Search results for ""Saqi Books""

Unlike other available translation manuals, English-Arabic/Arabic-English Translation: A Practical Guide transcends crude dichotomies of 'literal' vs 'free' translation, 'specialized' vs 'general', 'communicative' vs 'semantic.' It concentrates instead on developing a sensitivity to text-types and a deeper understanding of the demands that a given type makes on the translator. In addition, those who follow this guide will acquire the analytical tools needed to make meaningful comments about translation and translations. The guide is divided into three sections: translating legal texts; translating detached exposition; and translating argumentation. Thus the development of the student's translation skills and strategies starts with objective, non-evaluative texts and progressively moves on to extremely involved and highly evaluative texts. The sections are divided into units. Each unit contains an overview which contextualizes the particular text-form under discussion, a carefully chosen selection of texts and detailed notes and glossaries helps guide the student to the most appropriate translation. A glossary of text-linguistic and translation terms is provided together with a select bibliography. This guide will prove invaluable for both students and teachers of translation. Professional translators will also find this guide a useful tool.

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Since the oil boom of the 1970s, the Gulf Cooperation Council States have attempted to achieve economic stability and realise their development goals. Such efforts have so far been in vain, however, as these states' autocratic governments have closed off their political systems with the support of international allies, especially the United States. In this timely and exhaustive analysis of the political economies of the GCC since the 1970s to the present, Yousef Khalifa Al-Yousef examines the factors responsible for the failure of the states to achieve lasting change in development and security. Focusing on institutional structures where oil wealth has been confined to the few, and the consequences of failed legitimacy at home that has led to dependence on foreign powers, Al-Yousef charts the consistent disparities between governance and the needs of the local population, to the detriment of genuine development.Al-Yousef concludes that the only way to ensure stability and growth in the region is to dismantle the alliance of autocracy, oil and foreign powers. Instead, democracy and reform are key to ensuring stability in the region.

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The Arab Spring heralded a profound shift in the Middle East, bringing to power Islamist movements which had previously been operating in the shadows. The Muslim Brotherhood stormed to victory in Egypt and emerged as a key player in Libya's nascent political arena. Meanwhile, An-Nahda found itself catapulted into power as the head of Tunisia's coalition government. For a while, it looked as though the region was entering the dawn of a new Islamist age. But navigating their respective countries through difficult and painful transitions ultimately proved too challenging for these forces, and, just as suddenly, the Brotherhood was dramatically overthrown in Egypt and left severely weakened in Libya. In Tunisia, An-Nahda managed to pull itself through the crisis, but its failure to articulate and deliver the hopes and aspirations of a large section of Tunisian society damaged its credibility. In this authoritative account, Alison Pargeter expertly charts the Islamists' ascent and subsequent fall from power. Based on extensive research and interviews with high ranking members of the Brotherhood and An-Nahda, Pargeter offers a comparative analysis of the movement in North Africa since the Arab Spring, and outlines the consequences of the Brotherhood's decline on both the region and the wider Islamist political project.

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In 1749, a newspaper advertisement appeared declaring that a man would climb inside a bottle on the stage of a London theatre. Although the crowds turned up in their hundreds to witness the trick, the performer didn't. Over the following decades, elaborate jokes and fanciful tales would continue to bamboozle people across England. In The Century of Deception, magician and historian Ian Keable tells the engrossing stories of these eighteenth-century hoaxes and those who were duped by them. The English public were hoodwinked time and time again, swallowing whole tales of rapping ghosts, a woman who gave birth to rabbits, a levitating Frenchman in a Chinese Temple and outrageous astrological predictions. Not only were the hoaxes widely influential, drawing in celebrities such as Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Swift, they also inflamed concerns about 'English credulity'.

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The Nawab Nazim was born into one of India's most powerful royal families. Three times the size of Great Britain, his kingdom ranged from the soaring Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. However, in 1880, he was forced to abdicate by the British authorities, who saw him as a threat and permanently abolished his titles. The Nawab's change in fortune marked the end of an era in India and left his secret English family abandoned. The Last Prince of Bengal tells the true story of the Nawab Nazim, his wife and their descendants, as they sought by turns to befriend, settle in and eventually escape Britain. From glamourous receptions with Queen Victoria to a scandalous Muslim marriage with an English chambermaid; from Bengal tiger hunts to sheep farming in the harsh Australian outback, Lyn Innes recounts her ancestors' extraordinary journey from royalty to relative anonymity. Exposing complex prejudices regarding race, class and gender, this riveting account visits the extremes of British rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is also the intimate story of one family and their place in defining moments of recent Indian, British and Australian history.

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Released from an asylum to help with a police enquiry, the quick-witted and foul-smelling narrator delves deep into the underworld of 1970s Barcelona to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl from a convent school. Aided only by his ageing prostitute sister and the voluptuous nymphomaniac, Mercedes, the narrator's investigations take him deeper into a mystery involving murdered sailors, suicidal daughters, a web of organised crime and a secret, underground crypt. It is a hilarious detective romp through seedy underworld Barcelona.

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A Map of Absence presents the finest poetry and prose by Palestinian writers over the last seventy years. Featuring writers in the diaspora and those living under occupation, these striking entries pay testament to one of the most pivotal events in modern history - the 1948 Nakba. This unique, landmark anthology includes translated excerpts of works by major authors such as Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani and Fadwa Tuqan alongside those of emerging writers, published here in English for the first time. Depicting the varied aspects of Palestinian life both before and after 1948, their writings highlight the ongoing resonances of the Nakba. An intimate companion for all lovers of world literature, A Map of Absence reveals the depth and breadth of Palestinian writing.

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1920s Cairo: singers were pressing hit records, dramatic troupes were springing up and cabarets were packed - a counterculture was on the rise. In bars, hash-dens and music halls, people of all backgrounds came together as a passionate group of artists captivated Egyptian society. Of these performers, Cairo's biggest stars were female, and they asserted themselves on the stage like never before. Two of the most famous troupes were run by women; Badia Masabni's dancehall became the hottest nightspot in town; pioneer of Egyptian cinema Aziza Amir made her stage debut; and legendary singer Oum Kalthoum first rose to fame. It is these women, who knew both the opportunities and prejudices that this world offered, who best reveal this cosmopolitan and raucous city's secrets. Midnight in Cairo tells the thrilling story of Egypt's interwar nightlife and entertainment industry through the lives of its pioneering women. Introducing an eccentric cast of characters, it brings to life a world of revolutionary ideas and provocative art - one which laid the foundations of Arab popular culture today. It is a story of modern Cairo as we have never heard it before.

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Civilisation is on the brink of collapse. The people are controlled with Big Lies, mass surveillance and brutal suppression. What price would you pay for freedom? Oric and his lover Belkis are part of a rebel band devoted to liberating people all over the world from totalitarian oppression. When Belkis is brutally murdered, Oric's world is torn apart. Haunted by the thought that he could have done more to save her, he continues the fight for freedom that they began together. But Oric knows he doesn't have long left before his nemeses, the self-professed Saviours, return for him too. As the Saviours forge new alliances and grow ever stronger, Oric must stay one step ahead to complete the mission he was born to fulfill. Here, in the darkest hour, Oric will discover that even the smallest of gestures can bring the greatest gift to humankind - hope.

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French-American journalist Cole Stangler argues that the beating heart of the City of Light lies in the striving, working-class districts, where residents are now being priced out. Stangler brings the real Paris to life, combining gripping, street-level reportage, stories of today’s working-class Parisians, recent history and a sweeping analysis of the larger forces shaping the city.

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Geoff Nicholson has been walking his whole life. Wherever he is and wherever he goes in the world, he walks and writes about what he sees and feels. Here he reflects on the nature of walking, why we do it, how it benefits us and, in some cases, how it can damage and even destroy us. His recent diagnosis with a rare, incurable form of cancer has made him all too aware of his own mortality. Sooner or later there will be a last step, a last excursion, a final drift, for him just as there will be for all of us. Geoff vows to continue to walk for as long as he can. This moving, vital book describes his own walks and relates them to the walks of street photographers, artists and writers, such as Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Sophie Calle, Jorge Luis Borges and Virginia Woolf, among many others. Walking on Thin Air is a book about mortality and, above all, a celebration of being alive.

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Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic figures by examining Jesus within the context of the times in which he lived: the age of zealotry, an era awash in apocalyptic fervour. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against historical sources, Aslan describes a complex figure: a man of peace who exhorted his followers to arm themselves; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity secret; and the seditious 'King of the Jews', whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his lifetime. Aslan explores why the early Church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary, and grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself. Zealot provides a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told. The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with the pulse of a fast-paced novel, and a singularly brilliant portrait of a man, a time and the birth of a religion.

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In Nawal El Saadawi's play "God Resigns", the prophets and great women gather for a meeting with God. Satan arrives to tender his resignation, but neither Jesus, Mohammad, nor Moses is willing to replace him. Finally, God himself resigns in disgust. Eygptian officials declared the work heretical because 'God cannot resign' and ordered her publisher to destroy all copies. El Saadawi was charged with insulting Islam and was threatened with arrest on return to Egypt. "Isis" is a critique of the discriminatory rules that control women - the daughters of Isis - in North Africa and the Middle East today. Both plays develop key themes of El Saadawi's work: that religions are inimical to women and the poor; that the oppression of women is reprehensible and not solely characteristic of the Middle East or the Third World; and that free speech is fundamental to any society. This work includes introduction by Adele Newson-Horst, along with introductions to both plays.

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Black people have inhabited the British Isles for centuries. Eminent professor Paul Gilroy, renowned for his work exploring the social and cultural dimensions of British blackness and black Britishness, has assembled a living visual history of their social life in the modern British Isles. Watershed moments include the rise and commercial circulation of black culture and music, the world wars, the Manchester Pan African Congress, the historic settlement of the Windrush generation and the riots of the 1980s. Luminaries drawn from politics, art and sport appear alongside many pioneers - the first Jamaican immigrant to Brixton, London's first `Caribbean Carnival', the first black publican and the first female plumber. Just as important are the everyday experiences and anonymous faces. The ordinary lives of people of African, Caribbean, British and other cultures, captured here, vividly document the country's difficult and unfinished process of becoming postcolonial.

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Suleiman the Magnificent, most glorious of the Ottoman sultans, kept Europe atremble for nearly half a century. In a few years he led his army as far as the gates of Vienna, made himself master of the Mediterranean and established his court in Baghdad. Faced with this redoubtable champion, who regarded it as his duty to extend the boundaries of Islam father and farther, the Christian world could not agree to unite against him. 'The Shadow of God on Earth', but also an expert politician and all-powerful despot, Suleiman ruled the state firmly with the help of his viziers. His empire held dominion over three continents populated by more than thirty million inhabitans, prospering under a well-directed, authoritarian economy, Suleiman's reign marked the apogee of Ottoman power. He extended the borders of the empire beyond what any of the Ottoman sultans had achieved, yet it primarily is as a lawgiver that he is remembered in Turkish. In this book Andre Clot successfully produces both a life of the man and portrays a history of the Ottoman Empire at its peak.

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It is now more than seventy years since the creation of the state of Israel, yet its origins and the British Empire's historic responsibility for Palestine remain little known. Confusion persists too as to the distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. In Legacy of Empire, Gardner Thompson offers a clear-eyed review of political Zionism and Britain's role in shaping the history of Palestine and Israel. Thompson explores why the British government adopted Zionism in the early twentieth century, issuing the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and then retaining it as the cornerstone of their rule in Palestine after the First World War. Despite evidence and warnings, over the next two decades Britain would facilitate the colonisation of Arab Palestine by Jewish immigrants, ultimately leading to a conflict which it could not contain. Britain's response was to propose the partition of an ungovernable land: a 'two-state solution' which - though endorsed by the United Nations after the Second World War - has so far brought into being neither two states nor a solution. A highly readable and compelling account of Britain's rule in Palestine, Legacy of Empire is essential for those wishing to better understand the roots of this enduring conflict.

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Written by one of the most acclaimed contemporary poets in the Arab world, who is often cited as the poetic voice of the Palestinian people, this diary records his observations and feelings as Israel attacked Gaza and Lebanon.

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Vanessa Henman, a plucky but accident-prone white writer, flies out to Uganda for an African writers' conference. She also means to visit her former cleaner, Ugandan Mary Tendo, now the successful Executive Housekeeper of Kampala's Sheraton Hotel. But Mary has her own agenda: her son Jamil is missing, and she has secretly summoned Vanessa's beloved ex-husband Trevor, a plumber, to her village to help build a new well. Vanessa sets off alone on safari to distant Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the mountain gorillas. But then Vanessa quarrels with her driver and a bloody war closes in on Bwindi from Congo. Can anyone save her? Will Mary Tendo find her son?

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Ziya Bey has six months left to live. From his mansion on Farewell Fountain Street, the Ottoman aristocrat plans to tie up some questionable business affairs and say goodbye to the people he cherishes. He hires Artvin, a disillusioned professor with a troubled past, to assist him. Intrigued by his employer's mysterious household, Artvin spends the days uncovering Ziya Bey's turbulent life story. The two men become bound together as they reveal dark elements from their pasts. But when Ziya Bey releases Artvin from his duties sooner than expected, Artvin inherits a spiral of violence he cannot control. In this gripping ride through the streets of Istanbul, two men learn one another's secrets. But can either of them learn to live with themselves?

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Claire and Gabrielle Sahli are sisters growing up in 1920s Cairo. Of Levantine descent, they occupy a precarious position in Egypt's increasingly nationalist world. With the early death of their father, the sisters find themselves dependent on others as they attempt to maintain their position in a volatile society. Over the decades, against the backdrop of anti-British sentiment, civil unrest, and Nasser's socialist rule, the Sahlis cling to their homes and livelihoods in Cairo. Tracing the lives of Claire and Gabrielle from childhood to old age, Anne-Marie Drosso vividly portrays the bittersweet relationship of two intelligent, complex women forced to adapt, each in her own way, to the unexpected.

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The actors in these short stories quietly and unobtrusively assume their place in the world. An older woman rids herself of social shackles in the hypnotic title story as she moves towards the sea and freedom, a man packs in his day job to sell miniature suitcases, while a woman converts a freelance evangelist after their plane nearly crashes. Maggie Gee deftly encapsulates a world in which a moment of impatience with a spouse can cost a family their lives and a dying man's last thoughts are of gathering his wife's favourite flowers in a bouquet. Her characters are all too familiar in their struggle for fulfilment and their efforts to come to grips with bittersweet, but enduring love. These exquisite stories of everyday life are set against an intricately woven backdrop encompassing larger issues of poverty, race relations, and social prejudices. They are stories about love that tell us something about life, and how people negotiate a path for themselves.

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The Kurdish people have begun to establish themselves as a political force. Their situation illuminates the burning question of the Middle East: how do ethnicity and self-determination interact? Bringing together several disciplines, including history, anthropology, sociology, politics, and linguistics, the contributors here consider the factors that make the case of the Kurds so critical. Examples are drawn from the modern histories of Iraq, Turkey, and Iran.

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Nowhere in the world is university education expanding as rapidly as in the six-member state of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In two generations the region has gone from having the Middle East's least educated population to boasting a younger generation whose educational achievements are approaching Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards. This unique study, with contributions by key decision makers, charts this dramatic development, exploring the challenges faced and placing the accomplishments within the social, economic and political context of the region.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged ... Esma is a modern Muslim woman with an age-old dilemma. She is well-educated, well-travelled and has excellent taste in music, but the hunt for Mr Right leads her to a number of Mr Wrongs. Together with wild-haired Ruby, principled Lisa, and drop-dead gorgeous Nirvana, Esma forms the No Sex in the City Club. Her quest for The One (or Mr Almost-Perfect) was never going to be easy, but soon enough it takes an unexpected and thrilling detour.

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From his rich, colourful and uncompromising oeuvre, it's easy to see why Khosrow Hassanzadeh is one of Iran's leading contemporary artists. A former fruit seller and volunteer soldier, he cuts an unusual figure in Tehran's high society art scene. Hassanzadeh works primarily with photography, collage, painting and mixed media, often layering contemporary images and photographs with figures drawn from Persian illuminated manuscripts and Farsi calligraphy. His stark paintings of figures wrapped in burial shrouds are reminiscent of Philip Guston's cartoon-like style but with a sinister immediacy; these images of shrouded corpses are seen all too often in today's tormented Middle East. Treating subjects as diverse as the Iran-Iraq war, murdered prostitutes, women in chadors and Iranian wrestlers, Hassanzadeh's multi-layered, humanist works place individuals at the centre of things and unflinchingly examine harsh political realities. The fact that his work is mainly exhibited outside Iran despite its focus on contemporary Iranian society makes for an intriguing, though slightly uneasy relationship with the Western art world. Each series is prefaced with an essay by leading scholars and critics contextualizing the work.

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Mai Ghoussoub A A A A - artist, writer and co-founder of Saqi A A A A- commented widely on culture, aesthetics and the Middle East, and published many books in English, Arabic and French. Gathered here is a selection of her finest writings A A A A - on war (in the Middle East and elsewhere), the sexist gaze, censorship, Abu Ghraib, the city, art A A A 's encounter with tragedy A A A A - always laced through with Ghoussoub A A A 's signature humor and an enduring sense of humanity.

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The establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 meant women were forced to wear the hijab and photographs of them uncovered were forbidden. As a result, many photographers' studios were burnt to the ground, while remaining archives of invaluable glass-plate negatives were left to moulder in attics. Parisa Damandan spent over ten years accumulating an impressive collection of pioneering photographs from the early twentieth century, in her hometown of Isfahan. Recently emancipated women posing in various state of dress, Polish war refugees on their tortuous journey home after fleeing the Nazis, men in fashionable hats or in traditional turbans and cloaks - these portraits offer a remarkable window on the changing face of Iranian society during a period of transition from a traditional to a modern culture. Alongside these stunning images are essays on the development of portraiture in Isfahan, the social dimensions of portrait photography in Iran, and the power of the gaze.

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The Bourj in central Beirut is one of the world's oldest and most vibrant public squares. Named after the mediaeval lookout tower that once soared above the city's imposing ramparts, the square has also been known as Place des Canons (after a Russian artillery build-up in 1773) and Martyrs' Square (after the Ottoman execution of nationalists in 1916). As an open museum of civilizations, it resonates with influences from ancient Phoenician to colonial, post-colonial and, as of late, postmodern elements. Over the centuries it has come to embody pluralism and tolerance. During the Lebanese civil war (1975-90), this ebullient entertainment district, transport hub and melting-pot of cultures was ruptured by the notorious Green Line, which split the city into belligerent warring factions. Fractious infighting and punishing Israeli air raids compounded the damage, turning the Bourj into a no-man's-land. In the wake of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri's assassination (14 February 2005), the Bourj witnessed extraordinary scenes of popular, multi-faith and cross-generational protest. Once again, Samir Khalaf argues, the heart of Beirut was poised to re-invent itself as an open space in which diverse groups can celebrate their differences without indifference to the other. By revisiting earlier episodes in the Bourj's numerous transformations of its collective identity, Khalaf explores prospects for neutralizing the disheartening symptoms of reawakened religiosity and commodified consumerism.

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The small boy was trying to climb over the wall surrounding the labyrinth when he heard the elderly people back home shouting at him to go back to bed. His grip on the wall loosened and he fell, awaking from his dream to find himself now seventy years older, seated as usual in his armchair watching people around him involved in busy discussions. His problem of not hearing well sometimes placed him in 'a cage without bars' whenever he happened to be in a big group. The dream of the labyrinth took on different aspects: he waded through multiple environments crowded with people who, coping with different problems themselves, faced the same isolation that left them all politely ignored by others. Coming out of the labyrinth, he found that the circumstances of his dream had evaporated. All the same, the beauty in life does not evaporate ...

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This publication presents a selection of her most startling work so far, created in response to the dramatic social and political upheaval that she experienced after the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the murder of her parents in Tehran. Though the inspiration behind Forouhar's subject matter may be tragic, her work has a great emotional range: the results are sometimes macabre, occasionally darkly humorous and often purely joyful. Published to coincide with artist's first solo show in the UK at Leighton House Museum, London, in October 2010, this is the first English-language monograph of her work. The Artist's work is in the permanent collections of The Queensland Art Museum, Queensland; Belvedere, Vienna; Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe; Musem of Modern Art, Frankfurt; and the Deutsche Bank Art Collection. Rose Issa provides a forword and there are essays by the curator and film-maker Lutz Becker and the author and art critic Russell Harris.

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These seven short essays provide a brief and cogent overview of selected Hadiths (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad used as sources for religious law) that, argues the author, were not only revolutionary for their time but have retained their potential to drastically revolutionise Islamic societies today. Each Hadith is presented in the words of classical Muslim commentators, followed by Algosaibi's interpretation. He frames the Hadiths as they can and should be applied to contemporary circumstances, lending new vitality to modern Muslim social and political life. A bold and clearly reasoned call for reform, "Revolution in the Sunnah" concisely demonstrates the progressive urge at the core of Islamic tradition. The topics covered are political integrity, the role of women in society and the military, civil rights, privacy, cruelty to animals, family planning, and torture.

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This is no ordinary cookbook. Some of the world's great chefs have come together here to share their favourite Turkish recipes. Sample Nigella Lawson's hummus with seared lamb and toasted pinenuts; Huseyin Ozer's almond cake; Antony Worrall Thompson's freshwater trout; Claudia Roden's yoghurt soup; or Gary Rhodes Turkish Delights. Not only are there classic Turkish recipes for falafel, kebabs and baklava but there are also wonderful introductions to the famous wines, raki and coffee that complement these dishes. Alongside these are fascinating insights into how this exquisite cuisine evolved in the Ottoman Empire to rank as one of the world's finest.

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What could a ballerina, an anarchist, an Islamic terrorist and a banker possibly have in common? Our narrator, the enigmatic, piano-playing, rum drinking, Baron S knows. And he's ready to tell. Moving between the seventies and the present-day, between London, Italy and Surinam, Pauline Melville marshals a brilliant cast of characters to tell an explosive tale of greed, passion and revolutionary ideals.

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Arab women poets have been around since the earliest of times, yet their diwans (collected poems) were not given the same consideration as their male counterparts''. Spanning 5,000 years, from the pre-Islamic to the Andalusian periods, Classical Poems by Arab Women presents rarely seen work by over fifty women writers for the first time. From the sorrowful eulogies of Khansa to the gleeful scorn of Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, this collection exclusively features the work of Arab women who boldly refused to be silenced. The poems are excursions into their vibrant world whose humanity has been suppressed for centuries by religious and political bigotry. With poems in both English and Arabic, this remarkable anthology celebrates feminine wit and desire, and shows the significant contribution Arab women made to the literary tradition.

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Mohammad Rawas stands today at the peak of an outstanding artistic career. Those familiar with his work will welcome this volume as a much-needed permanent source of reference, while those encountering the artist for the first time can enjoy a unique introduction to his work in the 235 reproductions presented here. In the accompanying text, the artist himself provides a fascinating insight into his life and work, his compositional techniques and sources of inspiration. A painting by Rawas, offers a complex visual and conceptual experience - both compelling and enigmatic, charming yet vigorously challenging. Constructing our own shifting narratives around the diverse elements of his paintings, we also explore the thought processes that led the artist to assemble these particular groups of images to form his original statements.

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`You may wonder why the Middle East gets so much airtime. Well, regions of the world were competing to host the apocalypse and the Middle East won.' Online sensation Karl reMarks disagreed with the idea that reality had become too strange to satirise. Then he read that bin Laden was radicalised by Shakespeare. Since then, Karl has been bringing the best of the Middle East news and views to his followers around the world. Now Karl's wildly wry observations and sketches are available in one handy collection. With sections on `Geography for Dummies', `Democracy for Realists' and `Extremism: A Study', alongside the best of Karl reMarks's infamous `Bar Jokes', this hilarious book proudly presents views you're guaranteed not to hear on the news ... We're actually very proud of God in the Middle East. He's the local guy who went on to acquire international fame. Wahahahahabism: A fundamentalist Middle Eastern comedy movement. Twelve people just started to follow me. Jesus.

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Lottie Lucas is the luckiest person she knows. She has looks, money, three houses and a teenage son she adores ...So why is her husband Harold walking out on her a few days before Christmas? Light Years is also about zoos and the zodiac; the seasons and the stars; and how humans see the natural world. It is a novel about the possibilities of happiness, a surprising and beautiful contemporary love story.

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The key to understanding the Arab world today is unlocking its past. In this authoritative account, John McHugo takes the reader through the political, social and intellectual history of the Arabs from the Roman Empire right up to the present day. Going beyond the headlines, he describes in vivid detail a series of key turning points in Arab history from the mission of the Prophet Muhammad and the expansion of Islam to the region's interaction with Western ideas and the rise of Islamism. Now fully updated to cover the tumultuous years since the Arab Spring, this lucidly told history reveals how the Arab world came to have its present form and illuminates the choices that lie ahead.

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Complex, innovative and thought-provoking, Iranian art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries offers fresh insight into a culture and society that have been much misunderstood in the West and elsewhere. In this new, comprehensive study, featuring 379 full-colour images, Hamid Keshmirshekan considers the dynamics at play for Iranian artists as they confront their cultural past as well as issues of contemporaneity and cultural specificity. He contends that the twentieth century in particular proved a crucial period in the art and culture of Iran; it was then that the legacies of tradition and modernism came under critical review, and artistic concerns revealed themselves as indivisible from ideological ones. Contemporary Iranian Art includes major work by acclaimed Iranian artists such as Mahmoud Bakhshi, Shadi Ghadirian, Barbad Golshiri, Marcos Grigorian, Farhad Moshiri, Shirin Neshat, Sohrab Sepehri, Mitra Tabrizian, Parviz Tanavoli and Charles Hossein Zenderoudi. Preface by Hala Khayat, Specialist in Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art, Christie's.

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"Patterns, Costumes and Stencils" is a reflection of the diverse peoples, cultures and traditions that have influenced Chant Avedissian's work, from the colourful textiles of Rajasthan and the glazed bricks of "Samarkand to Egyptian" magazine covers from the 1960s. This unique collection of Chant Avedissian's artwork leads us on a journey that crosses boundaries of all kinds: geographical, cultural and temporal. Here is an artist who continues to provoke through his iconoclastic images, probing ideas of consumerism, art and propaganda, creativity and copyright, tradition and modernity. It offers a fascinating insight into repetition and difference, in life and in art.

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A woman disappears without trace. Nobody, including the police commissioner investigating the case, can understand how a woman could simply walk away, leaving husband and home behind. After all, in the Kingdom of Oil where His Majesty reigns supreme, no woman has ever dared disobey the command of men. When the woman finally reappears, there is a blurring between the men in her life, as she leaves one to join another, then returns to her first husband who has since taken a new wife. She is trapped in a man-made web, unable to escape from a male figure who continually fills urns that she must carry. Surreal and satirical, Love in the Kingdom of Oil is a startling reflection on the limits of female freedom in a patriarchal society.

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Cyprus' capital Nicosia has been split by a militarised border for decades. In this collection, writers from all sides of the divide reimagine the past, present and future of their city. Here, Cypriot-Greeks coexist alongside Cypriot-Turks, the north with the south, town with countryside, dominant voices with the marginalised. This is a city of endless possibilities - a place where an anthropologist from London and a talkative Marxist are hunted by a gunman in the Forbidden zone; where a romance between two aspiring Tango dancers falls victim to Nicosia's time difference; and where an artist finds his workplace on a rooftop, where he paints a horizon disturbed only by birds. Together, these writers journey beyond the beaten track creating a complete picture of Nicosia, the world's last divided capital city, that defies barriers of all kinds.

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The sharp increase in oil revenues since 2002 has left the Arab Gulf States with billions of petro-dollars. But how will these countries fare in the post-oil era? The rulers of these states are taking serious measures to ensure the survival of their economies, and indeed their regimes, in a world with scarce mineral resources. This book explores the extent to which these countries have been and will be able to prepare for the future by transforming themselves into serious international destinations for tourism, finance, healthcare and education. It also considers the implications of failure for the future survival of their regimes. A timely and insightful study into this vibrant and important region, this book will provide food for thought for academics, policy makers and general readers.

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Al-Khwarizmi was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer. He worked most of his life as a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad during the first half of the 9th century and is considered by many to be the father of algebra. His Algebra (Kitab al-Jabr wa-al-muqabala), written around 820, was the first scientific text in history to systematically present algebra as a mathematical discipline that is independent of geometry and arithmetic. This groundbreaking work is divided into two main sections: one dealing with algebraic theory, and the other focusing on the calculation of inheritances and legacies. Al-Khwarizmi's book laid down the groundwork for a scientific field where mathematics and juridical learning meet, which was furthermore developed through the efforts of successive generations of mathematicians and jurists. This text also highlighted for the first time the deep-rooted possibilities in algebra to extend the use of mathematical disciplines from one to another, such as the application of arithmetic to algebra, or of geometry into algebra, and vice-versa for these three disciplines into one another; hence opening up novel areas of mathematical research. Latin translations of al-Khwarizmi's book began in the 12th century, and these texts held a continuous influence over algebra and mathematics until the 16th century.

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On Valentine's Day 2005 self-made billionaire Rafiq Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister, was assassinated in Beirut by a massive bomb that destroyed his motorcade. The Lebanese people subsequently took to the streets, and the United Nations Security Council responded by declaring the assassination an international terrorist act with severe regional and international ramifications. An International Independent Investigation Commission was formed by the Security Council to uncover the perpetrators. Mourned as a Lebanese martyr, Hariri's death triggered the protests that led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces in April 2005. From his humble beginnings as a fruit picker, Hariri achieved fame and fortune as a construction magnate in Saudi Arabia. As Prime Minister of Lebanon for ten years, 1992-98 and 2000-04, he was widely credited for its rebirth after years of civil war, overseeing the rebuilding of 90 percent of the country's infrastructure. His resignation in 2004 over the extension of President Lahoud's mandate was viewed as a protest against Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs. Marwan Iskandar offers an in-depth perspective of the Hariri years, including a detailed look at the considerable economic reforms instituted under Hariri's leadership. He shares sensitive new information about such scandals as the al-Madina bank affair, and provides behind-the-scenes revelations about key figures in Lebanese finance and government.

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Meet the people of Cairo's Gamaliya quarter. There is Nabqa, son of Adam the waterseller who can only speak truths; the beautiful and talented Tawhida who does not age with time; Ali Zaidan, the gambler, late to love; and Boss Saqr who stashes his money above the bath. A neighbourhood of demons, dancing and sweet halva, the quarter keeps quiet vigil over the secrets of all who live there. This collection by pre-eminent Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz was recently discovered among his old papers. Found with a slip of paper titled `for publishing 1994', they are published here for the first time. Resplendent with Mahfouz's delicate and poignant observations of everyday happenings, these lively stories take the reader deep into the beating heart of Cairo.

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