Search results for ""Saqi Books""

Poetry is the quintessence of Arab culture. In this book one of the foremost Arab poets reinterprets a rich and ancient heritage. He examines the oral tradition of the pre-Islamic poetry of Arabia and the relationship between Arabic poetry and the Qur'an, and between poetry and thought. He also assesses the challenges of modernism and the impact of western culture on the Arab poetic tradition. Stimulating in their originality, eloquent in their treatment of a wide range of poetry and criticism, these reflections open up fresh perspectives on one of the world's greatest - and least explored - literatures.

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A Scotsman Best Photography Book of 2017 Texts by Filippo Grandi, UN High Comissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, and Robert Del Naja, Massive Attack In October 2015, Giles Duley was commissioned by the UNHCR to document the refugee crisis. Over the next seven months, he was to criss-cross Europe and the Middle East attempting to put a human face to one of the biggest humanitarian emergencies of our time. Duley visited fourteen countries to tell the stories of individuals and families forced to flee their homes. He chronicled the turmoil of Lebanon, the camps of Jordan and Iraq, hellish scenes on the beaches of Lesvos and the refugees arrival in Germany. Bringing together over 150 original photographs, this book captures how even in the midst of such horror and tragedy there is humour, the unexpected and, above all, humanity.

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Across Britain, Muslims are caught up in a battle over the very nature of their faith. And extremists appear to be gaining the upper hand. Sara Khan has spent the past decade campaigning for tolerance and equal rights within Muslim communities, and is now engaged in a new struggle for justice and understanding - the urgent need to counter Islamist-inspired extremism.In this timely and courageous book, Khan shows how previously antagonistic groups of fundamentalist Muslims have joined forces, creating pressures that British society has never before encountered. What is more, identity politics and the attitudes of both the far Right and ultra-Left have combined to give the Islamists ever-increasing power to spread their message. Unafraid to tackle some of the pressing issues of our time, Sara Khan addresses the question of how to break the cycle of extremism without alienating British Muslims. She calls for all Britons to reject divisive ideologies and introduces us to those individuals who are striving to build a safer future.

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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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