and Exemplary Lives Introduction by Barbara D. Metcalf 135 Chapter 9: Ibn Battuta Meets Shah Jalal al-Din Tabrizi in Bengal by Barbara D. Metcalf 138 Chapter 10: Narratives of the Life of Haider Shaykh in Punjab by Anna Bigelow 144 Chapter 11: The Daily Life of a Saint, Ahmad Sirhindi, by Badr al-Din Sirhindi by Carl Ernst 158 Chapter 12: Sufi Ritual Practice among the Barkatiyya Sayyids of U.P.: Nuri Miyan's Life and'Urs, Late Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Centuries by Usha Sanyal 166 Chapter 13: Transgressions of a Holy Fool: A Majzub in Colonial India by Nile Green 173 The Transmission of Learning Introduction by Barbara D. Metcalf 187 Chapter 14: Saving Tamil Muslims from the Torments of Hell: Vannapparimalappulavar's Book of One Thousand Questions by Ronit Ricci 190 Chapter 15: The Taqwiyyat al-Iman (Support of the Faith) by Shah Isma'il Shahid by Barbara D. Metcalf 201 Chapter 16: The Brilliance of Hearts: Hajji Imdadullah Teaches Meditation and Ritual by Scott Kugle 212 Chapter 17: Studying Hadith in a Madrasa in the Early Twentieth Century by Muhammad Qasim Zaman 225 Chapter 18: Jihad in the Way of God: A Tablighi Jama'at Account of a Mission in India by Barbara D. Metcalf 240 Chapter 19: A College Girl Gives a Qur'an Lesson in Bangladesh by Maimuna Huq 250 Guidance, Sharia, and Law Introduction by Barbara D. Metcalf 265 Chapter 20: Ibn Battuta as a Qadi in the Maldives by Barbara D. Metcalf 271 Chapter 21: Guiding the Ruler and Prince by Muzaffar Alam 279 Chapter 22: A Colonial Court Defines a Muslim by Alan M. Guenther 293 Chapter 23: Maulana Thanawi's Fatwa on the Limits of Parental Rights over Children by Fareeha Khan 305 Chapter 24: Shari'at Governance in Colonial and Postcolonial India by Ebrahim Moosa 317 Chapter 25: Two Sufis on Molding the New Muslim Woman: Khwaja Hasan Nizami (1878-1955) and Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927) by Marcia Hermansen 326 Chapter 26: Fatwa Advice on Proper Muslim Names by Muhammad Khalid Masud 339 Chapter 27: A Rallying Cry for Muslim Personal Law: The Shah Bano Case and Its Aftermath by Sylvia Vatuk 352 Belonging Introduction by Barbara D. Metcalf 371 Chapter 28: Forest Clearing and the Growth of Islam in Bengal by Richard Eaton 375 Chapter 29: Challenging the Mughal Emperor: The Islamic Millennium according to'Abd al-Qadir Badayuni by Ahmed Azfar Moin 390 Chapter 30: Custom and Conversion in Malabar: Zayn al-Din al-Malibari's Gift of the Mujahidin: Some Accounts of the Portuguese by Engseng Ho 403 Chapter 31: Muslim League Appeals to the Voters of Punjab for Support of Pakistan by David Gilmartin 409 Chapter 32: Advocating a Secular Pakistan: The Munir Report of 1954 by Asad Ahmed 424 Chapter 33: Maulana Yusuf Ludhianvi on the Limits of Legitimate Religious Differences by Naveeda Khan 438 Chapter 34: The Indian Jama'at-i Islami Reconsiders Secular Democracy by Irfan Ahmad 447 Glossary 457 Index 461
£37.80
Princeton University Press god After Auschwitz
Book SynopsisArgues that the impact of technology-enhanced mass death in the twentieth century has affected the future shape of religious thought. This book shows how key Jewish theologians faced the memory of Auschwitz by rejecting traditional theodicy, abandoning any attempt to justify and vindicate the relationship between God and catastrophic suffering.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Modernity Surpassed: Jewish Religious Thought after Auschwitz31Theodicy and Its Others: Forms of Religious Response to the Problem of Evil192Anti/Theodicy: In Bible and Midrash353Theodicies: In Modern Jewish Thought604"Hitler's Accomplice"?! Revisioning Richard Rubenstein875Do I Belong to the Race of Words? Anti/Theodic Faith and Textual Revision in the Thought of Eliezer Berkovits1126Why Is the World Today Not Water? Revelation, Fragmentation, and Solidarity in the Thought of Emil Fackenheim134Conclusion: Discourse, Sign, Diptych: Remarks on Jewish Thought after Auschwitz161Notes179Bibliography193Index201
£78.20
Princeton University Press Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol
Book SynopsisIncludes poems from nearly various of Ibn Gabirol's secular and liturgical lyric genres, as well as a translation of the poet's long masterwork, "Kingdom's Crown." This book contains an introduction, which places the poetry in historical context and charts its influence through the centuries.Trade ReviewPeter Cole, Winner of a 2010 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Winner of the 2001 T.L.S-Porjes Prize for Translation, Jewish Book Council Peter Cole is the recipient of a 2007 MacArthur Fellowship "Taut, light-footed translations ... remarkable in the degree to which they carry over the distinct poetic complexities of the original while retaining a crisp, contemporary sense of American poetics ... the quality of motion and emotion comes through directly."--Publisher's Weekly "Cole's translations of Ibn Gabirol's poetry shimmer: they convey the power and mystique of the original in warm and wonderful phrases. Immediately accessible to the reader seeking beautiful locutions about love, longing, and desire... Cole's introduction is a gem, delineating what little is known about Ibn Gabirol the man and describing his world, his work, and his thought in ways that will delight."--Choice "Being medieval, these poems inevitably demonstrate the scope of religious language in their explorations of nature, drink, love, sex, boasting, friendship and loneliness. They are by turns, witty, satirical, elegiac--and always allusive."--Jane Liddell-King, Jewish ChronicleTable of ContentsSolomon Ibn Gabirol: An Andalusian Alphabet 3 FROM THE DIWAN OF SOLOMON IBN GABIROL Truth Seekers Turn 41 PERSONAL POEMS AND POEMS OF COURT I'm Prince to the Poem 45 My Words Are Driven 46 Forget About "If" and "Maybe" 47 Prologue to the Book of Grammar 49 My Condition Worsened 51 All My Desire 52 The Apple: I 53 The Rose 54 See the Sun 55 They Asked Me As Though They Were Mystified 56 On Leaving Saragossa 57 The Moon Was Cut 61 My Heart Thinks As the Sun Comes Up 62 The Palace Garden 63 Winter with Its Ink 66 The Garden 67 The Field 68 The Bee 69 Isn't the Sky 70 The Lily 71 Now the Thrushes 72 The Apple: II 73 The Lightning 74 The Lip of the Cup 75 I'd Give Up My Soul Itself 76 Tell the Boy 77 Be Smart with Your Love 78 All in Red 79 Shards 80 The Apple: III 81 You've Stolen My Words 82 The Altar of Song 83 Tell the Prince 84 What's Troubling You, My Soul 85 The Pen 88 What's With You 89 God-Fearing Men 90 Your Soul Strains and You Sigh 91 Don't Look Back 94 If This Life's Joy 95 When You Find Yourself Angry 96 I Am the Man 97 And Don't Be Astonished 99 The Tree 100 If You'd Live Among Men 104 Why Are You Frightened 105 A Kite 106 And Heart's Hollow 107 I Love You 108 POEMS OF DEVOTION Before My Being 111 Three Things 112 I Look for You 113 Forget Your Grief 114 The Hour of Song 117 Two Things Meet in Me 118 Small in My Awe 119 Open the Gate 120 My Thoughts Asked Me 121 Angels Amassing 122 All the Creatures of Earth and Heaven 124 He Dwells Forever 126 And So It Came to Nothing 129 Haven't I Hidden Your Name 130 Lord Who Listens 131 I've Made You My Refuge 132 Lips for Bullocks 133 I Take Great Pleasure 134 Send Your Spirit 135 You Lie in My Palace on Couches of Gold 136 KINGDOM'S CROWN 137 Notes 197 Bibliography 317
£28.80
Princeton University Press Greecea Jewish History
Book SynopsisDescribes the diverse histories and the processes of Greek Jews that worked to make them emerge as a Greek collective. This book follows the Jews as they left Greece - as deportees to Auschwitz or emigres to Palestine/Israel and New York's Lower East Side.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2010 Prix Alberto Benveniste Winner of the 2009 Runciman Award, Anglo-Hellenic League Winner of the 2008 National Jewish Book Award in Sephardic Culture, Jewish Book Council Honorable Mention for the 2009 Edmund Keeley Book Prize, Modern Greek Studies Association "With this innovative, soundly researched work Professor K. E. Fleming has filled a long-standing need for the story of Greek Jewry to be told fully."--Jewish Book World "What is a Greek Jew? Fleming pursues this question through various Jewish experiences (Romaniot and Sephardi) during the stages of the emerging modern Greek national identity. Her well-written, gripping story argues that 'Greek Jew' is actually a phantom term that emerged formally only in 1920 with governmental recognition of the Salonika community, and developed among young Jews during the 1930s, later concretizing in the Nazi concentration camps and the Jewish Diasporas to Palestine and the U.S."--S. Bowman, Choice "This book is an excellent effort to explain the quandary of the Jews of Greece during the country's turbulent 200-year history."--Jay Levinson, Jewish Tribune "This is not a 'religious book' meant to inspire. It is the very well told story of a once flourish Jewish community whose history must never be forgotten."--Jay Levinson, Jewish Magazine "K. E. Fleming has produced an insightful historical overview of the Jewish presence in Greece from the establishment of the Greek state in the early nineteenth century to the post-Holocaust era... [U]ntil the appearance of Fleming's work there was no overarching account of the Jewish experience in modern Greece, and this book fills that lacuna extremely well."--Alexander Kitroeff, American Historical Review "This fascinating book examines the concepts of identity and nationality as experienced by Jews, while paying tribute to those who were lost in World War II and to the righteous gentiles who saved the remnants of the community. Professor Fleming has written an important work on a little-known subject. It belongs in all academic Judaic collections."--Barbara M. Bibel, Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter "This volume, which displays solid scholarly standards, is also highly interesting as it follows the multiple destinies of these Jewish groups and demonstrates how complex Jewish history is--how diverse and how difficult to categorize. Fleming has succeeded in escaping preconceived attitudes and in treating the object of her investigation with detachment but also with the empathy required for all genuinely good research projects."--Esther Benbassa, Journal of Modern History "[A]n absorbing story, well told and referenced, and a worthy winner of [the] Runciman Award."--Michael Llewellyn Smith, Hellenic ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1 PART I: Independence and Expansion 13 CHAPTER 2: After Independence: "Old Greece" 15 CHAPTER 3: "New Greece": Greek Territorial Expansion 32 PART II: The "Sephardic Republic": Salonika to 1923 49 CHAPTER 4: Salonika to 1912 51 CHAPTER 5: Becoming Greek: Salonika, 1912-23 67 PART III: Normalization to Destruction 89 CHAPTER 6: Interwar Greece: Jews under Venize'los and Metaxas 91 CHAPTER 7: Occupation and Deportation: 1941-44 110 PART IV "The Greeks": Greek Jews beyond Greece 145 CHAPTER 8: Auschwitz-Birkenau 147 CHAPTER 9: Trying to Find Home: Jews in Postwar Greece 166 CHAPTER 10: Hellenized at Last: Greek Jews in Palestine/Israel 190 CHAPTER 11: Conclusion: Greek Jewish History--Greek or Jewish? 205 Notes 215 Index 265
£59.50
Princeton University Press Guru English South Asian Religion in a
Book SynopsisAnalyzes writers and gurus, literary texts and religious movements, and the political uses of religion alongside the literary expressions of religious teachers, showing the cosmopolitan interconnections between the Indian subcontinent, the British Empire, and the American New Age.Trade Review"A highly engaging, often brilliant and wide-ranging book with broad scholarly appeal. Aravamudan has produced a novel synthesis that goes beyond other works in the field to articulate a vision of the cosmopolitan range of Indic thought within the metropole. The book is an important contribution to postcolonial studies and to scholars working in comparative literature, anthropology, history, and globalization studies."—Bernard Bate, Yale University"An intellectual tour de force combining literary criticism, archival research, philosophical reflections, and cultural analysis. The elegant merging of various disciplinary fields makes Guru English an important reference tool for a variety of scholars interested in cultural globalization, religious studies, colonial and post-colonial formations, and literary criticism."—Marco Jacquemet, University of San Francisco"Rich in intelligent readings on a range of topics that are cleverly linked to the resuscitation, re-fashioning, and export of Asian religion."—Bruce Robbins, Columbia University"Guru English significantly extends the reach of postcolonial criticism by bringing into conversation literary theory and area studies. It presents some of the best analyses to date of the prose through which a colonial construct called 'Indian spiritualism' has found both a market and an afterlife in the contemporary world. Aravamudan's probing examination of the Hindu Right's language of nuclear triumphalism, of Rushdie's writings, and of the promises held out by a long line of transnational gurus—from the Maharishi to Deepak Chopra—will establish him as a major cultural commentator of our times."—Dipesh Chakrabarty, The University of Chicago"Guru English is an innovative and insightful analysis of the language used during the last two centuries in the discourse on religion in South Asia. The genes of British English were mutated by Indian requirements and the resulting language was indispensable to the redefining of Hinduism. Processed through orientalism, colonialism, and nationalism, it is now moving towards cosmopolitanism and the diaspora. The new texture of this language bears the heightened imprint of cultural and political concerns."—Romila Thapar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, IndiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter One: Theolinguistics: Orientalists, Brahmos, Vedantins, and Yogis 26 Chapter Two: From Indian Romanticism to Guru Literature 63 Chapter Three: Theosophistries 105 Chapter Four: The Hindu Sublime, or Nuclearism Rendered Cultural 142 Chapter Five: Blasphemy, Satire, and Secularism 184 Chapter Six: New Age Enchantments 220 Afterword 265 Notes 271 Index 313
£31.50
Princeton University Press On the Origins of Jewish SelfHatred
Book SynopsisDemonstrates that the concept of Jewish self-hatred once had decidedly positive connotations. This title traces the genesis of the term to Anton Kuh, a Viennese-Jewish journalist who coined it in the aftermath of World War I, and shows how the German-Jewish philosopher Theodor Lessing came to write a book that popularized "Jewish self-hatred.Trade Review"[T]he author does a fine job of placing Kuh and Lessing in personal and historical contexts, and he clearly contrasts their ideological notions of Jewish self-hatred with the more psychological slant of such contemporary thinkers as Peter Gay, Sander Gilman, and Shulamit Volkov."--Publishers Weekly "[S]hort and ambitious... Of particular interest is Reitter's analysis of the impact of World War I: it gave renewed focus to the so-called Jewish question in Europe and spurred Koh's and Lessing's work... [On the Origins of Jewish Self-Hatred] should be in every library with a serious Jewish studies collection."--Library Journal "His arguments are convincing; however, while the book is short, readable, and enlightening, it is a work of scholarship--Reitter assumes the reader is familiar with the previous work on the topic. At times I felt like I was at a dinner party where everyone was gossiping about people I had never heard of. Reitter's excellent book is an inadvertent reminder of how the Germans pulverized their own intellectual life."--Gordon Haber, Religion Dispatches "With this book ... Reitter has established himself as a leading authority on German-Jewish relations between the wars. Valuable."--Choice "On the Origins of Jewish Self-Hatred is a substantive and sophisticated work."--Glenn C. Altschuler, Jerusalem Post "[A] slim, intriguing volume."--Ben Cohen, Jewish Ideas Daily "I highly recommend Reitter's essay both for the light it shines on interwar Jewish intellectual culture in Vienna and for its intervention in the study of Jewish self-hatred. From now on, any scholar interested in using or critiquing the term must reckon with Reitter's findings."--Amos Bitzan, H-Net Reviews "Paul Reitter ... has an acutely sharp axe in his intellectual probing of the syndrome that surfaces so often in the contemporary debate on Jewish self-hate... The troika of Jewish thinkers who inhabit Reitter's formidable study, tried to navigate the dangerous shoals of modern German history and its impact of German Jews. In resuscitating the complex arguments they offered in their explanation of Jewish self-hate, Reitter has performed a valuable exercise--for which we are in his debt."--Arnold Ages, Jewish TribuneTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Part One: Genealogical Imperatives 5 Part Two: The Birth of "Jewish Self-Hatred" and the Spirit of Interwar Europe 45 Part Three: Prominence: The Making of Theodor Lessing's Book Jewish Self-Hatred 75 Conclusion 121 Notes 127 Select Bibliography 155 Index 161 Acknowledgments 165
£27.00
Princeton University Press Mutual Life Limited Islamic Banking Alternative Currencies Lateral Reason
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£36.00
Princeton University Press Islam
Book SynopsisIntroduces Islam to readers with Christian or Jewish backgrounds. This book starts with the central feature of Muslim faith and life: the Quran. It compares Jesus and Muhammad, describes Islamic commandments and rituals, details the structures of Sunni and Shi'ite communities, and lays out central Islamic beliefs on war, women, and mysticism.Trade Review"With this Guide, readers ... who have wanted an informed and balanced account of Muslim belief and practice need wait no longer."--C. Clifton Black, Theology Today "Clearly the reading public needs a book describing Islam that avoids trendy multiculturalism as well as Christian rejectionism. That is precisely what F.E. Peters provides in this lucid guide. Peters manifests all the virtues of clarity and fairness that come from a lifetime of study devoted to this complex and multifaceted religion... Here is that most paradoxical of books: one that can change lives (and headlines), not by trying to convert, but simply by trying to describe."--Edward T. Oakes, S.J., First ThingsTable of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*Introduction, pg. xi*1. Discovering Scripture in Scripture, pg. 1*2. The Past Remembered, pg. 30*3. "And Muhammad Is His Messenger", pg. 51*4. The Prince of Medina, pg. 68*Muhammad and Jesus: An Essay in Comparison, pg. 96*5. The Muslim Scripture: The Quran, pg. 99*6. The Umma, Allah's Commonwealth, pg. 127*7. God's Way: A Life and a Law for Muslims, pg. 156*8. Defining and Defending the Community of Believers, pg. 186*9. The Worshipful Acts, pg. 216*10. This World and the Next, pg. 245*Reflections after a Breakfast, pg. 273*Index, pg. 277
£31.50
Princeton University Press Authorizing Marriage Canon Tradition and
Book SynopsisExplores the issue of same-sex marriage through a range of biblical, historical, liturgical, and theological evidence. From David's love for Jonathan through the singleness of Jesus and Paul to the all-male heaven of John's Apocalypse, this title addresses pertinent passages in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.Trade Review"Learned and absorbing essays... Some of the best historical and theological writing I have read in a long time is contained within the covers of this book. If those on the right wing in our current conflicts fail to enter into serious and thoughtful conversation with these and other recent offerings, they will be convicting themselves of irrational partisanship and intellectual obscurantism."--William Countryman, Church Times "A series of provocative and surprising essays that take up the warrant for blessing same-sex unions from a variety of Judeo-Christian perspectives... Taken as a whole, the volume provides some unusual and provocative arguments from a variety of religious perspectives that supporters of same-sex marriage might take into account as they formulate their strategies for future public debates."--Rebecca Alpert, Sexuality Research & Social Policy "This collection makes a refreshing change from the familiar ping-pong battle between liberals and conservatives about the ownership of the Judae-Christian tradition on sex and marriage... This is an impressive collection of powerful imaginative projects. It may not 'solve' any problems. But it certainly opens windows of opportunity for fresh reflection among the stereotypes."--George Newlands, Scottish Journal of TheologyTable of ContentsLIST OF CONTRIBUTORS vii MARK D. JORDAN Introduction 1 SAUL M. OLYAN "Surpassing the Love of Women": Another Look at 2 Samuel 1:26 and the Relationship of David and Jonathan 7 DALE B. MARTIN Familiar Idolatry and the Christian Case against Marriage 17 MARY ANN TOLBERT Marriage and Friendship in the Christian New Testament: Ancient Resources for Contemporary Same-Sex Unions 41 DANIEL BOYARIN Why Is Rabbi Yohanan a Woman? or, A Queer Marriage Gone Bad: "Platonic Love" in the Talmud 52 LAURENCE PAUL HEMMING Can I Really Count on You? 68 STEVEN GREENBERG Contemplating a Jewish Ritual of Same-Sex Union: An Inquiry into the Meanings of Marriage 81 MARK D. JORDAN Arguing Liturgical Genealogies, or, The Ghosts of Weddings Past 102 KATHRYN TANNER Hooker and the New Puritans 121 SUSAN FRANK PARSONS Ad Imaginem Dei: Is There a Moral Here? 139 EUGENE F. ROGERS JR. Trinity, Marriage, and Homosexuality 151 NOTES 165 INDEX 197
£49.30
Princeton University Press Law Politics and Morality in Judaism
Book SynopsisJewish legal and political thought developed in conditions of exile, where Jews had neither a state of their own nor citizenship in any other. What use, then, can this body of thought be to Jews living in Israel or as emancipated citizens in secular states? This collection of essays by political theorists and lawyers deals with such questions.Trade Review"This volume provides the reader with clear and penetrating discussion of such problems and suggests various models for how to conduct inquiry into them."--Michael L. Morgan, History of Political ThoughtTable of ContentsPreface by Michael Walzer vii PART I: POLITICAL ORDER AND CIVIL SOCIETY 1 Chapter One: Obligation: A Jewish Jurisprudence of the Social Order by Robert M. Cover 3 Chapter Two: Judaism and Civil Society by Suzanne Last Stone 12 Chapter Three: Civil Society and Government by Noam J. Zohar 34 Chapter Four: Autonomy and Modernity by David Biale 50 PART II: TERRITORY, SOVEREIGNTY, AND INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY 55 Chapter Five: Land and People by David Novak 57 Chapter Six: Contested Boundaries: Visions of a Shared World by Noam J. Zohar 83 Chapter Seven: Diversity, Tolerance, and Sovereignty by Menachem Fisch 96 Chapter Eight: Responses to Modernity by Adam B. Seligman 121 Chapter Nine: Judaism and Cosmopolitanism by David Novak 128 PART III: WAR AND PEACE 147 Chapter Ten: Commanded and Permitted Wars by Michael Walzer 149 Chapter Eleven: Prohibited Wars by Aviezer Ravitzky 169 Chapter Twelve: Judaism and the Obligation to Die for the State by Geoffrey B. Levey 182 Contributors 209 Index 211
£28.80
Princeton University Press Concealment and Revelation
Book SynopsisTracing the rise of esotericism and its function in medieval Jewish thought, this book builds conceptual-philosophical force to culminate in a phenomenological taxonomy of esotericism and its paradoxes. It discusses about esoteric imagination.Trade Review"Halbertal explains complex issues clearly and gracefully, moving smoothly from dense kabbalistic passages to abstruse texts on medieval philosophy in a way that allows the unspecialized reader to follow his train of thought without plumbing the depths of each theological system to which he refers."--Jewish Book World "This concise and brilliant book ... provides great insight into individual thinkers like Ibn Ezra, whose astrological beliefs are frequently overlooked by his readers, and Rambam, whose explicit esotericism has perplexed readers for centuries... A translation of the 2001 Hebrew edition, this very scholarly yet highly readable work will be recognized as a masterful work for many years to come."--Tradition "Halbertal's book outlines a challenging theory in the intellectual history of Jewish creativity. He does not rely on new material but offers a superb interpretation of available material. This book undoubtedly represents a major contribution to the discourse on the character and the varieties of ancient and medieval Jewish thought."--Dov Schwartz, Journal of ReligionTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix A Note on Editions Used xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Paradox of Esotericism: "And Not on the Chariot Alone" 8 Chapter 2: The Hidden and the Sublime: Vision and Restriction in the Bible and in Talmudic Literature 13 Chapter 3: The Ethics of Gazing: The Attitude of Early Jewish Mysticism Toward Seeing the Chariot 18 Chapter 4: Concealment and Power: Magic and Esotericism in the Hekhalot Literature 28 Chapter 5: Esotericism and Commentary: Ibn Ezra and the Exegetical Layer 34 Chapter 6: Concealment and Heresy: Astrology and the Secret of the Torah 44 Chapter 7: Double Language and the Divided Public in Guide of the Perplexed 49 Chapter 8: The Breaching of the Limits of the Esoteric: Concealment and Disclosure in Maimonidean Esotericism 60 Chapter 9: From Transmission to Writing: Hinting, Leaking, and Orthodoxy in Early Kabbalah 69 Chapter 10: Open Knowledge and Closed Knowledge: The Kabbalists of Gerona-Rabbi Azriel and Rabbi Ya'akov bar Sheshet 77 Chapter 11: Tradition, Closed Knowledge, and the Esoteric: Secrecy and Hinting in Nahmanides' Kabbalah 83 Chapter 12: From Tradition to Literature: Shem Tov Ibn Gaon and the Critique of Kabbalistic Literature 93 Chapter 13: "The Widening of the Apertures of the Showpiece": Shmuel Ibn Tibon and the End of the Era of Esotericism 105 Chapter 14: Esotericism, Sermons, and Curricula: Ya'akov Anatoli and the Dissemination of the Secret 114 Chapter 15: The Ambivalence of Secrecy: The Dispute over Philosophy in the Early Fourteenth Century 120 Chapter 16: Esotericism, Discontent, and Co-Existence 135 Chapter 17: Taxonomy and Paradoxes of Esotericism: Conceptual Conclusion 142 Notes 169 Index 191
£46.75
Princeton University Press Growing Up Palestinian Israeli Occupation and
Book SynopsisTells the inside story of three young men caught up in the Palestinian intifada. Through their stories, the tangled and tragic web of the past twenty years of the most enduring conflict in the Middle East unfolds before us.Trade Review"Readers wanting a look at the lives of young Palestinians and their society will be hard-pressed to find a better book."--Publishers Weekly "A must for all those concerned with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the great value of this contemporary history is that it brings you close-up to the Palestinian people and their politics, revealing the differences among them, differences across generations but also of class, religion, politics, and place... Neither simplistic nor sentimental, Bucaille shows that the conflict with the Israelis is inseparable from the Palestinians' conflict within their own community."--Booklist "Like a painter of miniatures, Laetitia Bucaille describes a multitude of small scenes from the lives of young Palestinians, ushering us into a world view in which death gradually comes to occupy the central role... This book offers a richly detailed look at the rise of that political impasse which engenders suicide bombings and the alarming commitment of martyrs."--Gilles Kepel, Le Monde "Clear, measured and exacting, Growing Up Palestinian is required reading for anyone who professes to have an opinion about the Middle East."--Mary-Lou Zeitoun, Toronto Globe and Mail "Growing Up Palestinian ... concisely opens up whole tableaus of recent Palestinian history and provides a rich basis from which to delve further into that history."--John Collins, Journal of Palestinian StudiesTable of ContentsFOREWORD vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi GLOSSARY xiii INTRODUCTION xv CHAPTER ONE: The Palestinian Intifada: The Revolt against Israeli Occupation, 1987-1994 1 CHAPTER TWO: Building Palestinian Autonomy, 1994-2000 30 CHAPTER THREE: Fault Lines among the Palestinians 56 CHAPTER FOUR: Palestine and Israel: The Impossible Divorce 79 CHAPTER FIVE: Par t-timers of War: The Al-Aqsa Intifada, 2000-2002 111 CONCLUSION 151 NOTES 159 INDEX 165
£27.00
Princeton University Press My Life Is a Weapon A Modern History of Suicide
Book SynopsisWhat kind of people are suicide bombers? How do they justify their actions? In this book, the author argues that popular views of these young men and women - as crazed fanatics or brainwashed automatons - fall short of the mark. He tells a story of the modern globalization of suicide bombing.Trade Review"We are as yet a long way from fully understanding the various manifestations of suicide terrorism and its motives, but My Life Is a Weapon is an important contribution. Reuter has traveled for years through Arab countries, the Middle East and Central Asia and is able to talk more or less freely to people and read texts usually not accessible to the average foreign correspondent. His account of suicide terrorism is, to the best of my knowledge, the first (of its kind) in any language."--Walter Laqueur, Times Literary Supplement "Against the violent Manichean rhetoric of the times, and its brute interventionism, Reuter offers a counter-narrative: suicide attacks in Israel-Palestine will stop when Israel withdraws from the Occupied Territories; more generally across the region, the West should keep out."--Jacqueline Rose, London Review of Books "This is a journalist's history ... with solid exposition, sharp observations and flashes of insight... For instance, in invading and occupying Iraq, he maintains, the Bush administration is playing into the hands of terrorists like Osama bin Laden, creating exactly the context of humiliation that provides new recruits."--William S. Kowinski, San Francisco Chronicle "[A] well-researched history of suicide attacks, which touches on the 12th century Assassins but concentrates on today... Suicide attackers can be educated and uneducated; religious and secular; comfortably off and destitute: their link is the decision they make to transform their powerlessness into extraordinary power."--The Economist "Christoph Reuter ... interviewed as many families of suicide bombers as he could find, canvassed their countries of origin for insights, and has compiled the results in a short, readable book. The windows Mr. Reuter makes into suicide terrorists' family lives ... show how lamentable is the ethos of chauvinism and pride that supports suicide terrorism. But they also show how fragile and contrived that support can sometimes be."--Brendan Conway, New York Sun "[Reuter] integrate[s] impressive research with personal interviews and experiences that give the material immediacy and emotional force... [H]is message is an important one, and it is this: the myths that poverty, or deprivation, or humiliation, or paradisiacal virgins or religious zealotry or hopelessness or plain ignorance are ultimately driving suicide attacks are 'simply wrong'... What is driving the spread and intensification of such attacks, he suggests, is a record of apparent success in attaining strategic objectives from 1980 to 2000, even if such success was bought at a horrible cost."--Avery Plaw, Montreal Gazette "Everyone frustrated by the spread of suicide bombing as an extension of politics by other means would be wise to read and dwell on My Life is a Weapon... Reuter's book offers rich data for mulling the topic."--Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer "This insightful, sensitively written book deserves a wide audience."--Jane Adas, Christian Century "Likely to become the standard text on the subject."--Washington Post Book World "Fine first-hand reporting is combined with a sensitive effort to explain."--Foreign Affairs "Reuter has provided an excellent overview of the nature of contemporary suicide attacks. The book is well worth reading for all students of this topic."--John C. Zimmerman, Terrorism and Political ViolenceTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION The Power of the Powerless, the Powerlessness of the Powerful 1 CHAPTER 1 The Original Assassins: A History of Faith and Power in the Islamic World 19 CHAPTER 2 A Key to Paradise around Their Necks: Iran's Suicide Battalions 33 CHAPTER 3 The Marketing Strategists of Martyrdom: Hezbollah in Lebanon 52 CHAPTER 4 Israel and Palestine: The Culture of Death 79 CHAPTER 5 Suicide or Martyrdom? Modern Islam and the Feud of the Fatwas 115 CHAPTER 6 Bushido Replaces Allahu akbar: The Japanese Kamikaze 130 CHAPTER 7 The Parasites of Anger: Al-Qaeda and the Islamist Internationale 139 CHAPTER 8 Separatist Movements and Female Suicide Bombers: The Cases of Sri Lanka and Kurdistan 155 CHAPTER 9 After Martyrdom: Recent Developments in Iran 167 Notes 181 Index 195
£27.00
Princeton University Press Revelatory Events Three Case Studies of the
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] fascinating and masterfully interdisciplinary study. . . . With the nuance and erudition made possible by Taves's keen historical eye, firm grasp of the cognitive social sciences, and all of the primary resources now available to scholars of religion, Revelatory Events represents the best of the comparative method in twenty-first century scholarship. . . . This book is highly recommended!"---Adam Powell, Journal of Mormon History"Revelatory Events is a book that anyone studying new religious movements is going to have to deal with for the foreseeable future. . . . [Taves'] comparative work and sophisticated analysis gives us a model for how good scholarship should be done."---David Feltmate, Nova Religio"Bringing insights from psychological research on creativity, Taves proposes understanding the set of “guiding procedures” as the outcome of a creative process, whereby the emerging groups creatively accept the supra-human presence responsible for providing the initial message and shape their own social identity according to it."---Eduard Iricinschi, Journal of Religion in EuropeTable of ContentsIllustrations and Tables vii Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 Part 1 Making Meaning 13 Case Study A Restored Church 17 1 Translation 23 2 Materialization 50 3 Beginnings 66 Case Study An Anonymous Fellowship 82 4 Stories 89 5 Fellowship 110 6 Seeking 129 Case Study A Course in Miracles 151 7 Emergence 157 8 Teaching(s) 180 9 Roles 195 Part 2 Creating Paths 223 10 Groups 225 11 Selves 240 12 Motives 270 Conclusion 290 Appendix Discussion of Methods 297 Appendix Charts 311 Bibliography 331 Author Index 347 Subject Index 351
£78.20
Princeton University Press Reaching for Power
Book SynopsisTraces the role of the Shi'is in the struggle raging among Muslims for the soul of Islam. This book shows that in contrast to the growing militancy among Sunni groups since the 1990s, Shi'is have shifted their focus from confrontation to accommodation with the West. It addresses the crucial importance of Shi'is to US endeavors.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2006 "Yitzhak Nakash's book, based on a vast array of sources in Arabic, is a precious guide to understanding the real stakes in the conflicts among different religious and political tendencies in Arab countries."--Gilles Kepel, American Prospect Reaching for Power is more than just the best recent introduction to Shi'i politics in the Arab world. By basing his study on mainly Arab sources, he offers a rare insight into the Shi'i political thought and their ways of commemorating their past."--Guido Steinberg, International Affairs "Well-written, timely, and generally accessible... Reaching for Power is timely and highly relevant. It is clearly suitable for a course on Middle East politics, and should make the recommended reading list for policy pundits and US government officials contemplating the future of Iraq."--Lara Deeb, Middle East Journal "In this quietly optimistic work, Nakash sees Shi'ism as taking a lead in inspiring reform in the Arab world."--Fiona Capp, The Age "Nakash predicted that Iraq could descend into civil war or could lead the way to revolutionary change throughout the Arab world. Unfortunately, the pessimistic view has, to date, proven correct... Nakash has written a book that will be eminently useful for professors and students who want to update the received wisdom that 'real' Islam is Sunni and Shi'i Islam is a minority sect mostly associated with Iran. It is clear that scholars and general readers need to learn more about yet another transformation within the Arab world, and this concise book is the place to start."--Nancy E. Gallagher, Digest of Middle East StudiesTable of ContentsPreface ix A Note on Transliteration xiii Prologue A Shi'i-Led Reformation 1 Chapter 1: The Burden of the Past 16 Chapter 2: Containment Politics in the Persian Gulf 42 Chapter 3: The Struggle for Power in Iraq 72 Chapter 4: The Revival of Shi'ism in Lebanon 99 Chapter 5: Between Aspirations and Reality 129 Conclusion 158 Abbreviations 165 Notes 167 Further Reading 207 Acknowledgments 211 Index 213
£25.20
Princeton University Press The Politics of Womens Rights in Iran
Book SynopsisAfter the 1979 revolution, Iranian leaders transformed the state into an Islamic republic. This title explores how Iranian women understand their rights. It reveals that the postrevolutionary republic blended practices of a liberal republic with Islamic principles of equality.Trade Review"The book is a valuable contribution to the studies of state-society interaction in the Islamic Republic of Iran."--G. Tezcur, Choice "The Politics of Women's Rights in Iran is most appropriate for academic law libraries. It could, perhaps, prove a useful addition to a law firm library as well, particularly for a firm that serves a substantial clientele from an Iranian or Islamic background. The text is written at quite a high level, which prevents me from recommending it for all but the most scholarly types who also have a specific interest in the subject matter."--Kama Siegel, Law Library Journal "For ... its much needed accessibility, attention to nuance, and analytic precision, The Politics of Women's Rights in Iran is a valuable contribution to a complex and conflicted field of inquiry."--Abbas Barzegar, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences "[A] unique and effective first book... Osanloo's voice is fresh and provides a deeper insight into the question of women's rights."--Paola Rivetti, Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies "Osanloo's book is a timely discussion that not only critiques the limitations of the Islamic Republic's stance on women's rights, but also queries the Western gaze and political agenda often viewing the non-Christian as the alien Other. It provides a fresh perspective on the ways in which contemporary urban women in Iran construct and articulate a discourse of 'rights' relevant to their lives."--Mehri Honarbin-Holliday, Feminist Review "The Politics of Women's Rights in Iran is essential reading for human rights scholars, advocates (and sceptics alike), and practitioners who are grappling to find pathways beyond the stale and polarised discourses concerning human rights in Iran."--Sevda Clark, Nordic Journal of Human RightsTable of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xvii INTRODUCTION: Human Rights and Cultural Practice 1 CHAPTER ONE: A Genealogy of "Women's Rights" in Iran 20 CHAPTER TWO: Producing States: Women's Participation and the Dialogics of Rights 42 CHAPTER THREE: Qur'anic Meetings: "Doing the Cultural Work" 75 CHAPTER FOUR: Courting Rights: Rights Talk in Islamico-Civil Family Court 108 CHAPTER FIVE: Practice and Effect: Writing/Righting the Law 138 CHAPTER SIX: Human Rights: The Politics and Prose of Discursive Sites 166 CONCLUSION: "Women's Rights" as Exhibition at the Brink of War 200 APPENDIX: The Iranian Marriage Contract 209 Notes 211 Glossary 227 Bibliography 231 Index 251
£27.00
Princeton University Press Josephuss The Jewish War A Biography
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Mr. Goodman has produced, in his latest work, a succinct and vigorous account that combines erudition and an eye for detail with graceful insights."---Barry Strauss, The Wall Street Journal"Martin Goodman, steeped in both Jewish and classical sources, is the most significant historian of Jews and Judaism writing in the UK today, and one of the most significant in the world. As always, Goodman's work is clear, precise, and a pleasure to read."---David Ruben, Jewish Chronicle"The Jewish War rightfully belongs in the biography series of “lives of great religious books.” . . . An exciting and excellent piece of intellectual history. I recommend it without any reservations."---Rivkah Fishman-Duker, Jewish Political Studies Review
£18.00
Princeton University Press Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe
Book SynopsisExamines how gender identities were reconfigured in a Bulgarian Muslim community following the demise of Communism and an influx of international aid from the Islamic world. This work explores how gender relations among the Pomaks had to be renegotiated after the collapse of both Communism and the region's state-subsidized lead and zinc mines.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2011 William A. Douglass Prize in Europeanist Anthropology, Society for the Anthropology of Europe/American Anthropological Association Winner of the 2011 Davis Center Book Prize in Political and Social Studies, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Winner of the 2011 John D. Bell Memorial Book Prize, Bulgarian Studies Association Winner of the 2010 Heldt Prize for Best Book in Slavic/Eastern European/Eurasian Women's studies, Association for Women in Slavic Studies "Islamic studies scholars who increasingly focus on a wide range of Muslim societies in both Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority countries will find this volume informative. The author presents her work in an accessible fashion, and the volume will appeal to people with diverse interests."--Choice "Ghodsee accomplishes a great deal with Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe... [T]his work may be a useful teaching tool for classes focusing on political transitions and may help steer young students and international bureaucrats away from crude stereotypes about Muslims in the Balkans."--Isa Blumi, H-Net Reviews "Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe offers an insightful analysis of the social and economic factors that propelled the spread of new forms of religious allegiances and gender roles among Pomaks in Bulgaria. It is an excellent contribution to the study of Islam in postcommunist society."--Ina Merdjanova, Religion, State & Society "Ghodsee does an excellent job at unpacking the complexities of Muslim life in Madan and beyond. Her thought-provoking book gives life to a world in which the dust of the past is still settling on the complex world of post-1989."--Mary Neuburger, Slavic ReviewTable of ContentsIllustrations ix A Note on Transliteration xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: The Changing Face of Islam in Bulgaria 1 Chapter One: Names to Be Buried With 34 Chapter Two: Men and Mines 56 Chapter Three: The Have-nots and the Have-nots 86 Chapter Four: Divide and Be Conquered 109 Chapter Five: Islamic Aid 130 Chapter Six: The Miniskirt and the Veil 159 Conclusion: Minarets after Marx 184 Appendix 205 Notes 207 Selected Bibliography 235 Index 243
£28.80
Princeton University Press The Rise and Fall of the Shah Iran from
Book SynopsisExamines the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, especially from 1953 to 1979, in the context of his regime's dependence on the United States and his dreams of transforming Iran into a world power. This book argues that, despite the Shah's early achievements, his goals and policies were full of inherent contradictions and weaknesses.Trade Review"A sober, scholarly study of the place of Iran in world politics, of the 53-year reign of the Pahlavi family and of the effects of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi's dependence on the United States."--New York Times "[A] scholar's measured assessment, based on knowledge of the country and of Persian sources, and skillful in its interweaving of domestic and international factors."--Foreign Affairs "[T]he best single volume on contemporary Iran."--Shahram Chubin, International Affairs "Saikal's book achieves a high level of specificity and detail while remaining easily readable and therefore it is a handy academic resource as well as an accessible text for a general audience."--Pascal Abidor, Political Studies Review "Saikal updates this edition with an excellent introduction devoted to the dynamics of contemporary politics in the Islamic Republic and Iran's nuclear ambitions... [T]his study, still timely after three decades, naturally invites comparisons between the autocratic shah and his equally repressive successors."--Jonathan G. Katz, The Historian
£31.50
Princeton University Press Jews Germans and Allies
Book SynopsisTraces the conflicting ways Jews and Germans defined their own victimization and survival, comprehended the trauma of war and genocide, and struggled to rebuild their lives. This book describes Berlin in the days following Germany's surrender. It examines how Germans and Jews interacted and competed for Allied favor, benefits, and victim status.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2008 George L. Mosse Prize, American Historical Association Winner of the 2006 Fraenkel Prize in Category A, Wiener Library "Atina Grossmann's great insight is that the postwar reappearance of a traumatized Jewish population--and the survivors' high rates of marriage, pregnancy and childbearing--cannot be understood apart from the parallel victimhood of the 'German' population."--Paul Grant, Books & Culture "Grossmann has succeeded marvelously in reintegrating the history of Jews into the history of postwar Germany. Her book ... is an essential contribution to the social and cultural history of the immediate postwar era."--Benjamin Lapp, Central European History "Grossmann, herself the daughter of German-Jewish refugees, ... has written the definitive history of [Allied-occupied Germany]."--Jewish Post and News "Atina Grossman has written an exceptionally fascinating book... Atina Grossman has done us all a great service."--Julia Schulze Wessel, Shofar "Atina Grossman's tale of the complicated relationship between surviving Jews, Germans, and Allies is enthralling and well written. The author has an eye for the telling anecdote and genuine sympathy for the people she writes about. Her extensive and creative use of German and Yiddish sources and her family connections to the Jewish DPs make the book both personal and scholarly."--Hal Elliott Wert, Journal of Military History "Despite legend and conventional wisdom, there was intense interaction between Jews and Germans. Germans and Jews have both overlooked or forgotten this episode in their joint history, which Grossmann brings to life with a particularly fascinating examination of gendered experience and sexuality."--Jay Howard Geller, American Historical Review "This book makes a significant contribution by illuminating the fascinating and complex interactions between surviving Jews and their neighbors in postwar Germany."--Timothy Schroer, H-Net Reviews "Any historian with even the vaguest idea of the monumental effort that goes into producing a research monograph like this, with thousands of archival and secondary sources used (the notes alone run to some 100 pages), will find it difficult to level serious criticism against it. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, Jews, Germans, and Allies has rightfully won a number of awards."--Kay Schiller, European History Quarterly "Jews, Germans, and Allies is an important historical document, especially in light of those revisionists who would impose a universal amnesia about the suffering and losses incurred during the Holocaust. The grim statistics that Ms. Grossmann presents in her carefully researched and well-organized book carry evidence of the terrible truth. But the testimony of the survivors she quotes contains the final, ineradicable facts of history."--Hilma Wolitzer, East Hampton Star "[Grossmann] has achieved that most enviable of goals: she has written a book about Jewish/non-Jewish relations that will be required reading for any scholar of German postwar history for many years to come. Indeed, I would go as far as to suggest that Grossmann's Jews, Germans, and Allies is one of those few books that appear in each decade that will be read with considerable benefit and enjoyment not only by historians of any specialization but also by any scholar with an arts and humanities or social science background and a smattering of historical sensitivity."--Lars Fischer, Journal of Modern History "All told, Grossmann's book paints a fascinating portrait of the 'close encounters' in occupied Germany among Jews, Germans, and Allies. Her gendered lens helps better nuance our understanding of this chaotic period. I highly recommend this book for scholars, students, and the general public."--Lynn Rapaport, Holocaust and Genocide Studies "A pioneering and innovative study that will undoubtedly stimulate work in the fields of German and Jewish post-war history in the coming years."--Shirli Gilbert, Patterns of PrejudiceTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface: Where Is Feldafing? xiii Abbreviations xvii INTRODUCTION: Entangled Histories and Close Encounters 1 CHAPTER ONE: "Poor Germany": Berlin and the Occupation 15 CHAPTER TWO: Gendered Defeat: Rape, Motherhood, and Fraternization 48 CHAPTER THREE: "The survivors were few and the dead were many": Jews in Occupied Berlin 88 CHAPTER FOUR: The Saved and Saving Remnant: Jewish Displaced Persons in the American Zone 131 CHAPTER FIVE: Mir Zaynen Do: Sex, Work, and the DP Baby Boom 184 CHAPTER SIX: Conclusion: The "Interregnum" Ends 237 Abbreviations in Notes 269 Notes 271 Select Bibliography 359 Acknowledgments 369 Index 373
£31.50
Princeton University Press Heavenly Merchandize How Religion Shaped
Book SynopsisExamines the religion's role in the creation of a market economy in early America. Focusing on the economic culture of New England, this title views commerce through the eyes of Boston merchants and reveals how merchants built a modern form of exchange out of the transitions in the puritan understanding of the meaning of New England.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2011 Philip Schaff Prize, American Society of Church History Shortlisted for the 2011 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Historical Study of Religion One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2010 "Valeri's reading of theological sources is so satisfying because he is a subtle, careful reader; he resists the temptation to smooth away contradictions, or to oversimplify; indeed, he seems allergic to polemic it is thus not surprising when, at the end of the book--just when the author might be expected to tip his hand about what all this market accommodation means--Valeri is maddeningly even-handed."--Lauren F. Winner, Books & Culture "I found this book to be an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the working out of the Protestant ethic in colonial New England. Therefore, it is a major contribution to our understanding of American economic morality."--Donald E. Frey, EH.Net "Students of early New England will find this indispensable; it should also appeal to anyone interested in the relationship between religion and the larger culture."--Choice "[T]he effectiveness with which Valeri utilizes the small-scale cultural world of Puritan Massachusetts in the colonial era in order to examine developments that have wider ramifications, indicates that, as with Perry Miller and so many others, that time and place is still a fruitful laboratory for thick analysis of religiocultural change."--Dewey D. Wallace, Jr., Interpretation "Valeri's well-written case studies bring many rewards to the reader. They forcefully demonstrate that no one can understand the changing culture of early America without paying attention to religion."--R. Laurence Moore, Journal of Church History "The book is noteworthy as much for its method as for its conclusions. Valeri's inferences rise convincingly from his methodology, analysis, and rhetoric... [H]andled artfully in an elegant narrative."--Barry Levy, American Historical Review "This book will certainly change the way both Puritan theology and economics are viewed and is highly recommended."--Suzanne Geissler, Anglican and Episcopal History "An important study... [T]his stellar work breaks important new ground on the complex drama of economics and religion in early modern America."--Robert E. Brown, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface xi INTRODUCTION: Heavenly Merchandize 1 CHAPTER ONE: Robert Keayne's Gift 11 Keayne, the Merchant Taylors' Company, and Civic Humanism 14 Keayne and the Godly Community in England 26 CHAPTER TWO: Robert Keayne's Trials 37 Boston's First Merchants 39 Puritan Discipline in England 50 Discipline and Trade in Early Boston 57 CHAPTER THREE: John Hull's Accounts 74 Hull and the Expansion of New England's Market 76 Hull's Piety and Changes in Church Discipline 83 Jeremiads, Providence, and New England's Civic Order 96 CHAPTER FOUR: Samuel Sewall's Windows 111 Sewall's and Fitch's Problems with Money 114 The Politics of Empire 122 Political Economy, Monetary Policy, and the Justification of Usury 134 Merchants' Callings and the Campaign for Moral Reform 157 Religious Conviction in the Affairs of Sewall and Fitch 168 CHAPTER FIVE: Hugh Hall's Scheme 178 Hall and Boston's Provincial Merchants 181 Rational Protestantism and the Meaning of Commerce 200 Gentility, the Empire, and Piety in the Affairs of Hall 220 EPILOGUE: Religious Revival 234 Samuel Philips Savage, Isaac Smith, and Robert Treat Paine 235 Social Virtue and the Market 240 Conclusion 248 Notes 251 Index 321
£40.50
Princeton University Press The Pursuit of Pleasure
Book SynopsisFrom ancient times to the present day, Iranian social, political, and economic life has been dramatically influenced by psychoactive agents. This book looks at the stimulants that, as put by a longtime resident of seventeenth-century Iran, Raphael du Mans, provided Iranians with damagh, gave them a 'kick', got them into a good mood.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2006 Albert Hourani Book Award Winner of the 2006 Saidi-Sirjani Award, International Society of Iranian Studies "This is an extremely successful foray into the social history of Iran in the early modern period. This is a very rich and readable book. It is especially good at showing the wider significance of the pursuit of pleasure."--Michael Pearson, Itinerario "As a work of social and economic history, this book sets a high standard... [M]ost readers will be more than satisfied by this lucid, precise, and information-packed volume."--Richard W. Bulliet, American Historical ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Note on Transliteration xi Preface xiii Abbreviations xviii Introduction 1 Part I: Safavid Period Chapter 1: General Overview: Iran between 1500 and 1900 17 Chapter 2: Wine in Safavid Iran I: Between Excess and Abstention 37 Chapter 3: Wine in Safavid Iran II: Ambivalence and Prohibition 69 Chapter 4: Opium in Safavid Iran: The Assimilated Drug 97 Chapter 5: Tobacco in Safavid Iran: Pleasure and Proscription 117 Chapter 6: Coffee in Safavid Iran: Commerce and Consumption 144 Part II: Qajar Period Chapter 7: Wine in Qajar Iran: From Flouting the Religious Law to Flaunting Unbelie 177 Chapter 8: Opium and Tobacco in Qajar Iran: From Pleasureto Crash Crop and Emblem of the Nation 207 Chapter 9: From Coffee to Tea: Shifting Patterns of Consumption in Qajar Iran 237 Chapter 10: Drinking Tea in the Qahvah-khanah: The Politics of Consumption in Qajar Iran 267 Conclusion 293 Bibliography 305 Index 335
£31.50
Princeton University Press The Chosen Few
Book SynopsisBy 1492 the Jewish people had become a small group of literate urbanites specializing in crafts, trade, moneylending, and medicine in hundreds of places across the Old World, from Seville to Mangalore. What caused this radical change? This book presents a new answer to this question.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2012 National Jewish Book Award in Scholarship One of Jewish Ideas Daily.com's 40 Best Jewish Books of 2012 "[A]mbitious ... systematically dismantle much of the conventional wisdom about medieval Jewish history."--Jonathan B. Krasner, Forward "[W]here so many have simply taken as a given universal literacy among Jews, [Botticini and Eckstein] find that a majority of Jews actually weren't willing to invest in Jewish education, with the shocking result that more than two-thirds of the Jewish community disappeared toward the end of the first millennium... The astonishing theory presented here has great implications for both the Jewish community and the broader world today."--Steven Weiss, Slate "[E]ventually, The Chosen Few will have changed the course of history in the Middle East ... as part of a broad reinterpretation of the history of the peopling of the world, underway for a century and a half, that has begun gathering force since the 1990s... This may be the first you have heard about The Chosen Few, but I pretty much guarantee you that it will not be the last."--David Warsh, Economic Principals "[P]rovocative."--Choice "Botticini and Eckstein's simple yet sophisticated human capital analysis provides new insights into Jewish history for the fourteen centuries covered in this book... [Their] methodology yields a very convincing Cliometric analysis that we can expect to inform all future economic histories of the Jews between 70 and 1492."--Carmel U. Chiswick, EH.net "I found The Chosen Few, a book on Jewish economic history by Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, enormously enlightening and relevant to the draft-the-Haredim debate."--Shlomo Maital, Jerusalem Report "If you've ever wondered how the Chosen People survived the vagaries of history, reading The Chosen Few will give you answers you cannot find anywhere else."--Huffington Post "This is a trailblazing, original, illuminating and horizon-broadening book."--Manuel Trajtenberg, HaaretzTable of ContentsList of Illustrations xi List of Tables xiii Preface xv Introduction 1 Chapter 1 70 CE-1492: How Many Jews Were There, and Where and How Did They Live? 11 From Jesus to Muhammad (1 CE-622): A World of Farmers 15 From Muhammad to Hulagu Khan (622-1258): Farmers to Merchants 31 From Hulagu Khan to Tomas de Torquemada (1258-1492): The End of the Golden Age 44 Jewish History, 70 CE-1492: Puzzles 51 Chapter 2 Were the Jews a Persecuted Minority? 52 Restrictions on Jewish Economic Activities 52 Taxation Discrimination 58 Physical versus Portable Human Capital 59 Self-Segregated Religious Minority 61 The Economics of Small Minorities 62 Summary 65 Chapter 3 The People of the Book, 200 BCE-200 CE 66 The Two Pillars of Judaism from Ezra to Hillel (500-50 BCE): The Temple and the Torah 66 The Lever of Judaism: Education as a Religious Norm 69 The Destruction of the Second Temple: From Ritual Sacrifices to Torah Reading and Study 73 The Legacy of Rabbinic Judaism: The Mishna and Universal Primary Education, 10 CE-200 74 Judaism and Education: The Unique Link in the World of the Mishna 78 Chapter 4 The Economics of Hebrew Literacy in a World of Farmers 80 Heterogeneity and the Choices Facing Jewish Farmers circa 200 82 The Economic Theory: Basic Setup 84 The Economic Theory: Predictions 87 Life in a Village in the Galilee circa 200 through the Lens of the Theory 88 Annex 4.A: Formal Model of Education and Conversion of Farmers 89 Chapter 5 Jews in the Talmud Era, 200-650: The Chosen Few 95 An Increasingly Literate Farming Society 96 Conversions of Jewish Farmers 111 Summary 122 Chapter 6 From Farmers to Merchants, 750-1150 124 The Economics of Hebrew Literacy in a World of Merchants 125 The Golden Age of Literate Jews in the Muslim Caliphates 130 Summary 150 Annex 6.A: Formal Model of Education and Conversion of Merchants 150 Chapter 7 Educated Wandering Jews, 800-1250 153 Wandering Jews before Marco Polo 154 Jewish Migration within the Muslim Caliphates 163 Migration of Byzantine Jewry 172 Jewish Migration to and within Christian Europe 173 Migration of the Jewish Religious Center 195 Summary 200 Chapter 8 Segregation or Choice? From Merchants to Moneylenders, 1000-1500 201 The Economics of Money and Credit in Medieval Europe 202 Jewish Prominence in Moneylending: Hypotheses 209 The Dynamics of Jewish Moneylending in Medieval Europe 212 Jewish Moneylending in Medieval Italy: A Detailed Analysis 219 Attitudes toward Moneylending 232 Facts and Competing Hypotheses 237 From Merchants to Moneylenders: Comparative Advantage in Complex Intermediation 241 Annex 8.A: The Charter to the Jews of Vienna 244 Chapter 9 The Mongol Shock: Can Judaism Survive When Trade and Urban Economies Collapse? 248 The Mongol Conquest of the Muslim Middle East 249 Socioeconomic Conditions in the Middle East under the Mongols 252 Jewish Demography under Mongol and Mamluk Rule: An Experiment 254 Why Judaism Cannot Survive When Trade and Urban Economies Collapse 258 Summary 259 Chapter 10 1492 to Today: Open Questions 261 Portrait of World Jewry circa 1492 261 Jewish History, 70 CE-1492: Epilogue 264 Trajectory of the Jewish People over the Past 500 Years 266 Persistence of Jewish Occupational Structure 268 Appendix 274 Bibliography 287 Index 317
£49.30
Princeton University Press The Passover Haggadah
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] fascinating, short history of the Haggadah."---Simon Rocker, Jewish Chronicle"For anyone interested in the emergence and complex evolution of the Haggadah, this biography offers a trove of information in engaging and inviting language." * Jewish Book Council *
£19.80
Princeton University Press Greecea Jewish History
Book SynopsisFor centuries, Jews lived in areas that are now part of Greece. But Greek Jews as a nationalized group existed in substantial number only for a few short decades - from the Balkan Wars (1912-13) until the Holocaust, in which more than 80 percent were killed. This book offers a comprehensive English-language history of Greek Jews.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2010 Prix Alberto Benveniste Winner of the 2009 Runciman Award, Anglo-Hellenic League Winner of the 2008 National Jewish Book Award in Sephardic Culture, Jewish Book Council Honorable Mention for the 2009 Edmund Keeley Book Prize, Modern Greek Studies Association "With this innovative, soundly researched work Professor K. E. Fleming has filled a long-standing need for the story of Greek Jewry to be told fully."--Jewish Book World "What is a Greek Jew? Fleming pursues this question through various Jewish experiences (Romaniot and Sephardi) during the stages of the emerging modern Greek national identity. Her well-written, gripping story argues that 'Greek Jew' is actually a phantom term that emerged formally only in 1920 with governmental recognition of the Salonika community, and developed among young Jews during the 1930s, later concretizing in the Nazi concentration camps and the Jewish Diasporas to Palestine and the U.S."--S. Bowman, Choice "This book is an excellent effort to explain the quandary of the Jews of Greece during the country's turbulent 200-year history."--Jay Levinson, Jewish Tribune "This is not a 'religious book' meant to inspire. It is the very well told story of a once flourish Jewish community whose history must never be forgotten."--Jay Levinson, Jewish Magazine "K. E. Fleming has produced an insightful historical overview of the Jewish presence in Greece from the establishment of the Greek state in the early nineteenth century to the post-Holocaust era... [U]ntil the appearance of Fleming's work there was no overarching account of the Jewish experience in modern Greece, and this book fills that lacuna extremely well."--Alexander Kitroeff, American Historical Review "This fascinating book examines the concepts of identity and nationality as experienced by Jews, while paying tribute to those who were lost in World War II and to the righteous gentiles who saved the remnants of the community. Professor Fleming has written an important work on a little-known subject. It belongs in all academic Judaic collections."--Barbara M. Bibel, Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter "This volume, which displays solid scholarly standards, is also highly interesting as it follows the multiple destinies of these Jewish groups and demonstrates how complex Jewish history is--how diverse and how difficult to categorize. Fleming has succeeded in escaping preconceived attitudes and in treating the object of her investigation with detachment but also with the empathy required for all genuinely good research projects."--Esther Benbassa, Journal of Modern History "[A]n absorbing story, well told and referenced, and a worthy winner of [the] Runciman Award."--Michael Llewellyn Smith, Hellenic ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1 PART I: Independence and Expansion 13 CHAPTER 2: After Independence: "Old Greece" 15 CHAPTER 3: "New Greece": Greek Territorial Expansion 32 PART II: The "Sephardic Republic": Salonika to 1923 49 CHAPTER 4: Salonika to 1912 51 CHAPTER 5: Becoming Greek: Salonika, 1912-23 67 PART III: Normalization to Destruction 89 CHAPTER 6: Interwar Greece: Jews under Venize'los and Metaxas 91 CHAPTER 7: Occupation and Deportation: 1941-44 110 PART IV "The Greeks": Greek Jews beyond Greece 145 CHAPTER 8: Auschwitz-Birkenau 147 CHAPTER 9: Trying to Find Home: Jews in Postwar Greece 166 CHAPTER 10: Hellenized at Last: Greek Jews in Palestine/Israel 190 CHAPTER 11: Conclusion: Greek Jewish History--Greek or Jewish? 205 Notes 215 Index 265
£28.80
Princeton University Press The New Arab Man
Book SynopsisMiddle Eastern Muslim men have been widely vilified as terrorists, religious zealots, and brutal oppressors of women. This book challenges these stereotypes with the stories of ordinary Middle Eastern men as they struggle to overcome infertility and childlessness through assisted reproduction.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2015 Robert B. Textor and Family Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology, American Anthropological Association Winner of the 2014 JMEWS Book Award, Journal of Middle Eastern Women's Studies and Association of Middle East Women's Studies One of Choice's Editors' Picks, October 2012 Shortlisted for the 2013 Book Prize, Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness of the British Sociological Association "Yale anthropologist Inhorn's readable ethnography tackles the subject of infertility among Arab men. The author draws primarily on her research in Lebanese clinics that offer in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intrcytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) but also utilizes data from research in Egypt and the UAE... Inhorn's engagin writing style, clear analysis of relevant literature and theory, and compelling interviews make this book an excellent choice for both undergraduate and graduate collections."--Choice "Not only does this book provide scholars with innovative anthropological theoretical tools for the study of gender and masculinity in a field increasingly dominated by queer theoretical paradigms, it also offers a fascinating insight into the intersection of gender, religion and art in the Middle East, setting an example for new research. Yet above all, The New Arab Man effortlessly succeeds in offering 'a more realistic and humanizing portrayal of Middle Eastern men's lives.'"--Wim Peumans, Social Anthropology "In the end, I think Inhorn is right; her book does provide a corrective to those who conceptualize Middle Eastern men in a two-dimensional way, but I also think her book goes much further than this, delving into the complex navigations of religion, cultural tradition, science, and technology faced by many religious people in everyday life. For those interested in exploring such issues--including scholars and students of religion, immigration, science studies, medical sociology, and medicine--her book is a wonderful resource."--John O'Brien, Sociology of Religion "[This] is without doubt an important contribution to medical anthropology in the Middle East and to our understanding of the complex and changing nature of masculinity in the Arab world."--Ramy Aly, Journal of the Royal Anthropological InstituteTable of ContentsList of Figures ix List of Tables xi Prologue: Hamza, My Infertile Driver xiii Introduct ion: Reconceiving Middle Eastern Manhood Part I : Emergent Masculini t ies Chapter 1. Hegemonic Masculinity 39 Chapter 2. Infertile Subjectivities 63 Chapter 3. Love Stories 91 Chapter 4. Consanguineous Connectivity 123 Part II : Islamic Masculini t ies Chapter 5. Masturbation and Semen Collection 161 Chapter 6. Islam and Assisted Reproduction 193 Chapter 7. Sperm Donation and Adoption 228 Chapter 8. Egg Donation and Emergence 262 Conclus ion: Emergent Masculinities in the Middle East 299 Acknowledgments 319 Appendix: The Assisted Reproduction Fatwas 325 Glossary of Arabic Terms 333 Glossary of Medical Terms 337 Notes 345 References Cited 363 Index 389
£37.80
Princeton University Press Can Islam Be French
Book SynopsisAn anthropological examination of how Muslims respond to the conditions of life in France. It examines how French Muslims fashion various Islamic institutions and develop different ways of reasoning and teaching. It looks at some of the quite distinct ways in which mosques have connected with broader social and political forces.Trade Review"Mr. Bowen's latest book has a broader and more ambitious canvas. As a good anthropologist, he wants to know not just what the politicians and the media are saying about Islam in France, but what is actually happening on the ground... Mr. Bowen thinks that Muslim values and French secularism could be compatible. But accommodation requires give-and-take on both sides... Can Islam be French? After reading this book, one is inclined to say, 'Yes, but not yet.'"--Economist "[A] major contribution to understanding the real world of Islam in France... An insightful and informative study."--Choice "The book is richly documented, explicitly supportive of the Muslim point of view and deeply sympathetic to them."--Vaidehi Nathan, Organiser "Bowen's study of Islam [in] a lesser-known social context is very welcome."--Jack David Eller, American Anthropology Review "The great merit of this book is not only that it empirically answers the question it asks, but in doing so, it opens up a series of questions pertaining to the place of Islam in France and the complex and different relations between citizenship and French religions in a postcolonial society."--Abdelmajid Hannoum, Contemporary Sociology "[Bowen] makes an important contribution to both the anthropology of France and the anthropology of Islam in the West through his detailed discussion of different Islamic schools of religious interpretation and traditions of jurisprudence. By examining the myriad debates that define a global Islamic space, Bowen challenges stereotypes about the monolithic religion that prevail in the media and across the political spectrum... Bowen does a remarkable job of sifting through and making sense of a vast array of approaches to Islamic norms and of differentiating meaningfully among different Islamic schools."--Susan Terrio, Anthropological Quarterly "Bowen's study gives no quick and easy answers to this question; rather, it does an excellent job of examining the historical background and current developments that highlight the potentials for--as well as the challenges of--a pragmatic convergence between the norms and ideas of Islam and France."--Lee Ann Bambach, Journal of Law and Religion "Bowen once again strengthens his position as one of the leading commentators on the French social landscape. What the study lacks in theoretical rigour is off set by a rigorous and vivid narration of the empirical material and by the author's extensive knowledge of the field. Together with Why the French Don't Like Headscarves, the English-speaking student of France and Islam will find here an excellent introduction."--Per-Erik Nilsson, Temenos "Can Islam Be French? is an erudite and measured approach to one of the most fraught topics of our time."--Chantal Tetreault, POLARTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xi Part One: Trajectories 1 Chapter One: Islam and the Republic 3 Chapter Two: Fashioning the French Islamic Landscape 15 Migration Pathways 16 Residence and Boundaries 19 Religion Rising 21 Authorities 24 State Responses 25 Where to Sacrifice? 27 Where to Pray? 29 Distinctive Features 32 Part Two: Spaces 35 Chapter Three: Mosques Facing Outward 37 In the Unruly Suburbs (Clichy-sous-Bois) 37 Inside the Networks (Saint-Denis) 44 The Work of an Everyday Imam (Lyon) 51 Mosques and Social Divisions 58 Chapter Four: Shaping Knowledge to France 63 Rules, Schools, Principles 63 Hichem El Arafa's CERSI 66 The Science of Hadith 75 The Objectives of Scripture 81 Chapter Five: Differentiating Schools 85 Dimensions of Pedagogical Difference 85 Hichem's View 86 The Great Mosque of Paris 87 Teaching the "Middle Way" 89 Teaching the Four Traditions 92 Objectives and Imam M"lik 95 Foregrounding God's Objectives 96 What Nullifies Prayer--for a Maliki 100 When May a Judge Pronounce a Divorce? 102 Practical Training in an Islamic Ambiance 105 The Future 105 Institute of Useful Knowledge 106 Chapter Six: Can an Islamic School Be Republican? 110 Dhaou Meskine's Success School 111 A Teacher's Trajectory 112 School as Symbol 115 How to Teach a Secular Curriculum in a Muslim School 117 Civics and Gay Couples 118 Religion versus Culture 120 Evolution and Islam? 121 An Islamic Ambiance 124 Muslim Family Camp 125 Arrest 129 Part Three: Debates 133 Chapter Seven: Should There Be an Islam for Europe? 135 Thinking about Riba 137 Different Rules for Different Lands? 143 Confrontations in the Mosque 149 The Transnational Islamic Sphere 153 Chapter Eight: Negotiating across Realms of Justification 157 Between Hal"l and the Hotel de Ville 158 Why the "Halal" Marriage? 162 Convergence I: From Islam to the Secular 165 The Objectives of Halal Rules for Food 169 Convergence II: From French Civil Law toward Islamic Practices 173 Chapter Nine: Islamic Spheres in Republican Space 179 Do Religion-Based Associations Impede Integration? 180 Return to School 182 A National Islamic Sphere at Le Bourget 185 On Priorities and Values 188 The Primacy of Secularism 188 "Assimilation Defects" 191 Toward a Pragmatics of Convergence 196 Notes 199 Bibliography 217 Index 227
£20.90
Princeton University Press Revelatory Events
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] fascinating and masterfully interdisciplinary study. . . . With the nuance and erudition made possible by Taves's keen historical eye, firm grasp of the cognitive social sciences, and all of the primary resources now available to scholars of religion, Revelatory Events represents the best of the comparative method in twenty-first century scholarship. . . . This book is highly recommended!"---Adam Powell, Journal of Mormon History"Revelatory Events is a book that anyone studying new religious movements is going to have to deal with for the foreseeable future. . . . [Taves'] comparative work and sophisticated analysis gives us a model for how good scholarship should be done."---David Feltmate, Nova ReligioTable of ContentsIllustrations and Tables vii Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 Part 1 Making Meaning 13 Case Study A Restored Church 17 1 Translation 23 2 Materialization 50 3 Beginnings 66 Case Study An Anonymous Fellowship 82 4 Stories 89 5 Fellowship 110 6 Seeking 129 Case Study A Course in Miracles 151 7 Emergence 157 8 Teaching(s) 180 9 Roles 195 Part 2 Creating Paths 223 10 Groups 225 11 Selves 240 12 Motives 270 Conclusion 290 Appendix Discussion of Methods 297 Appendix Charts 311 Bibliography 331 Author Index 347 Subject Index 351
£25.20
Princeton University Press The Story of Hebrew
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The most ambitious attempt since William Chomsky's groundbreaking 1957 study, Hebrew: The Eternal Language, Mr. Glinert's biography of Hebrew succeeds in representing the language not just as a vehicle of communication but as a crucible of national cohesion. To read [this book] is to appreciate Hebrew as the grammar of a dynamic dialogue between the claims of the ever-changing present and the imperatives of the past."--Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal "An insightful, entertaining, and essential guide to the origins and evolution of the Hebrew language... This is a must-read for students of language and Jewish history."--Publishers Weekly "Glinert brings the Hebrew story to life with such a wealth of intriguing cultural detail in so astonishingly few pages of lively, engaging exposition that his account is must reading for all who revel in the history and elasticity of languages."--Ray Olson, Booklist (starred review) "Elegant... The Story of Hebrew covers a great deal of ground in a readable style, studded with stories and quotations that make clear how astonishing it is that out of the fossil DNA of this sacred language, a new creation has arisen."--David Wolpe, Weekly Standard "The Story of Hebrew ... is enormously rewarding for those wishing to familiarize themselves with the evolution both of the Hebrew language and attitudes toward it... Glinert is an excellent tour guide. Many of the book's most compelling stories are those that help explain how, during the nearly two millennia during which it had generally ceased to be a spoken language, Hebrew continued to be central to the lives of Jews."--Howard Freedman, J Weekly "Valuable... Glinert has written a scholarly book designed for and accessible to the layman. In a brief 250 pages he succinctly and convincingly demonstrates that through the centuries Hebrew was more living than dead."--David Isaac, Washington Free Beacon "The Story of Hebrew is a scholarly, engaging history of the language... Richly detailed and wholly fascinating. Glinert is an engaging storyteller, always lucid, wry and accessible."--Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal "A major work of scholarship, The Story of Hebrew is an unforgettable account of what one language has meant to those possessing it."--Israel News Online "Witty and learned... I thought that I was well versed in the history of Hebrew, but there was hardly a page in this book on which I didn't learn something new. And Glinert is a pleasure to spend time with; his authorial voice in The Story of Hebrew reminds me of those famous BBC radio talks given by enormously erudite Oxbridge dons: authoritative, amusing, and crystal clear."--Alan Mintz, Jewish Review of Books "In this meticulously researched but highly readable work of scholarship by Glinert, the Dartmouth professor tells not just a history of the Jewish language but, indeed, its story. From the opening lines of Genesis to its modern Israeli incarnation, Hebrew has packed more symbolic power than almost any other tongue... An entertaining account that should also serve as a fundamental text for any student of language or Jewish history."--Victor Wishna, Jewish Telegraphic Agency "This book is a gem... The Story of Hebrew is a superb book, meticulously researched and beautifully written... Read this marvelous study."--Curt Leviant, Jewish Independent "Glinert tells a lively story that informs the reader about uses and misuses of the language, along with a social and cultural history of the Jewish people."--John C. Endres, America "Notwithstanding its academic credibility and that of its author, The Story of Hebrew ... makes thrilling reading for the non-specialist. The felicitous narrative of Lewis Glinert, with its clarity and lack of abstruse language or jargon, ensures that a lay reader with an interest in Hebrew will find much to gain from this fascinating study."--Gila Wertheimer, Chicago Jewish StarTable of ContentsList of Figures ix Introduction 1 1 "Let There Be Hebrew" 8 2 Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome 22 3 Saving the Bible and Its Hebrew 59 4 The Sephardic Classical Age 74 5 Medieval Ashkenaz and Italy: Sciences, Sonnets, and the Sacred 102 6 Hebrew in the Christian Imagination, I: Medieval Designs 124 7 Hebrew in the Christian Imagination, II: From Kabbalists to Colonials 139 8 Can These Bones Live? Hebrew at the Dawn of Modernity 168 9 The Hebrew State 212 Epilogue 246 Acknowledgments 251 Notes 253 Further Reading 261 Index 265
£23.75
Princeton University Press Tradition and the Formation of the Talmud
Book SynopsisIt is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed the older traditions on which they drew. The author argues on the contrary that structural features of the Talmud were designed to produce a discontinuity with tradition, and that this discontinuity was part and parcel of the rabbis' self-conception.Trade ReviewHonorable Mention for the 2016 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History & Culture in Antiquity, Association for Jewish Studies "Vidas's book exemplifies the best possibilities of contemporary Talmud scholarship--a foretaste, in just those moments when it upsets received wisdom about the Talmud, of the next step in the ancient dance of new and old."--Raphael Magarik, MAKE Literary Productions "Vidas's book is eloquent testimony to the high level of conceptual sophistication that has been achieved in the academic field of Talmud study in recent years. It bodes well for the future of the field in American academia."--Pinchas Roth, AJL NewsletterTable of ContentsA Note on Style Conventions vii Introduction 1 PART I 21 Chapter One The Alterity of Tradition 23 Chapter Two The Division into Layers 45 Chapter Three Composition as Critique 81 PART II 113 Chapter Four Scholars, Transmitters, and the Making of talmud 115 Chapter Five The Debate about Recitation 150 Chapter Six Tradition and Vision 167 Conclusion 203 Acknowledgments 215 Bibliography 217 Source Index 233 Subject Index 237
£42.50
Princeton University Press The Long Divergence
Book SynopsisIn the year 1000, the economy of the Middle East was at least as advanced as that of Europe. But by 1800, the region had fallen dramatically behind--in living standards, technology, and economic institutions. In short, the Middle East had failed to modernize economically as the West surged ahead. What caused this long divergence? And why does the MTrade Review"Professor Kuran's book offers the best explanation yet for why the Middle East has lagged. After poring over ancient business records, Professor Kuran persuasively argues that what held the Middle East back wasn't Islam as such, or colonialism, but rather various secondary Islamic legal practices that are no longer relevant today."--Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times "This is a book to be not just tasted but chewed and digested. Instead of facile claims that Islam is the solution or Islam is the problem, readers get a detailed history of economic institutions in the Middle East as compared to those in the West. Kuran shows that the Islamic law and practices underlying Middle Eastern commerce worked well for a long time and were much more flexible than usually assumed... Clearly presented quantitative data and illuminating anecdotes add up to a fine feast."--L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs "Mr. Kuran's arguments have broad implications for the debate about how to foster economic development. He demonstrates that the West's long ascendancy was rooted in its ability to develop institutions that combined labour and capital in imaginative new ways."--Economist "The Long Divergence offers a pathbreaking analysis of why the flourishing premodern economies of the Islamic world fell into relative decline as Western Europe rose. And it explores the issue of whether conservative Islam is compatible with modern economic institutions. You'll be surprised by many of his conclusions."--Peter Passell, Milken Institute Review "[The Long Divergence] explains a large part of why the Middle East and Turkey fell behind the West and law and economics has a lot to do with it. Various laws in Islamic societies were not conducive to large-scale economic structures, at precisely the time when such structures were becoming profitable and indeed essential as drivers of economic growth. This is not a book of handwaving but rather he nails the detail, whether it is on inheritance law, contracts, forming corporations, or any number of other topics."--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "In an interesting new book called The Long Divergence, Timur Kuran of Duke argues that Islam's economic restrictions, rather than its cultural conservatism or isolationism, stunted development in countries where it was the dominant religion."--Massimo Calabresi, Time.com's Swampland blog "Kuran's thesis is contentious; but it does provide us with an incentive to reformulate Islamic law. It is an excellent starting-point for a debate long overdue."--Ziauddin Sardar, Independent "[G]round-breaking... In this wide-ranging study, Kuran explores other possible factors which favored the non-Muslim business ethos over the Islamic one, but as a true scholar he rehearses other possible explanations."--Arnold Ages, Chicago Jewish Star "A ground-breaking book... Kuran argues Islamic law primarily failed to develop the concept of a corporation: an economic and legal construct, separated from family and tribal loyalty, designed to encourage investment and profit sharing."--Chris Berg, Sydney Morning Herald "Timur Kuran is an avid reader of Islamic economic and legal history and an immensely well informed scholar. This latest work not only combines his earlier arguments but also provides some new perspectives."--Murat Cizakca, EH.Net "[A]n invaluable contribution to the debate."--Choice "[T]his is a most informative book and may make contemporary Muslims wonder whether a forthcoming second codification of Islamic law should heed some of the warnings of the author."--Murat Cizakca, MESA Bulletin "Kuran deserves to be lauded for providing a narrative for how certain Middle Eastern institutions negatively affected economic outcomes. This book represents an advance in our understanding of the functioning of commercial institutions in the Middle East and of their dynamic consequences... Kuran has provided an important scholarly resource for both academics and those interested in the economic and political development of the region more broadly."--Eric Chaney, Development and Change "By eschewing simple explanations and challenging scholars to look at such heated topics as the Capitulations in a new light, Long Divergence offers a new window on an old dogma. In a time when there is a trend to blame much of the Middle East's problems on Western meddling, it is important that scholarship swims slightly against the current in shedding new light on questions of modernity and the reasons behind economic stagnation in the Muslim world."--Seth Frantzman, Digest of Middle East Studies "The Long Divergence is an excellent book that should be of great appeal to scholars interested in the Middle East and its history, economic historians interested in the general question of why some regions failed to modernize, and social scientists interested in the historical and institutional roots of comparative underdevelopment."--Metin Cosgel, Journal of Economic History "In this beautifully crafted book, Timur Kuran provides a remarkably rich analysis of how Islamic law impeded economic progress in the Middle East and North Africa. Kuran's views are fresh and powerful, and they are subtle."--Jack A. Goldstone, Perspectives on Politics "The Long Divergence is a bold and stimulating book, based on a prodigious amount of research in world economic history. It is the first work of its kind to wrestle with the big question about the Middle East's economic path... Though it may stir up controversy among those who may not take well to his critique of Islam, this landmark study will find a broad readership to debate its provocative conclusions."--Ghislaine Lydon, Global History "[This book] is a major achievement that should be read by everyone with an interest in the region, as well as by scholars in economic history and institutional economics."--Mark Koyama, Public ChoiceTable of ContentsPreface ix PART I Introduction Chapter 1: The Puzzle of the Middle East's Economic Underdevelopment 3 Chapter 2: Analyzing the Economic Role of Islam 25 PART II Organizational Stagnation Chapter 3: Commercial Life under Islamic Rule 45 Chapter 4: The Persistent Simplicity of Islamic Partnerships 63 Chapter 5: Drawbacks of the Islamic Inheritance System 78 Chapter 6: The Absence of the Corporation in Islamic Law 97 Chapter 7: Barriers to the Emergence of a Middle Eastern Business Corporation 117 Chapter 8: Credit Markets without Banks 143 PART III The Makings of Underdevelopment Chapter 9: The Islamization of Non-Muslim Economic Life 169 Chapter 10: The Ascent of the Middle East's Religious Minorities 189 Chapter 11: Origins and Fiscal Impact of the Capitulations 209 Chapter 12: Foreign Privileges as Facilitators of Impersonal Exchange 228 Chapter 13: The Absence of Middle Eastern Consuls 254 PART IV Conclusions Chapter 14: Did Islam Inhibit Economic Development? 279 Notes 303 References 349 Index 393
£27.00
Princeton University Press Cultural Exchange
Book SynopsisDemonstrating that similarities between Jewish and Christian art in the Middle Ages were more than coincidental, Cultural Exchange meticulously combines a wide range of sources to show how Jews and Christians exchanged artistic and material culture. Joseph Shatzmiller focuses on communities in northern Europe, Iberia, and other Mediterranean societTrade Review"Clearly, this book is only the beginning of a series of works dedicated to the study of material links between medieval Jewish and Christian communities and of the interdependence they unveil. And we can only hope that its successors will keep up the high standards of writing and methodological expertise established in Cultural Exchange by Joseph Shatzmiller."--Andor Kelenhegyi, European Review of HistoryTable of ContentsList of Illustrations vii Preface xi Introduction 1 Part 1 Pawnbrokers: Agents of Cultural Transmission 5 Chapter 1 Financial Activities in the Medieval Marketplace 7 Chapter 2 Securities for Loans: Church Liturgical Objects 22 Chapter 3 High Finance: Urban and Princely Pledges 45 Part 2 Human Imagery in Medieval Ashkenaz 59 Chapter 4 The Decorated Home of the Rabbi of Zurich 61 Chapter 5 German Jews and Figurative Art: Appreciation and Reservation 73 Part 3 At the Marketplace: Professionals in the Service of the "Other" 111 Chapter 6 Christian Artists and Jewish Patronage 113 Chapter 7 Jewish Craftsmanship at the Service of the Church 141 Conclusions 158 Appendix Jewish Traditions and Ceremonies: How Original? 162 Select Bibliography 167 Index 177
£40.50
Princeton University Press How Judaism Became a Religion
Book SynopsisIs Judaism a religion, a culture, a nationality - or a mixture of all of these? This title tells the story of how Judaism came to be defined as a religion in the modern period - and why Jewish thinkers have fought as well as championed this idea.Trade ReviewHonorable Mention for the 2011 PROSE Award in Theology & Religious Studies, Association of American Publishers "As Batnitzky points out, Judaism doesn't fit any modern mold especially well. Her book adds both shrewdness and humility to the search for modern Jewish identity and the claims often made about the purity of these identities."--Edward Ruehle, Jewish Voice and Herald "Superb and thought-provoking."--Adam Kirsch, Tablet Magazine "An excellent introduction to the key philosophers and writers who influenced modern Jewish thought."--Wallace Greene, Jewish Book World "It has been decades since a broad, synthetic volume addressing the major issues and thinkers in modern Jewish thought has been published. How Judaism Became a Religion fills a lacuna in the field, and this book will no doubt serve as the authoritative secondary source on the topic for some time. Leora Batnitzky offers an eminently readable overview of a large number of complicated, even esoteric thinkers in terms that are manageable, indeed inviting, for nonspecialists and lay readers alike. (Helpfully, she also offers such readers a well-chosen list of suggested readings at the end of each chapter.) In doing so, she renders an invaluable service to the field."--Mara Benjamin, H-Net Reviews "Leora Batnitzky's How Judaism Became a Religion is a bold new interpretation of modern Jewish thought by one of the leading scholars in the field."--Micah Gottlieb, Jewish Review of Books "Batnitzky devotes her book to differentiating the array of responses to the modern notion of Judaism as a sheer religion. She presents meticulously the disparate positions of figures as varied as Moses Mendelssohn, Abraham Geigel, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Abraham Kook and his son, Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha'am, Emil Fackenheim and Mordecai Kaplan. She also presents the altogether 'premodern' views of Eastern European Jews such as the Hasidim. She shows that even resolute Reform Jews such as Geiger failed to work out a clean separation between politics and religion. With the Holocaust and with the founding of Israel, any divide seemed refuted by history."--Robert A. Segal, Times Higher Education Supplement "This book is lucidly written and can be read by the scholar and general interested reader alike."--David Tesler, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews "In [How Judaism Became a Religion], Batnitzky provides a useful introductory map of this diverse, centuries-long story. In nine brief chapters, she explains the different responses Jews have made to the challenges of modernity and where each choice leads vis-a-vis both the people of Israel and the individual Jew. The simple design of the book provides an overview of the whole complex issue that will help beginners grasp the essential details. Libraries serving Judaica and religion collections will want to purchase this volume."--Choice "The book uses the combined rubric of religion, nation, and culture as the key to understanding the past two centuries of Jewish thought. This sweeping construct illuminates scholars and their debates, revealing ironies that have heretofore gone largely unnoticed."--Lawrence Grossman, Jewish Ideas Daily "What historical analysis cannot tell us, however, is whether the truth about the Jews is found in the more or the less traditional versions of Judaism, in the more communal or the more individualistic thinking, or in the religious or in the secular understandings of Jewishness. To answer that question, one must step outside the constraints of historical description and venture into the world of constructive thought. For anyone who wishes to understand the history of the question and the answers that have already been proposed, Leora Batnitzky's stimulating book is an excellent place to start."--Jon D. Levenson, Commonweal "Leora Batnitzky's How Judaism became a Religion is an enlightening text, orderly, insightful and quite cogent... Batnitzky's main thesis is deceptively simple and is presented with enviable lucidity and transparency."--S. Parvez Manzoor, Muslim World Book Review "More than an introduction, How Judaism Became a Religion presents a compelling new perspective on the history of modern Jewish thought."--World Book Industry "The book does a good job in bringing the subject closer to beginners in this field... Future research ... will take its starting point from this book, and further engagement on the ideas expounded here will certainly sharpen our assessment of each of these thinkers."--Sebastian Musch, Journal of Religion in Europe "[H]er book is an undoubted success: in a manner both fascinating and potentially controversial, it broadens the scope of what is defined as 'thought' by including literary and political figures, rabbis, and academic scholars in the conversation."--Hanoch Ben-Pazi, Studies in Contemporary Jewry "Batnitzky deserves our thanks for undertaking this project--a comprehensive philosophical examination that is guided as well by historical and biographical thinking. A careful reading of How Judaism Became a Religion invites the reader into the world of Jewish thought in the modern world, in which the spirit of creativity and activism are manifestly evident."--Hanoch Ben-Pazi, Studies in Contemporary JewryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I: Judaism as Religion 11 Chapter 1: Modern Judaism and the Invention of Jewish Religion 13 Chapter 2: Religion as History: Religious Reform and the Invention of Modern Orthodoxy 32 Chapter 3: Religion as Reason and the Separation of Religion from Politics 52 Chapter 4: Religion as Experience: The German Jewish Renaissance 73 Chapter 5: Jewish Religion after the Holocaust 91 Part II: Detaching Judaism from Religion 109 Chapter 6: The Irrelevance of Religion and the Emergence of the Jewish Individual 111 Chapter 7: The Transformation of Tradition and the Invention of Jewish Culture 130 Chapter 8: The Rejection of Jewish Religion and the Birth of Jewish Nationalism 147 Chapter 9: Jewish Religion in the United States 166 Conclusion 183 Notes 193 Index 203
£18.00
Princeton University Press The Jews of Islam
Book SynopsisThis landmark book probes Muslims' attitudes toward Jews and Judaism as a special case of their view of other religious minorities in predominantly Muslim societies. With authority, sympathy and wit, Bernard Lewis demolishes two competing stereotypes: the Islamophobic picture of the fanatical Muslim warrior, sword in one hand and Qur'?n in the otheTrade Review"An elegant and masterly survey. It is a measure of Mr. Lewis's gift for synthesis that all the many findings of recent sholarship, including his own in the Turkish archives, are made to fit into a coherent and plausible pattern."--New York Times Book Review "Lewis refuses ... simplistic approaches and tries to explain the complex and often contradictory history of Jewish-Muslim relations over fourteen hundred years. He does this in prose that combines eloquence, dispassion, and wit."--Norman A. Stillman, New York Review of Books "[A] pioneering and masterful primer."--Jacob Neusner, Boston GlobeTable of ContentsContents NOTE ON ILLUSTRATIONS viii FOREWORD ix FOREWORD TO THE PRINCETON CLASSICS EDITION xiii ONE Islam and Other Religions 3 TWO The Judaeo-Islamic Tradition 67 THREE The Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods 107 FOUR The End of the Tradition 154 NOTES 193 INDEX 227
£17.09
Princeton University Press Paradoxes of Liberal Democracy
Book SynopsisIn 2005, twelve cartoons mocking the prophet Mohammed appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, igniting a political firestorm over demands by some Muslims that the claims of their religious faith take precedence over freedom of expression. Given the explosive reaction from Middle Eastern governments, Muslim clerics, and some Danish politicTrade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2015 "This fascinating book addresses a fundamental problem of immense importance for current social and political life in a functioning Western democracy. Starting from the cartoon crisis that highlighted the clash of democratic values and Muslim fundamentalism, the authors employ a rich combination of qualitative and survey research methods to examine the responses of Danes that puzzled observers... This study, rich in empirical evidence on the Danish example, provides insight into how other Western democracies could learn to better relations with immigrant minorities in their countries."--Choice "The analysis presented in this book is structured well, clearly organized and argued, and deeply rooted in survey and experimental empirical data. The authors build a persuasive argument out of relatively basic but solid quantitative evidence, and thus the book should be an accessible read at either the undergraduate or graduate level."--Kelley Strawn, American Journal of Sociology "The book's perspective is enticing, not to say timely... The book's effort to overcome the clash of values between Islam and the West is quite laudable."--Jocelyne Cesari, Journal of Church and StateTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface xiii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 A Clash of Rights 10 Chapter 3 The Covenant Paradox 52 Chapter 4 Flash Point: The Ideological Bases of Anti-immigration Politics 82 Chapter 5 The Concept of Inclusive Tolerance 117 Chapter 6 The Democratic Impulse 141 Appendix A Timeline of the Cartoon Crisis 155 Appendix B Description of the Main Data Set 157 Appendix C Comparison of Respondents from the Height and Aftermath of the Crisis 159 Appendix D Scaling and Measurement of Core Variables 163 References 167 Index 177
£31.50
Princeton University Press Heavenly Merchandize How Religion Shaped
Book SynopsisHeavenly Merchandize offers a critical reexamination of religion's role in the creation of a market economy in early America. Focusing on the economic culture of New England, it views commerce through the eyes of four generations of Boston merchants, drawing upon their personal letters, diaries, business records, and sermon notes to reveal how mercTrade ReviewWinner of the 2011 Philip Schaff Prize, American Society of Church History Shortlisted for the 2011 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Historical Study of Religion One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2010 "Valeri's reading of theological sources is so satisfying because he is a subtle, careful reader; he resists the temptation to smooth away contradictions, or to oversimplify; indeed, he seems allergic to polemic it is thus not surprising when, at the end of the book--just when the author might be expected to tip his hand about what all this market accommodation means--Valeri is maddeningly even-handed."--Lauren F. Winner, Books & Culture "I found this book to be an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the working out of the Protestant ethic in colonial New England. Therefore, it is a major contribution to our understanding of American economic morality."--Donald E. Frey, EH.Net "Students of early New England will find this indispensable; it should also appeal to anyone interested in the relationship between religion and the larger culture."--Choice "[T]he effectiveness with which Valeri utilizes the small-scale cultural world of Puritan Massachusetts in the colonial era in order to examine developments that have wider ramifications, indicates that, as with Perry Miller and so many others, that time and place is still a fruitful laboratory for thick analysis of religiocultural change."--Dewey D. Wallace, Jr., Interpretation "Valeri's well-written case studies bring many rewards to the reader. They forcefully demonstrate that no one can understand the changing culture of early America without paying attention to religion."--R. Laurence Moore, Journal of Church History "The book is noteworthy as much for its method as for its conclusions. Valeri's inferences rise convincingly from his methodology, analysis, and rhetoric... [H]andled artfully in an elegant narrative."--Barry Levy, American Historical Review "This book will certainly change the way both Puritan theology and economics are viewed and is highly recommended."--Suzanne Geissler, Anglican and Episcopal History "An important study... [T]his stellar work breaks important new ground on the complex drama of economics and religion in early modern America."--Robert E. Brown, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface xi INTRODUCTION: Heavenly Merchandize 1 CHAPTER ONE: Robert Keayne's Gift 11 Keayne, the Merchant Taylors' Company, and Civic Humanism 14 Keayne and the Godly Community in England 26 CHAPTER TWO: Robert Keayne's Trials 37 Boston's First Merchants 39 Puritan Discipline in England 50 Discipline and Trade in Early Boston 57 CHAPTER THREE: John Hull's Accounts 74 Hull and the Expansion of New England's Market 76 Hull's Piety and Changes in Church Discipline 83 Jeremiads, Providence, and New England's Civic Order 96 CHAPTER FOUR: Samuel Sewall's Windows 111 Sewall's and Fitch's Problems with Money 114 The Politics of Empire 122 Political Economy, Monetary Policy, and the Justification of Usury 134 Merchants' Callings and the Campaign for Moral Reform 157 Religious Conviction in the Affairs of Sewall and Fitch 168 CHAPTER FIVE: Hugh Hall's Scheme 178 Hall and Boston's Provincial Merchants 181 Rational Protestantism and the Meaning of Commerce 200 Gentility, the Empire, and Piety in the Affairs of Hall 220 EPILOGUE: Religious Revival 234 Samuel Philips Savage, Isaac Smith, and Robert Treat Paine 235 Social Virtue and the Market 240 Conclusion 248 Notes 251 Index 321
£23.75
Princeton University Press American Christians and Islam
Book SynopsisIn the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, many of America's Christian evangelicals have denounced Islam as a "demonic" and inherently violent religion, provoking frustration among other Christian conservatives who wish to present a more appealing message to the world's Muslims. Yet as Thomas Kidd reveals in this sobering book, the conflictTrade Review"This concise and well-organized study offers readers an excellent summary of American popular attitudes toward Islam from the eighteenth century onward."--Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs "Kidd's is a sympathetic and well-informed voice of sanity and Christian equanimity in the midst of this turmoil. His closing appeals to reason, civility, and charitable discourse could provide a better setting, I believe, for a fruitful mission to Islam. Otherwise, one fears what level of catastrophe may be required to discredit Dispensationalist craziness."--Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon, Orthodoxy Today "Offers an informative tonic that might move Christians in the U.S. beyond deeply embedded suspicions and into more hospitable encounters with Muslims at home and abroad."--Anne Blue Wills, Christian Century "A key strength of American Christians and Islam is that it surveys a spectrum of American Christian and evangelical thought vis-a-vis Muslims across three centuries, and does so in a manner that is very clear, so that even a reader new to the subject could appreciate it. Assigned in a class on Middle Eastern or Islamic studies, this book would be guaranteed to stimulate lively debate."--Heather J. Sharkey, Contemporary Islam "As Islam continues its slow be steady growth in America, evangelicals of whatever strip would be wise to consult American Christians and Islam, particularly as they continue to seek ways to approach Islam with sobriety and faithfulness."--Adam S. Francisco, Modern Reformation "Thomas Kidd has done a great service with his publication of American Christians and Islam. Although there is an endless array of studies on various aspects of the relationships between Muslims and Christians throughout the past 1,400 years, this is, to my knowledge, the first to examine American Evangelical attitudes toward Islam. Kidd presents a vast amount of material in a clear, readable manner, and his book should be of interest to anyone trying to understand the extremely complex dynamic of contemporary Muslim-Christian relations."--Sandra Tonies Keating, Touchstone "This timely book about American Christian attitudes toward Islam and Muslims is a useful addition to the growing literature on Anglo-American engagements with Islam and Muslims since the colonial age. It is noteworthy primarily for its chronological range and its coverage of American missionaries to the Muslim world."--Edward E. Curtis IV, Journal of American History "Kidd has produced a gem of a book. It needs to find a high place on interreligious as well as public-policy bibliographies."--John T. Pawlikowski, Journal of Ecumenical Studies "Kidd's book ably captures the bombast and the predicament of American evangelicals as they attempted to reconcile the missionary imperative with a scrambled sense of eschatological geography."--Nicholas Guyatt, Journal of the Ecclesiastical History "The story that Kidd tells is compelling and enlightening in its nuanced depiction of conservative American Christian views on Islam and Muslims across three centuries... [T]his book is a well-written and enlightening overview of the American Evangelical approach to Islam."--Akram Fouad Khater, Catholic Historical Review "[T]his book makes ... [an] invaluable contribution ... to our understanding of the history of evangelical attitudes toward Muslims and Islam."--Alan M. Guenther, International Bulletin of Missionary Research "Kidd accomplishes the aims of his book well, illuminating nearly four hundred years of conservative American Christian interpretations of Islam. The length of the time period and the particular focus on American Christian views make this volume a unique, welcome addition to the field. The book is academic but accessible to a wide audience, a wellspring of primary source information and a penetrating survey. Scholars of American religious history and upper-level students of the subject will consult this volume for years to come."--James Gormam, Restoration Quarterly "In all respects, American Christians and Islam is a well-balanced, long overdue study, delving deep in the folk memory of America, painting a complex and suggestive profile of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim (dis)connection, celebrating both Christianity and Islamism, while formulating no apologies for either... [I]t is an opportune appearance that seeks to do justice to Qur'anic verse and Islamic scholarship, an admirable monograph launching a timely invitation to grasp the true nature of Islam."--Adriana Neagu, American British and Canadian StudiesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xix CHAPTER 1: Early American Christians and Islam 1 CHAPTER 2: The Barbary Wars, the Last Days, and Islam in Early National America 19 CHAPTER 3: Foreign Missions to Muslims in Nineteenth-Century America 37 CHAPTER 4: Samuel Zwemer,World War I, and "The Evangelization of the Moslem World in This Generation" 58 CHAPTER 5: The New Missionary Overture to Muslims and the Arab-Israeli Crisis 75 CHAPTER 6: Christians Respond to Muslims in Modern America 96 CHAPTER 7: Maturing Evangelical Missions and War in the Middle East 120 CHAPTER 8: American Christians and Islam After September 11, 2001 144 Epilogue 165 Notes 171 Index 195
£17.09
Princeton University Press Poetic Trespass
Book SynopsisA Palestinian-Israeli poet declares a new state whose language, "Homelandic," is a combination of Arabic and Hebrew. A Jewish-Israeli author imagines a "language plague" that infects young Hebrew speakers with old world accents, and sends the narrator in search of his Arabic heritage. In Poetic Trespass, Lital Levy brings together such startling viTrade ReviewCo-Winner of the 2014 MLA Prize for a First Book, Modern Language Association Winner of the 2014 Salo Baron Prize, American Academy for Jewish Research Co-Winner of the 2014 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Jewish Literature and Linguistics, Association for Jewish Studies "Poetic Trespass is a major achievement."--Anna Bernard, Journal of the Society for Contemporary Thought and the Islamicate World "An important and engaging work that will be of great interest to scholars concerned with Israel/Palestine, Arabic and Hebrew literatures as well as Mizrahi studies."--Pelle Valentin Olsen, Middle East Journal of Culture and CommunicationTable of ContentsIllustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Note on Transliteration and Translation xv Introduction: The No-Man's-Land of Language 1 PART I HISTORICAL VISIONS AND ELISIONS 1 From the "Hebrew Bedouin" to "Israeli Arabic": Arabic, Hebrew, and the Creation of Israeli Culture 21 2 Bialik and the Sephardim: The Ethnic Encoding of Modern Hebrew Literature 60 PART II BILINGUAL ENTANGLEMENTS 3 Exchanging Words: Arabic Writing in Israel and the Poetics of Misunderstanding 105 4 Palestinian Midrash: Toward a Postnational Poetics of Hebrew Verse 141 PART III AFTERLIVES OF LANGUAGE 5 "Along Came the Knife of Hebrew and Cut Us in Two": Language in Mizrahi Fiction, 1964-2010 189 6 "So You Won't Understand a Word": Secret Languages, Pseudo-languages, and the Presence of Absence 238 Conclusion: Bloody Hope: The Intertextual Afterword of Salman Masalha and Saul Tchernichowsky 285 Bibliography 299 Index 329
£40.50
Princeton University Press Being German Becoming Muslim Race Religion and
Book SynopsisEvery year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to one hundred thousand German converts--a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Islam is increasingly seen as contrary to European valueTrade Review"The result of her research is a fascinating exploration of the dynamics of Islam in contemporary Germany, seen through the prism of its capital, Berlin. Her account provides a multifaceted profile of the many faces of Islam in one Western European country, and it offers readers a good sense of the diversity of contemporary Sunni Muslims in Germany... [A]n excellent study."--Ursula King, Times Higher Education "This book provides a judicious and well thought-through consideration of such contradictions and challenges in the lives of German Muslims and offers a fascinating discussion on blurring boundaries between Germans and Muslim, and the changing realities of European identity."--Dr. Digdem Soyaltin, Turkish Review "This book is remarkable."--Ruth Mandel, History and Anthropology "Ozyurek's Being German, Becoming Muslim makes a welcome and distinctive contribution to--as the subtitle sums up--the study of Race, religion and conversion in the New Europe."--Nasar Meer, History and Anthropology "An engaging, poignant study of how the different paths taken by converts converge in life-long, collective practices of self-pedagogy that involve learning how to negotiate German secular-Christian social norms and institutions."--Paul A. Silverstein, History and Anthropology "A powerful work about the politics of inclusion and exclusion, security and threat, and recognition and fairness."--Joel Robbins, History and Anthropology "A groundbreaking book that sheds much light on the lives of German converts to Islam, their ways of becoming Muslims and being German in the aftermath of conversion, their ambivalent relationships with immigrant Muslims, their strategies and struggles with respect to broadening a space of Islam, and even making it a German religion, and finally their curious relationship with the Salafis in Germany."--Erdem Dikici, Islam and Christian-Muslim RelationsTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction Germanizing Islam and Racializing Muslims 1 Chapter 1 Giving Islam a German Face 24 Chapter 2 Establishing Distance from Immigrant Muslims 51 Chapter 3 East German Conversions to Islam after the Collapse of the Berlin Wall 69 Chapter 4 Being Muslim as a Way of Becoming German 87 Chapter 5 Salafism as the Future of European Islam? 109 Chapter 6 Conclusion 132 Notes 137 References 149 Index 163
£22.50
Princeton University Press Confronting Political Islam Six Lessons from the
Book SynopsisPolitical Islam has often been compared to ideological movements of the past such as fascism or Christian theocracy. But are such analogies valid? How should the Western world today respond to the challenges of political Islam? Taking an original approach to answer this question, Confronting Political Islam compares Islamism's struggle with secularTrade Review"Owen is generous, rational and balanced... [H]e is astute enough to understand the vast real-world differences that block the resolution of conflict."--Publishers Weekly "[A]n animated, ambitious and thoughtful book."--Borzou Daragahi, Financial Times "[P]rovocative."--Amb. (ret.) Anthony Quainton, American Diplomacy "This engaging and thoughtful book by University of Virginia scholar John Owen looks back on a series of upheavals in Western history to better understand the Middle East's current travails and challenges posed by political Islam... [A] wise and sophisticated book."--William Armstrong, Hurriyet Daily News "Owen writes to provide policy makers, students, and those engaged in the Middle East with tools to confront political Islam... This is a unique, stimulating, well-written and documented work that takes an unusual approach to the political problems of Islamism."--Choice "A highly recommended work for observers, students, and research scholars who are grappling with the contemporary problems faced by the Middle East through the prism of political disturbances in the past centuries of Western history."--Mehraj ud Din, Politics, Religion, & IdeologyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix List of Tables ix Preface xi Introduction It Did Happen Here 1 Lesson 1 Don't Sell Islamism Short 26 Lesson 2 Ideologies Are (Usually) Not Monolithic 46 Lesson 3 Foreign Interventions Are Normal 67 Lesson 4 A State May Be Rational and Ideological at the Same Time 86 Lesson 5 The Winner May Be "None of the Above" 110 Lesson 6 Watch Turkey and Iran 130 Conclusion What to Do and What Not to Do 156 Notes 165 Bibliography 193 Index 211
£29.75
Princeton University Press For Love of the Prophet
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[An] absorbing and important new book."--Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review DatabaseTable of ContentsList of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi A Note on Transliteration and Translation xvii Introduction:In Search of the Islamic State 1 Interventions Chapter One: Of Shaykhs and Kings: The Making of Sudanese Islam 29 Chapter Two: Civilizing Religion: Observations on the Architectureof Late Islamism 56 Itineraries Chapter Three: Rebuilding the Muslim Mind: Epistemological Enlightenmentand Its Discontents 97 Chapter Four: The Country That Prays upon the Prophet the Most: The Aesthetic Formation of the Islamic State 125 Chapter Five: Politics in the Age of Salvation: Reimagining the Islamic State 158 Inquiries Epilogue: Escaping the Islamic State? 199 Bibliography 217 Index 231
£27.00
