Middle East Books

Someone gave me this book (THANK YOU FOREVER!). I have always wanted to hold a bird in my hands, and now it seems I truly can, since the illustrations are so beautul and detailed, they seem so real! And because the book is so cleverly organized, I can get to the information quickly before the birds hop or fly out of sight. For instance, Cardinals are listed under "Red Birds" duh, how simple can you get? "Beginner's Luck" has me willing to try and identify more. And when the sun goes down, it makes great bedside reading because the information is so well-edited, it's packed with details but not overwhelming. I recently ordered 16 as holiday gifts after testing my book out on both my 10-year-old-niece (who wants to be a veterinarian but she's allergic to animals. Now she'll be able to safely get up close and personal. One book is going to my 95-year-old neighbor whose wife just died and winter's coming up. He's got a bird feeder outside the window where he always sits, and he never had a bird guide, so this book can help him solve bird mysteries. The price value is just right for gift-giving, especially considering the ADDED VALUE of introducing bird-watching as a pastime for a lifetime - one that will connect people to the greater outdoors, which is so wonderful! Each book will go a long, long way. Mine already has a lot of miles on it, as it now goes everywhere with me. It's my constant companion, just like the birds will now always be!

I recently got this book for my 16 year old who had expressed an interested
in bird watching. This is a wonderful beginning field guide. It's very easy to use. But what impressed me most were the stunningly beautiful color illustrations by artist Pieter Prall. The pictures are just amazing and inspirational; we keep the book on the sill of our window that overlooks our wooded backyard. Now we actually look for birds to identify. I would highly recommend this book to young and old. It makes a great gift and is a real bargain for the price.

This is a very easy to read and understand travel guide. The author goes into the historical information about each site. The information given for the handicapped also is good for those who are elderly or ill. The pictures are excellent. This is a great book!

Easy Walks In Israel-Sights and Stories is very historical, interesting, colorful, and educational. It goes past the usual travel books available and gives you a true feeling of Israel and its beautiful sites and wonderful people. It lists all the information that handicapped travelers need to be able to travel in comfort. The stories about each site are very enjoyable and the photography is excellent.

Just genious. Combines personnal style with scientific authority. Deconstructs all nationalistic, religious mythologies and shows that beyond all identities (muslim, christian,greek,turkish) are real human beings, with real lives and real sufferings.

One of the most important contributions to the construction of peace in Cyprus and between Turkey and Greece.

I've read quite deeply on the Cyprus affair, and this book really drew me in. Though it does go into some of the history and politics of the situation, it is not a dry account written in an academic tone. The author, a Greek Cypriot, forces himself to listen to the perspectives of Turkish Cypriots and Mainland Turks, and he finds himself in a dead zone of identities as he is slowly distrusted by his own Greek Cypriot community, at least by those who identify more with their "Greekness" than their "Cypriotness." There are lots of first-hand accounts of conversations with nationalists from both sides, and people in both communities who see themselves first and foremost as Cypriot.

The author tries really hard to be objective, and given the scope of the Cyprus problem, does a good job. I read this while also looking over Hannay's book on Cyprus, "The Search for a Solution," and I found the book by Papadakis to be much more exciting. He is now at the University of Cyprus.

This is one of the most heart-wrenching and heart-warming books that I have ever read. I could not put it down.

"Efronia" provides an extraordinary and very sentimental account of the unwarranted suffering of the Armenian people through political oppression and religious discrimination, which was not averted, although it was permanently visible to the international community. The specific case of Efronia clearly illustrates the way this segregation could affect the individual's life and her state of mind. An excellent book for anyone who wants a real person's perspective on a subject generally known only from the dry and fact-based point of view of history books and wishes to become acquainted with the historical and cultural background of the Armenian people.

If you're planning a trip to Egypt, down the Nile, or even if you're just a scholar or Egyptian buff, you can do no better than this guide. As my review's title says, this is The Preeminent Guide to Egypt. At 495 pages, it's quite comprehensive, and, there's numerous drawings of temples, and multi-fold pullouts. You just don't see this kind of guide anymore. For example, if your Egyptian guide takes you to the Temple of Khons, simply turn to page 278 and you will find a diagram of the temple from overhead, as well as a description of each portion of it, all clearly labeled. It also includes a concise but helpful English-Egyptian dictionary, and a primer on Heirglyphics, and much more. Writers who write about Egypt should also have a copy of this book in their library, it will be indispensable to you. Enjoy.

I bought this book while I was living in Egypt and used it as a tour guide when I wandered independently around the country. It gave the fullest descriptions I have seen anywhere of the antiquities and of the Islamic sights. It enabled me to explore with confidence that I would not get lost, and would find all the places of note.

It is compact - easy to carry in a rucksac or bicycle saddlebag. It survived the travelling well - just keeping it in a plastic bag to prevent too much sand and dust getting between the pages.

The maps were still sufficiently current to get you there, the plans of the monuments were excellent, and made sure every recess was findable.

I would recommend it to any independent traveller, even if now in an armchair. It is a pleasure to read as well as to use as a guide book.

This is not a guide book - it's not about places, good restaurants and value hotels.

This is about the people of Egypt, their history, their culture and how they think.

As such, it is a much more interesting read than any guide book.

The little book presents an excellent overview of a country with a complicated history. It covers succinctly the highlights of Egyptian history from the earliest time through to the present in so few pages that you end up with a real understanding of the progression of time. It then covers current social, economic, and political life. It gives excellent advice on what every tourist should know but even if you aren't going to Egypt this would be an interesting read. I can't imagine not reading this before going. It is not a guide book and is not advertised as such.

This is a timely and unique voice of sanity in the wake of the (shrill) debates still stirring over Black Athena. It is an attractively illustrated and informative volume on its own. As a bonus, it is a great bridge to further inquiry. It should be in EVERY high school and university library.

Egypt in Africa is a great book based on a great museum exhibit and it's good to see it available through amazon.com. The book avoids the two popular extremes of denying all of the African roots and setting of Egyptian civilization and of claiming that anything and everything worthwhile in western civilization was African in origin. (This book makes it clear that Africa contributed so much that it's foolish to discredit its valid claims by exaggeration.) Instead the book is a calm, objective, and persuasive as well as readible and clear look at Egypt in its African context. If you want to understand the "big picture" when it comes to ancient Egypt, you really need this book. A professor of art history.

An extremely well-written thoroughly-explained book, it provides an expressive picture of everyday life of the Ancient Egyptians and the pharaohs of the time. In the first chapter, the history of the dynastic era (2700-1750 B.C.E.) is briefly summarized. Throughout the remainder of the book, the author attempts to recreate the daily lives, labours and religious beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians, with the aid of letters, artifacts, hieroglyphic inscriptions and tomb scenes. Highly recommended for all and particularly for those whose primary interest lies in the Age of the Pyramids.

This book is for the person just beginning to read about Ancient Egypt, as well as the more advanced reader. It's scholarly, well-organized, and up-to-date, but this narrative of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, and people who lived in those times, is also vivid and moving. Day-to-day life of those long gone becomes real, for Guillemette Andreu has given the Ancient Egyptians the immortality they yearned for. I haven't seen the book in its original French, but the translation by David Lorton must be excellent, it reads so well.

Muhammad Ali Pasha was the Viceroy of Egypt for almost forty-four years until the middle nineteenth century and is known as the founder of modern Egypt.
His ascendancy to power began when he was appointed second in command to Albanian force the Ottomans sent to Egypt to evacuate the French.
(There is an unconfirmed story that Ali rescued from drowning the Ottoman Commander of the fleet and then his sequel of promotions started to surface).

Muhammad Ali could not squash the plot against him by the English Empire when he extended his influence to control greater Syria, threatening the Sublime Port as far as Istanbul.
Britain also forced him to renounce his claims on Hijaz and Crete.
Russia, Austria and Great Britain granted him hereditary over Egypt pursuant to the London convention of July 15 1840, on condition that he withdrew from greater Syria and Mount Lebanon.
Pages 233 and 235 describe the efforts made by the Egyptians to thrive Beirut Port to encourage the trade of silk and cotton textiles to Europe.
In fact the word `Money' is translated into `Massari' (Arabic) in reference to Masri (Arabic) i.e. Egyptian. This term has been in use up to now since the days the Egyptian Army came to Beirut on route to Syria hinterland.

The book is full of substantiated reference to Mohammed Ali achievements and to the works of his dynasty.
Such was the importance of the Albanian Viceroy to Egypt that his dynasty remained in power for about 150 years, until 1952.

Super powers' interests, and counter plotting behind the Khedive's back, characterized his rise and fall in one full circle. There was no room for another `Empire' to be formed in the Middle East after the demise of the defunct Ottomans `The sick man of Europe'.
Egypt was NOT permitted to be the one to replace the Ottoman Empire.

This is an excellent book and it effectively describes the social, economic and indistrial transformation of Egypt during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, often referred to as the founder of modern Egypt. As governor since 1805, in the aftermath of Napoleon's invasion of 1798 and subsequent British aided Ottoman intervention in 1801, he undertook a series of policies aimed at re-organizing the authority through the centralization of military and economic power to make Egypt an imperial state within the Ottoman Empire. Muhammad Ali instituted a policy of military conscription that effectively replaced the Janissary system that had existed prior to the nineteenth century. He shunned the influence of Istanbul in favour of France, whose expertise in military arts and technical advances were necessary to accomplish the reforms required to modernize the army and society.
A principal characteristic of these reforms was a process of industrialization conceived to build local capacity and in the manufacture of military equipment and a parallel capacity in the production of consumer goods to do away with dependency on imports. The state managed the industrialization process and the economy in general through a system of protective trade mechanisms and monopolies intended to guarantee the state's exclusive ownership of the means of production and distribution. Significant advancements in infrastructure and an administrative shift in the organization of land tenure that renewed agricultural growth accompanied the industrialization drive. By the end of his reign Muhammad Ali succeeded in establishing a hereditary governorship in Egypt and de-facto autonomy from Istanbul, though his ambitious industrial experiment did not survive him.
The high costs of manufacturing and idiosyncrasies inherent in the monopolistic management system dealt a deathblow to Egyptian industry by the middle of the nineteenth century. The book analyzes these issues through a study of the characteristics and effects of industrialization under Muhammad Ali through an analysis of his administrative and agricultural reforms, a survey of the military and consumer manufacturing activities. It also discusses the problems that eventually caused the failure of industrialization in Egypt.

My only complaint is that I wish this book was longer.
A very interesting read and great photography.
I look forward to more of Mr. Siliotti's books.

The author discusses the history from the origins to the Unesco Nubian rescue in 1961. He writes about the various temples in Nubia, including Kalabsha, Beit al-Wali, Dakka, Amada, Derr and Qasr Ibrim. The temples of Ramses II and Nefertari are described in avid detail. Completed by beautiful photographs and useful maps, this is a much needed guide, essential for travelers.