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      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        January 2016

        The Autumn of Innocence

        by Abbas Beydoun

        In his novel, The Autumn of Innocence, prominent Lebanese poet and novelist Abbas Beydoun artfully weaves a tragic story of a father-son relationship that ends disastrously with the son's violent death. This story unfolds along with the Arab Spring movement and explores the motivations behind religious extremism and questions cultural constructs of masculinity.   The novel opens with a letter from Ghassan to his cousin, describing how his father Massoud strangled his mother to death when Ghassan was just three years old. Afterward, Massoud flees the village in southern Lebanon. For 18 years, no one hears from him, and Ghassan grows up stigmatized by his father's violent crime.   In time, Ghassan's aunt Bushra-Massoud's sister-makes a confession: She encouraged Massoud to kill his wife, believing that his wife's low socioeconomic status would bring embarrassment to their wealthy family. Bushra also reveals that Massoud was driven to kill his wife because he feared that she would tell someone that he was impotent, undermining his sense of manhood and social status.   Meanwhile, Massoud has moved to southern Syria, where he remarried and had two more sons. During the Arab Spring, the militant groups fighting the Syrian regime transform him into a religious extremist.   In the second half of the novel, Massoud return to the village in southern Lebanon. He brings with him a group of men. Together they seize control of the village and terrorize its inhabitants. After killing the dogs, they begin murdering the villagers in the name of religion. One of Ghassan's friends is among the victims, and Massoud also threatens his family. Ghassan decides that he must kill his father, avenging the death of his friend and the deaths of the other villagers. In the end, he fails and is beheaded by Bushra's son, his cousin, who is has joined Massoud's thugs.   Beydoun captures the shifting points of view in a family shattered by the tyranny of normative masculinity and the resulting violence. The victims are women, of course, but also the men like Ghassan who reject these social and cultural expectations. The novel also portrays the rise of religious extremism and the terrorism it can inspire, which wreaks havoc on the lives of ordinary people. Beydoun's engaging language imbues the characters and the places they inhabit with a vibrancy and vitality that transcends the difficult subject matter.

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        2022

        Rejoice, My Heart

        by Alawiya Sobh

        Ghassan, a musician and Oud player, leaves for New York, fleeing the Lebanese civil war after his extremist bother, Afif, murdered his older and pacifist brother Jamal, who sought to open the door to Muslim-Christian dialogue. In New York, Ghassan struggles to erase all his memories but his thoughts would always bring him back to his hometown, Dar El Ezz, as it was long before the war. ///Soon, he falls in love with and marries Kristin, becomes more emotionally stable, and embraces American culture. But when he must return to Lebanon for his father’s funeral, nostalgia for his homeland and a series of events force Ghassan to face a convergence of two cultures. ///“Efrah Ya Qalbi” (Rejoice, My Heart!) is a novel about love, music, identity, one’s sense of belonging, brotherly conflicts, and the diaspora. It dives into the lives, troubles, and dilemmas of the characters. ///The stories intertwine amid a fascinating narrative, thus revealing the turmoil and troubles of the Lebanese community torn by wars and outbursts. The novel also addresses the relationship between the East and the West, where struggling and cracked identities are silenced and offers a new vision through analysis and narration.

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        June 2019

        China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation:

        Case Studies and Plans

        by Secretariat of the First China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo Organizing Committee

        China-Africa Economics and Trade Cooperation: Case Studies and Plans comes in 3 languages: Chinese(2 volumes), English(2 volumes), and French(2 volumes). This book series include 101 excellent case studies , which related to 21 Chinese provinces and cities and 31 countries in Africa, containing agriculture, manufacturing, commerce and trade, infrastructure, industrial parks, energy and mining, financing and other fields in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. This set of books is practical and useful for all readers. In addition, the book gives the vivid interpretation on the concept of common prosperity, win-win cooperation, mutual negotiation and construction, shared innovation and progression of Belt and Road Initiative.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2022

        Book of Beirut

        The voice and art of kids from Beirut

        by Roula Youssef

        The “Book of Beirut” was born, following the devastating explosion of 4 August 2020 at Beirut Port, to be a remedy to the intangible wounds of the children’s inner self, the traumatized children who lived through the ravages of the third-largest explosion in the world. It is a journey of healing through art. A collection of 128 paintings showing the amount of creativity, imagination and love these little warriors offered us over four artistic sessions, with the guidance of a team of experts. Watching them pour their fears and dreams for a better future onto an empty canvas made me want to give them a voice to share their stories. The “Book of Beirut” is a glimpse into the purity of childhood and its ability to heal the world – when empowered.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2025

        ‘Ten Pound Poms’

        A life history of British postwar emigration to Australia

        by A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson, Becca Parkinson

        A riveting history of the 'Ten Pound Poms', a wave of British citizens who migrated to Australia and New Zealand after the Second World War. Between the 1940s and 1970s, more than a million Britons migrated to Australia. They were the famous 'Ten Pound Poms' and this is their story. The authors draw on a vast trove of letters, diaries and personal photographs, as well as hundreds of interviews with former migrants, to offer original insights into key historical themes. They explore people's motivations for emigrating, gender relations and family dynamics, the clashing experience of the 'very familiar and awfully strange', homesickness and the personal and national identities of both settlers and returnees. Filled with fascinating testimonies that shed light on migrant life histories, 'Ten Pound Poms' will engage readers interested in British and Australian migration history and intrigued about the power of migrant memories for individuals, families and nations.

      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        January 2011

        The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air

        by Abdo Wazen

        In his first YA novel, cultural journalist and author Abdo Wazen writes about a blind teenager in Lebanon who finds strength and friendship among an unlikely group.   Growing up in a small Lebanese village, Bassim’s blindness limits his engagement with the materials taught in his schools. Despite his family’s love and support, his opportunities seem limited.   So at thirteen years old, Bassim leaves his village to join the Institute for the Blind in a Beirut suburb. There, he comes alive. He learns Braille and discovers talents he didn’t know he had. Bassim is empowered by his newfound abilities to read and write.   Thanks to his newly developed self-confidence, Bassim decides to take a risk and submit a short story to a competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. After winning the competition, he is hired to work at the Institute for the Blind.   At the Institute, Bassim, a Sunni Muslim, forms a strong friendship with George, a Christian. Cooperation and collective support are central to the success of each student at the Institute, a principle that overcomes religious differences. In the book, the Institute comes to symbolize the positive changes that tolerance can bring to the country and society at large.   The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is also a book about Lebanon and its treatment of people with disabilities. It offers insight into the vital role of strong family support in individual success, the internal functioning of institutions like the Institute, as well as the unique religious and cultural environment of Beirut.   Wazen’s lucid language and the linear structure he employs result in a coherent and easy-to-read narrative. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is an important contribution to a literature in which people with disabilities are underrepresented. In addition to offering a story of empowerment and friendship, this book also aims to educate readers about people with disabilities and shed light on the indispensable roles played by institutions like the Institute.

      • Trusted Partner
        October 2014

        The education system in colonial Algeria (1833-1962)

        Statistical and historiographical review

        by Kamel Kateb

        ‘‘The means of dominating a people and assimilating it is to take possession of childhood and youth: this cannot be done by coercion, but the moral means are numerous and effective... The object of our efforts must be the extension of Arabic-French teaching: it is through this that we will take possession of the new generations almost from the cradle.’’ (Leroy-Beaulieu, 1887). (Leroy-Beaulieu, 1887). What is the record of French education in Algeria during the period of colonisation? After 132 years of French presence in Algeria (annexed to France in 1838), how many Algerians (French Muslims, indigenous French subjects) had a sufficient knowledge of the French language, and how many of them had learned to read and write in French? Was compulsory schooling for children aged 6 to 13, in accordance with the J. Ferry law of 1882, applied in Algeria? How many Algerian children attended state schools? How many went to lycée and university? What was the number of students at the time of the country's independence? How many doctors, engineers, primary and secondary school teachers did Algeria have at the time of its independence? What was the status of local languages (Arabic, dialectal Arabic, Berber) in the Algerian education system? As well as answering the questions listed above, this book attempts to analyse the objectives assigned to French schools in Algeria and to study the attitudes of the various populations to the objectives pursued. What role did education play in the various forms of colonial ‘confrontation’? What was the role of the elites produced by the colonial education system? And what role and place did they occupy in the struggle for Algerian independence? Were they the driving force behind the independence movement, as the Europeans in Algeria feared? Or did they mediate between colonisation and the mass of the colonised, as the enlightened ideologists of the colonial system hoped?

      • Trusted Partner
        General & world history
        May 2005

        ‘Ten Pound Poms’

        A life history of British postwar emigration to Australia

        by A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson

        More than a million Britons emigrated to Australia between the 1940s and 1970s. They were the famous 'ten pound Poms' and this is their story. Illuminated by the fascinating testimony of migrant life histories, this is the first substantial history of their experience and fills a gaping hole in the literature of emigration. The authors, both leading figures in the fields of oral history and migration studies, draw upon a rich life history archive of letters, diaries, personal photographs and hundreds of oral history interviews with former migrants, including those who settled in Australia and those who returned to Britain. They offer original interpretations of key historical themes, including: motivations for emigration; gender relations and the family dynamics of migration; the 'very familiar and awfully strange' confrontation with the new world; the anguish of homesickness and return; and the personal and national identities of both settlers and returnees, fifty years on. Accessible and appealing, this book will engage readers interested in British and Australian migration history and intrigued about the significance of migrant memories for individuals, families and nations.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2024

        Coup in Damascus

        Husni al-Za'im and the birth of Syrian military rule

        by Carl Rihan

        Coup in Damascus is a history of Syria's first military regime. It plots the the fall of Syria's democracy and the rise of its military rulers, particularly Husni al-Zaim, whose brief rule in 1949 represented a profoundly transformative moment for the Syrian nation. It is a history of the thoughts, intentions and motives of political actors underpinning the events that have marked Syria's history after the first Arab-Israeli war, and focuses mainly on the interaction between local, regional and international actors. Unlike most histories of the modern Middle East that tackle broad intervals and that focus on the sequences of events, this history seeks to reconstruct the thought processes behind the events, and anchor them within the epoch's existing political and socioeconomic conditions. It draws on several methodological influences, particularly R.G. Collingwood's 'history as re-enactment of the past'.

      • The Grotto Corridor of China

        by 《The Grotto Corridor of China》 film crew

        ​What is the appearance of the famous Liangzhou statue? Why is the image of the newly arrived Bodhisattva in Beiliang so different from that in the mainland?​ What "The Grotto Corridor of China" does is to focus on presenting this cultural birthmark and artistic treasure left by the Silk Road to Gansu, to revive the millennium grottoes, and to let the audience enter the history and discover a wonderful China in the grottoes.

      • Trusted Partner
        Crime & mystery
        2017

        Echo of Someone Else’s War

        by Juan Miramar

        The works of Juan Miramar presented in this book, as always, are distinguished by refined language, subtle humor and a peculiar philosophical view of life, as well as a bright oriental flavor. The story "Echo of Someone Else’s War" impresses with its fascinating dynamic plot. A scientist and writer, a former translator of international peacekeeping forces, suddenly finds himself in the thick of events of a modern secret war. The distant past extends its tentacles into the present, not only forcing the main character to remember his military experience, but also prompting him to choose a side in Arab and non-Arab conflicts that are foreign to him.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2022

        Rebel populism

        by Philip Proudfoot

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        February 2023

        Love for Northeast China

        by Laoteng, whose real name is Teng Zhenfu, is a member of the Tenth Presidium of the China Writers Association and is currently the Party Secretary and Chairman of the Liaoning Writers Association. He has published ten novels, includingThe Northeast China, The Numerous Armed Conflicts,and The Forests of Beizhang;eight collections of novels, such as The Black Thrush and A City Without Crows; and three cultural essays, such as Confucian Notes. He has won the 15th and 16th Five-One Project Awards,respectively, and The Northeast China has been selected on the list of 2021 Chinese Good Books.

        "Never invest beyond theShanhai Pass", as the saying goes.The particular cultural environment and openness make the brain drain in Northeast China extremely serious. However, Miao Qing, a seemingly delicate doctoral student from a famous school, resolutely went northward because she had a personal plan thatwas related to both her father and herself, namely, to design a world-leading large aircraft. Her father once said that just as a poet without imagination must be a lousy poet, a country without advanced aircraft could never escape the fate of a backward country. For this reason, Miao Qing started her career atKunpeng Group, later went to Feiying Company to produce a leading small low-altitude aerial drone, and then sheplayed the leading role in the national G-31 project that designed a stealth supersonic aircraft and made a successful trial flight.

      • Trusted Partner
        2024

        Where is Russia Heading?

        by Jens Siegert

        Vladimir Putin has been ruling Russia for 25 years. There is no end in sight to his dictatorship. He relies on repression at home and is waging a war of destruction against a neighbouring country. The conflict with the West has long become a systemic conflict between an illiberal-autocratic ideology and liberal-democratic principles. Nothing will change as long as Putin remains in power. Nevertheless, as far as can be ascertained under unfree conditions, the majority of the population seems to be supporting Putin. Does this mean that too many people in Russia do not want democracy or peace? Will everything remain the same after Putin? Or is there a chance that Russia will eventually take a different, more democratic path? Whatever the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia is not going to disappear. We will still have to deal with our big neighbour in the east. This makes it all the more important to focus on longer-term developments. As a recognised expert on Russian history and society, the author outlines what the post-Putin era might look like. His in-depth analysis makes it clear that Russia is partly Putin, but Putin is not everything about Russia.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2021

        Ireland and the European Union

        Economic, political and social crises

        by Michael Holmes, Kathryn Simpson, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Kathryn Simpson, Paul Tobin

        This book examines how Ireland's relationship with the EU was affected by a succession of crises in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The financial crisis, the Brexit crisis and the migration crisis were not of equal significance on the island of Ireland. The financial crisis was a huge issue for the Republic but not Northern Ireland, Brexit had a major impact in both polities, the migration and populism issues were less controversial, while foreign policy challenges had a minimal impact. The book provides a summary of the main features of each of the crises to be considered, from both the EU and the Irish perspective. Ireland and the European Union is the first volume of its kind to provide a comprehensive analysis on British-Irish relations in the context of Brexit. It assesses the Withdrawal Agreement and Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, the devolution settlement and the 1998 Agreement, as well as the European dimension to Northern Ireland's peace process. The contributors explore a number of policy areas that are central to the understanding of each of the crises and the impact of each for Ireland. Chapters examine issues such as security, migration and taxation as well as protest politics, political parties, the media, public opinion and the economic impact of each of these crises on Ireland's relationship with the EU.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2022

        Germany's Russia problem

        The struggle for balance in Europe

        by John Lough

        The relationship between Germany and Russia is Europe's most important link with the largest country on the continent. But despite Germany's unparalleled knowledge and historical experience, its policymakers struggle to accept that Moscow's efforts to rebalance Europe at the cost of the cohesion of the EU and NATO are an attack on Germany's core interests. This book explains the scale of the challenge facing Germany in managing relations with a changing Russia. It analyses how successive German governments from 1991 to 2014 misread Russian intentions, until Angela Merkel sharply recalibrated German and EU policy towards Moscow. The book also examines what lies behind efforts to revise Merkel's bold policy shift, including attitudes inherited from the GDR and the role of Russian influence channels in Germany.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        December 2019 - December 2024

        Concise history of China

        by Yang Ningyi,Zhao Shiyu, etc

        According to the chronological order, the book introduces the history of China from ancient times to modern society. It is rich in content, concise in writing and exquisite in pictures. It is a good book to understand the history of China.

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