Middle East Books

This was a powerful and sad story about a young boy growing up in Syria, and about the hardships in a person's life due to culture and geography. Most people don't know much about Syria, let alone the Middle East. The story does a superb job of revealing the agony of hunger, sickness, poverty, the marginalization of women and the poor, and it brings up the excesses of our own American society. It becomes obvious that Syria lacks the infrastructure to realistically support its people. Thus, they are forced to live day by day, barely avoiding injustice and death. It's a miracle that the author survives to tell his story. Sickness and poverty take on a new meaning in this book, showing how death can be much more humane than life itself, and how God can be ruthless, how begging can be dehumanizing. There are just so many elements of the human experience compacted into this story. If anything, after reading this book, I gained an appreciation for the relative comfort and security of my life. Lastly, I think this book shows how work and the ability to work give value to a person's life. A truly worthwhile read.

Fragments of Memory is a socio-historical novel that illustrates the characteristics of rural life in Syria at the time of the French Mandate. This biographical novel is particularly effective in illustrating issues related to the exercise of power and the role of the state. There will also be an analysis of the expectations of family life and the respective roles of men, women and children and the role of religion in daily life. The Novel offers considerable insight into relations of power and the role of the state in rural society. The vicissitudes of the author's family in al-Suwaydiya and the village of al-Akbar clearly show that the landowner and the village headman - mukhtar - held all the power, especially when the landowner was also the mukhtar as was the case in al-Suwaydiya. The first chapters of the novel describe the family's move from the administrative capital Latakiya to the coastal village of al-Suwaydiya. There the family virtually submits to a sharecropping arrangement with the mukhtar, Mr. Elias, who owns the land, which entitled it to earn a quarter of the income accruing from the cultivation of mulberry trees while the rest went to the mukhtar (p.19). The paramount characteristic of this arrangement, however, is the relationship of dependency that the family develops upon the assistance of the mukhtar that borders on slavery.

This book is a fine introduction for young people to the history of Israel and its relationship with the U.S. Unfortunately, much that has been written today consists of revistionist history that ignores the facts: In 1947, six months before the declaration of the Independence by the state of Israel, Arabs were already fighting against her, with help from the British. In the war that ensued, some 6,000 Israelis were killed, fully 1% of her population. That was roughly equal to the half the U.S. losses of the Civil War--still the most devastating both proportionately and absolutely--of all U.S. wars. It is only a third of the proportionate U.S. losses of World War II. Israel nearly lost--and won with no help whatsoever from the U.S.

Subsquently, Israel fought four other defensive wars against Arab aggressors. Arab officials admitted last November and again in March that current low-level war, which makes six, was planned by Arafat during the Camp David talks. They began attacks on September 24 with bombs at Netzarim junction, one of which murdered Israeli David Biri--days before Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount.

Israel, now 53 years old, has lived in a virtual stage of siege since her founding. Of 22 Arab nations, only two are offically at peace with her. The other 20 remain officially at war, by their choice. Mr. Finkelstein's work is an important--and honest--contribution to the understanding of this history. It is a positive contribution, being a much-needed antidote to the propaganda war that the Arabs have mounted, with increasing success, for the last 25 years. Alyssa A. Lappen

This book is a fine introduction for young people to the history of Israel and its relationship with the U.S. Unfortunately, much that has been written today consists of revistionist history that ignores the facts: In 1947, six months before the declaration of the Independence by the state of Israel, Arabs were already fighting against her, with help from the British. In the war that ensured, some 6,000 Israelis were killed, fully 1% of her population. That is roughly equal to the half the U.S. losses of the Civil War--still the most devastating both proportionately and absolutely--of all U.S. wars. It is only a third of the proportionate U.S. losses of World War II. Subsquently, Israel fought four other defensive wars against Arab aggressors. The current low-level war, which makes six, was planned by Arafat during the Camp David talks, and started by Arabs on September 24 with bombs at Netzarim junction, and the murder of Israeli David Biri.

Children should learn that Israel, now 53 years old, has lived in a virtual stage of siege since her founding, with 20 of the 22 Arab nations remaining officially "at war" with her. Mr. Finkelstein's work is an important contribution to the understanding of this special friend to the U.S. Mr. Finkelstein's is a great contribution to the body of work on Israeli history. It provides a much-needed antidote to the propaganda war that the Arabs have mounted, with increasing success, for the last 25 years.

it is a great, quick review of persian history with highlights of the richness of persia. I learned so much that i did not know. It is easy to read and fascinating facts. Anyone interested in the rich persian history must have a copy. I bought many copies and gave it as gifts to my friends.

This booklet narrates the history of Iran (Persia) from a positive perspective -- a good contrast to what the Western mass media have projected over the past two decades. The text is brief and to the point, and the illustrations enhace the richness of the text. Given its modest price, this booklet makes a great gift for friends (young or old) interested in Iran.

This book at times was boring, but it is kind of meant to be that way. It's a book on war gaming leading up to the liberation of Kuwait, the politics of how the first Bush administration heroicly gathered a large coalition, the tactics, and execution for victory! It is still worth the read even if your not into military weapons and technology.

This book gives a thorough explanation of the troops and equipment used during the Persian Gulf War and the build up to the war. The authors dig to find the most accurate numbers. Also give expert analysis on the Iraqi army and coalition forces in terms of diplomacy and experience. Also good background on the history of the region. I give the book an A.

In 1954, two members of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient published a commendable scholarly work titled: Connaissance du Viet-Nam. Pierre Huard and Maurice Durand meticulously, but not laboriously, capsulized Vietnamese geography, history, education, agriculture, family relations, literature, and music, amid many other topics. Their essential thesis was that this economically impoverished nation has a bountiful cultural heritage.

Almost half a century elapsed before a work of comparable revelation emerged in English. The late and noted lexicographer Nguyen Dinh Hoa's cultural memoir proves the Huard and Durand thesis. The memoir focuses on Vietnamese customs and mores as the author experienced them growing up in Hanoi: Lining up for water at the community well; collection of night soil, a friend's accuracy with the slingshot, sleeping under a mosquito net, introduction to the martial arts at ten, burial of the placenta and umbilical cord, silversmithing techniques, and marketing of the urine of a pre-pubescent boy as a tonic. This personalized approach humanizes and vivifies what otherwise might have been dry text.

Hoa either had total recall or was the most fastidious keeper of a journal since Samuel Pepys. He lists the names and characteristics of his grade school teachers, and describes the menu offered to him on his arrival in New York in 1948. Woe to anyone who met Hoa since Hoa was five years old, and couldn't remember Hoa's name, for he surely would have remembered yours. Particularly for someone who spoke no English until his early twenties, he manifested a remarkable grasp of English idiom and nuance. In all the memoir's two hundred pages, only four slightly infelicitous expressions emerge. None interferes with meaning, and they are all too petty to elaborate on here.

This fabled memoir is an argument for nature over nurture. Hoa came from an illustrious family in which, for several generations, all the males have been named Nguyen Dinh this or that. In fact, in the memoir, the reader sometimes gets lost in the forest of Nguyen Dinh's.

The memoir is wisely non-linear. It does not pass directly from birth through adolescence to maturity, but skips entertainingly back and forth in time. For example, we learn about Mit, Hoa's wife, through her encounter with a stereotypically uncomprehending official of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, long before he tells us of their early betrothal.

Hoa's memoir is a revelation of the richness and humanity of Vietnamese culture, and a a welcome antidote for those whose image of Vietnam is shaped by Oliver Stone and Stanley Kubrick.

As a linguist, and also someone steeped in the history of Vietnam, no doubt Dr. Nguyen Dinh-Hoa has thought deeply about the symbolic significance of "Ha-Noi," named for Vietnam's northern capital. As the cradle of Vietnamese civilization, it literally means "the city inside the Red River," hence the title of the book. The word "Noi" in Vietnamese denotes "inside" and suggests either insulation or introspection. The word "Ha" on the other hand, means "river" and suggests flow, confluence, and change. In fact, Dutch, Portuguese, and British merchants in the 16th century had referred to the bustling city by the Red River as "Ke Cho" or "The Market Place." Thus, in the very title of Dr. Nguyen's work, "From the City inside the Red River," there exists already a tension between tradition and change--the tension that defines the essence of Vietnamese culture.

In his book, Dr. Nguyen covers at length the history and geography of Hanoi, or "The Old Capital" of Vietnam from the 11th century to the 19th century. At the same time, he weaves his personal history into the larger tapestry of his native city. The street where he was born and lived until early adulthood is at once imbued with rich historical context and future portent. It is called to this day "Pho Hang Bac" meaning "Silver Street." The French called this street "Rue des Changeurs" ("Moneychangers' Street.") It is one of the oldest streets in Hanoi and used to serve as the financial center of ancient Vietnam. Like Hanoi, Silver Street embraces both the Old World, and the change brought by commerce with the New World.

In Dr. Nguyen's memoir, historical changes occurred side by side with personal changes. Dr. Nguyen mentioned the Confucian tradition of "rectifying names," i.e., the formal ritual of changing a person's given birth name to mark the karmic change that transforms his or her personal essence. Dr. Nguyen translates this symbolic tradition into a loose American colloquialism, i.e., "how not to call a spade a spade." Dr. Nguyen's first name, Hoa, was given to him by his father, which means "The Peace-Loving One." In 1948, Dr. Nguyen received a scholarship to study at Union College, in Schenectady, New York. He was sponsored by Delta Upsilon Fraternity through a Union College Program called H.E.L.P. (Higher Education for Lasting Peace.) Delta Upsilon brothers immediately rechristened him "Wing-Ding," possibly a phonetic equivalent of his family name, "Nguyen Dinh." Ironically, the word "Wing-Ding" in American slang means an outburst, or a wild and raucous party, a meaning, and name that represents the direct opposite of Hoa, "the peace-loving one." As a fateful name, however, it captures perfectly the dual nature of Dr. Nguyen--an open, adventurous stranger in a strange land. In the dawn of post-war America, his new name "Wing-Ding" conjured up an aura of singsong childishness--perhaps unintended condescension-- if not racism, from his good-intentioned American brothers. But I cannot help but think that the name Wing-Ding was a liberating "rectification" for Dr. Nguyen. It allowed him to immerse into the piquant mores of mid-century America without losing his uniqueness. Wing-Ding thrived on whole milk and Coca-Cola. Wing-Ding played canasta in the afternoon with American housewives. Wing-Ding hitch-hiked across America.

As time went by, Dr. Nguyen "aka" Wing-Ding became a traveller across cultures, whose personal life adhered closely with the progress of his academic work in linguistics. Names of places and people in his life began to acquire double, finely shaded meanings. His first-born daughter is named Patricia My Huong, which means American Rose, and also Beautiful Rose of the Fatherland.

While Dr. Nguyen's cultural memoir represents a celebration of multi-ethnic confluences, at times his memoir highlights certain aspects of Vietnamese culture that are impossible to translate into an American context. Dr. Nguyen recounts his experience teaching English to a group of Vietnamese students in the 1950s, using a textbook containing words such as "tulips," "central heating," and "the tube"--words that imparted no concrete dimension to citizens of a tropical, then largely agrarian Vietnam. Conversely, Dr. Nguyen could not find any English word that captured the eccentric sensuality of certain Vietnamese fruits or dishes, such as mang cau, du du, banh chung, che dau xanh (custard apple, papaya, rice cake, mung bean pudding).

Tropical fruits and flowers as symbols and landscape signifiers exist throughout the book, creating a sense of Proustian nostalgia, a remembrance of things past that exists dominantly in the hearts and minds of overseas Vietnamese. Ultimately, Dr. Nguyen's cultural memoir represents a dual testament to mutability and survival. His memoir celebrates the endurance of the Vietnamese language through foreign domination, war and peace--enduring in its power to subvert the external into the internal, enduring in its ability to synthesize the cacophonous into the melodious whole. Toward the end of his book, Dr. Nguyen succinctly captures the wisdom of Nguyen Trai, a famous fourteenth century poet:

Let your children and grandchildren not worry about the meagerness of your assets, your poems and books as a treasure trove shall last ten generations !

It's not easy to go wrong with a book like this. Land of Sheba sets out to relate translated folk stories of Yemen, and succeeds. The short book gives us an insight to the heart of Yemeni peoples, their interests, desires, and needs. The stories certianly often wouldn't delight a Western reader, hoping for a particular moral or ending- but it's a different culture. Of particular interest is "Henna Leaf", a clearly-adapted Cinderella story told in a land where men can't see women, with a uniquely Yemeni twist. If you enjoy understanding other's viewpoints, I'd highly recommend this book.

From The Land Of Sheba: Yemeni Folk Tales is a simply outstanding anthology of some of the oldest stories, fables, and legends of human civilization. Nearly all of the stories are brief; though they carry the weight of history, author Carolyn Han smoothly retells them just as if they happened yesterday. A fascinating, timeless capture of Yemeni culture and traditions, as well as a superb addition to academic and community library folklore shelves.

This should be the primer for garden coffee-table books.

This book features gorgeous photos, a terrific representation of every area of the Adirondacks, interesting stories, and history on the gardens. I especially appreciated the background given for each garden, and the nice balance between historic gardens, personal gardens, and publics areas. I don't often rave, but this is just about everything I could want in a garden photo book.

Very beautiful and informative. Photo's are superb. Text is a well researched and fascinating history of gardens old and new. Keen gardener's eye and knowledge is evident throughout.

Generals In The Cabinet Room: How The Military Shapes Israeli Policy by Yoram Peri (Professor of Political Sociology And Communication at Tel Aviv University) forcefully and persuasively argues the premise that while once Israel's military was the servant of its civilian political leadership, today it is the Israeli generals who have the lead in foreign and defense policymaking. The repercussions for Israeli--Palestinian relations, Israeli democracy, and other democracies are potentially earthshaking. Generals In The Cabinet Room traces recent military-political Israeli history with especial focus on the 1990's and beyond, and warns of a future in which democracy itself could potentially fall victim to too much militarization. Highly recommended.

Anyone seeking explanations for Israel's hasty and ill-considered decision to go to war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in July 2006 should begin with this outstanding book -- published just before the conflict -- as background. Yoram Peri is Israel's leading authority on civil-military relations. He writes presciently about the risks of allowing the military to monopolize Israel's intelligence apparatus, inviting generals into cabinet meetings to formulate policy, giving senior officers unlimited freedom to make media appearances, and encouraging a revolving door for ex-generals who retire to become politicians.

Peri convincingly analyzes the shifts in Israeli policies since the late 1980's as a reflection of the military leadership's changing perceptions of the country's security needs. His approach is subtle, recognizing that the generals first supported and advanced the Oslo peace process during the early 1990's before abandoning hope for peace with the Palestinians by the end of the decade. In each phase the views of the active and retired senior officers deeply influenced Israel's policy choices.

Peri concludes with a series of recommendations for reform, which, had they been in place when Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, might well have produced a range of viable policy alternatives for the civilian leaders, sparing the elected government from adopting the generals' recommendation to launch a poorly-designed military campaign in Lebanon.

The book is clearly written and is solidly based on interviews with numerous high-level officials. This is a worthy sequel to Peri's earlier book, Between Battles and Ballots, showing that state control over the military has been weak since Israel's founding. Peri's important work holds cautionary lessons for all democracies, including the U.S. since 9/11, that struggle against terrorists and seek to make the most of their militaries without giving them control over national policy.

This is a brief essay on a movement that is growing steadily little by little. This movement says that the past events of ancient civilizations that are currently dated to the third and second millennium BC actually happened in the first millennium BC. The reduction is of some two thousand years of history. Although it seems crazy, it is even more crazy that historians have neglected these anomalies in chronology for so long. It seems that in an age of computers and genetical engineering medieval minds still operate and dominate the field. Hopefully this will change during the 21st century.

This is one of the most exciting historical books I've ever read. Sweeney has finally answered the question as to why the important characters of biblical history were apparently unknown to the Egyptians. The two chronologies are out of sync by 1,000 years. Truly revolutionary. The most exciting part for me was the discovery that Joseph (of the many-coloured coat) was the same person as Imhotep, the great seer who designed the Step Pyramid at Sakkara. This book is a must for any Indiana Jones enthusiasts of Egyptian and biblical history.

I read this aloud to my children (age 7 and 9), and all three of us really enjoyed the stories! Very entertaining, and fun because they used modern expressions, and included amusing details. Also, there were lots of twists and turns that weren't in Disney movies or other versions of these stories, that made the stories extra interesting. I also really appreciated the fact that the story tried to clarify some moral points, in a nice way. My kids just begged and begged for me to keep reading just one more chapter. I would really recommend it.

Give Stephen Mitchell a looksee. Stare long and hard at him for a while. Really take him in. Why? Because, my friend, you are in the presence of a very smart man. A man who realized something that a lot of authors need to take into account. When it comes to classic tales like One Thousand and One Arabian Nights there are very few child-friendly versions of the tales that have been published in the last ten years. That doesn't stop my library patrons from asking for some, though. I'll hand them a thick text circa 1973 with copious words and few pictures and they'll give me that hurt puppydog look. The look that says, "Why won't you give me what I want?" And what they want (though they don't know the title yet) is "Genies, Meanies, and Magic Rings". A new look at three of the classic Arabian Tales, Mitchell has given new light to the well-known and even reintroduced stories that we might not have heard in their original incarnation before. A necessary purchase and then some.

Three stories culled from "The Arabian Nights" appear in this volume, varying in fame. There is "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (which has amazingly eluded Disneyfication until now) about a poor man named Ali Baba and his discovery of a cache of thieves gold. "Abu Keer and Abu Seer" looks at the story of two men, one good and one bad, and the various trials one must suffer at the hands of the other. Finally, "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" rounds out the book and maintains its status as one of the world's finer stories for children.

Look. Anyone who flips through the first ten pages of the original "Arabian Nights" will tell you right off the bat that it is NOT a work of fiction appropriate for children. There's some serious sex-related stuff in those stories, to say nothing of the awe-inspiring tortures and dismemberments that abound. That means that it was up to Mr. Mitchell to make the stories accessible to kids today. This is no easy task. Sometimes updating a classic tale or story goes all wrong. Consider, for example, Julius Lester's well-meaning but flawed retelling of the classic Brer Rabbit in, Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales. For the most part, Lester did a supremely wonderful job. But then he'd try to "update" the tales and throw in a reference to a shopping mall, or some similarly jarring image, and throw the whole story out of whack. I was a little worried that Mitchell here might go the same route. I needn't have worried.

As he says in his Afterword, "I have kept the main story lines, but I have abridged, deleted, and expanded incidents, added and deleted dialogue, modified motivation and character, and made whatever other changes seemed appropriate in order to bring these tales to life in the English of today." Sometimes it's a physical change to the original story, and sometimes an emotional one. When Aladdin sees the beautiful princess for the first time we hear that, "Even though he had just seen her for the first time, it was as if he knew her better than anyone he had ever met - as if she were his best friend and they had known each other a long, long time ago and he had just recognized her again after all that time." Aww. Love at first sight rarely gets described as sweetly. And rarely do princesses get much of a hand in their own rescue, but Mitchell knows enough to give the princess the gumption to help Aladdin figure out how to get his lamp back.

It doesn't hurt matters any that Mitchell is in possession of a bit of a silver tongue. In the tale of "Abu Keer and Abu Seer", for example, he has characters discussing various shades of cloth. "I can dye it the color of a rose or a cherry, a ruby or a sunset or a hummingbird's throat." Mitchell's a fan of lists. There's a section of the story where we are told of the variety and scope of the food the genie brings to Aladdin and his mother. Reading it to myself just now actually cause my stomach to growl. I should mention that though the stories have been updated and made viable to today's youth, there's still some old-fashioned let's-scald-the-evil-doers-alive-in-urns types violence here and there. Not that it's graphic or hurts the story any, but FYI.

Some of the stories might cause surprise. Some kids would be amazed to find Aladdin and his Magic Lamp is a tale set in China, but it makes sense. In his Afterword, Mitchell discusses his sources and where he found one tale or another. "The tales originated from the Indian, Persian, Arab, and Chinese merchants who traveled on the Silk road between northern China and the Middle East." The Afterword also puts to rest any fears one might have about Mitchell's research and intentions. Here you will find explanations of the earliest printed editions of the tales, not to mention the first European translations, their importance, and even little matters like how we know that "Abu Keer and Abu Seer" is a relatively recent creation (tobacco is in the story but didn't hit the Near East until the 17th century). Hats are tipped too to the translations of the tale done by Edward Lane, Sir Richard Francis Burton, and Husain Haddawy (as recently as 1995!).

Illustrators often end up with the short end of the stick when it comes to critiquing the books they work upon. Because I had read (and greatly enjoyed) the Stephen Mitchell book of poetry for children, The Wishing Bone, and Other Poems, I had seen Mr. Tom Pohrt's work before. His images aren't flashy or pompous. They're small subtle complements to the action. Maybe two figures will relax in one image and in another a woman will scold. It would be easy enough to slip into Arab stereotyping in this kind of book, but Pohrt has the matter well in hand, and every character is a unique individual. If Mitchell makes the book worth reading then Pohrt makes it worth viewing.

The matter of race takes a funny turn in these books. I don't know how necessary it would have been to mention that the villain in Aladdin was, "a tall dark-skinned man with a long nose." I might also be interested in looking up the original text to see if this description was always the case (turban and all). Also, the genie is described as a white dude (my words, not his) with golden hair and a beard, as featured on the cover of this book. An interesting choice and one that I suspect might lead to a very interesting discussion of textual analysis and race in children's interpretations of past fairy tales and fables.

On the whole, however, I can't imagine any reasonable arguments against buying this title immediately if not sooner. You already own an edition of these tales? Uh huh. And do the kids dig it? Anyone looking for a text to combat Disney's version of "Aladdin" would do well to grab this book for their shelves pronto. Well-researched, well-written, well on its way to making a name for Mitchell and Pohrt.