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      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        2022

        Where to, O Poem

        by Ali Jaafar Al Allaq

        This autobiographical work centers on literary creativity. Poet Ali Jaafar Alallaq recollects his academic and professional experiences, as well as their diverse ventures into poetic, literary, critical, and academic writing earlier in his life. The book covers the poet’s upbringing in a humble, impoverished village, his family’s subsequent move to Baghdad in the early 1950s, and his journey up until the present day. ///The biography details a plethora of human, cultural, and poetic events that impacted Alallaq’s perspective on events he witnessed, interacted with, or was involved in. These events range in intensity and scope, spanning from his childhood years in the countryside to navigating significant societal changes in Baghdad, and from his early explorations in writing and literary journalism to pursuing doctoral studies in the United Kingdom. He reflects on enduring two destructive wars that displaced Iraq’s people, leading to a life of exile and reliance on divine providence under the night sky. ///Beginning in 1991, Alallaq began a long period abroad that included six years of teaching at Sanaa University, followed by ten years of work at the United Arab Emirates University from 1997 to 2015. He produced a remarkable body of poetry and critical works during his tenure as a university instructor and his active involvement in cultural and poetic affairs in Sanaa and later in the UAE, which continues to this day. ///In this book, Alallaq takes on several roles, including narrator, contemplator, restorer, and descriptor, and expresses himself using elevated literary language. As a result, the work serves as an aesthetic testament to the purity of language as well as a cohesive account of the ups and downs of daily life. Despite living and working in a prosperous and stable environment for many years, he remains emotionally and imaginatively connected to the events and struggles affecting his country and the Arab world. He continues to document his aesthetic and patriotic testimony of current happenings, as clearly evidenced in his present autobiography.

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        Fiction
        2020

        Over the Jumhuriya Bridge

        by Shahad Al Rawi

        This novel, a bestseller in Baghdad, starts with the first two American tanks that crossed over the Jumhuriya Bridge into the heart of Baghdad in 2003, as the narrator watches events unfold from her grandfather’s house at the riverfront. That’s when her emigration journey begins, setting her on a path to experience both love and death away from her country. After her mother passes away, her father resorts to quantum physics in an attempt to interpret the meaning of existence, while the nameless protagonist discovers the novels of Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, and Francoise Sagan. ///The author depicts how different generations of the same family live different worlds, separated by experiences and time despite occupying the same physical spaces. The Jumhuriya Bridge threads symbolism throughout the novel—ushering in the beginning of the military fall of the city and later being the setting of sporadic events, from innocent flirting, to gulls, down to the shocking event that pushes the story up to its climax.

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        On the Silk Road

        by Amnon Shamosh

        Amnon Shamosh, who made his name as an author with the well-known family saga “Michel Ezra Safra & Sons” as well as with the dozens of enthralling short stories that appeared in the collections entitled “My Sister the Bride” and “Wheels of the World,” surprises us once again with a novel that is modern, brilliant, and profound. The story revolves around age-old traditions and historical facts that complement one another, mingling in Shamosh’s imagination and impassioning the reader. In the year 1400, the great conqueror Timur Lang arrives in the Syrian city of Haleb (Aram Zoba) and from it sends ten Jewish families of silk dyers into exile, banishing them to Samarkand, capital of Timur’s empire, on the Silk Road. Timur Lang also kidnaps Jewish virgins, sequestering them in his harems. One of the virgins captures the heart of Timur’s son, a man of intellect and creation, who ruled under him. King Elias, “son of the Jewess,” who was raised in the Islamic faith, embarks on a quest to Spain in an effort to get to know and understand the Christian world as well as the Jewish one, which was flourishing in Spain at the time. Elias, seeking an identity and also a bride, finds them in Haleb, city of his maternal forefathers. His young wife came from the Dayan family, with ties to the dynasty of the House of David. The novel moves through three story lines. One is situated in the fifteenth century and centers mainly on the royal family and on the harem in Samarkand. The second occurs at the beginning of the twentieth century, in Jerusalem’s Bokharan Quarter, where immigrants from Bokhara and Haleb are crowded together, and the leaders of the new Jewish immigrant society visit the neighborhood. Story line number three concerns the last decade of the century, with the massive immigration of Soviet Jewry; the story here focuses mainly on the Bokharan immigrants. The spotlight is on Oshi Shauloff Ben-Shaul, born in the Bokharan Quarter, whose mother, of Halev origin, is a descendant of the above-mentioned House of Dayan and has roots in one of the families that were exiled from Haleb to Samarkand. This novel, excitingly erotic yet refined and restrained, has a style that is at once powerful and inspiring – as we have been led to expect from the works of Amnon Shamosh.   Born in Syria in 1929, Amnon Shamosh immigrated to Tel Aviv as a child and later became one of the founding members of Kibbutz Ma'ayan Baruch, where he resides today. A graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, author of both poetry and prose for children and adults, his work has been translated into English, Spanish, and French. Amnon Shamosh is a recipient of the Agnon Prize, named after the celebrated Israeli Nobel Laureate in Literature, the Prime Minister's Prize for Creativity, the President of Israel's Award for Literature, and numerous other literary awards. 288 pages, 14.5X21 cm

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        Blood and Milk

        by Mohamed Al-Jezawi

        The novel poses the problem of identity, as it is the essence of the psychological and intellectual conflict of the main character (Hassoun), who is disputed by two contradictory identities; He was born in the land of Yemen from a Muslim father and a Jewish mother and carried the inheritance of the two religions and their old and new conflict.Hassoun's internal journey continues with his own human crises and transformations that he witnesses along with his external journey through various societies that he went through in transitional stages of their history. Over two thousand seven hundred years, Hassoun seeks to discover himself and reach his identity by retiring at times, and by experimenting at other times, thus he goes through multiple experiences to get closer to himself.

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        Business, Economics & Law
        November 2016

        Pilgrimage and Tourism to Holy Cities

        Ideological and Management Perspectives

        by Maria Leppakari, Kevin A Griffin

        This book covers the ideological motives and religious perceptions behind travel to sites prescribed with sanctity in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It covers sites that have drawn pilgrims and religious tourists to them for hundreds of years, and seeks to provide an understanding of the complex world of religiously motivated travel. Beginning with contemporary perspectives of pilgrimage across these religions, it then discusses management aspects such as logistics, infrastructure, malevolent behaviour and evangelical volunteers. This book: - Provides a collection of new, contemporary perspectives on pilgrimage. - Reviews the ideological motives, history, mental health, and religious perceptions of tourism to holy cities. - Contains practical applications, models and illustrations of religious tourism and pilgrimage management from a variety of international and academic perspectives. Written by subject experts, this book addresses cultural sustainability for researchers and practitioners within religious tourism, religious studies, geography and anthropology. ; This book fills a major gap in the current literature for an up-to-date account of this topic and its implications for crop improvement. Written by authorities from the UK, USA, Canada, Peru, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Poland, this major reference work will be indispensible for workers in plant genetics, breeding and biotechnology. ; 1: Western Holy Cities and Places – An IntroductionPart I: Western Pilgrimage to Holy Cities in Judaism, Christianity and Islam2: Judaism – Jewish and Israeli Pilgrimage Experience: Constructing National Identity3: Christianity – Contemporary Christian Pilgrimage and Traditional Management Practices at Sacred Sites4: Christanity- Christian Pilgrimage to Sacred Sites in the Holy Land: A Swedish Perspective5: Islam – Contemporary Perspectives6: Islam – Spiritual Journey in Islam: the Qur’anic Cognitive ModelPart II: Managing Pilgrimage Sites in Holy Cities7: Pilgrimage Policy Management: Between Shrine Strategy and Ritual Improvisation8: The Management of Pilgrims with Malevolent Behaviour in a Holy Space: a Study of Jerusalem Syndrome9: Logistics at Holy Sites10: Protestants and Pilgrimages: the Protestant Infrastructure in Jerusalem11: The Impact of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s Campaign on Yezidi Religious Structures and Pilgrimage Practices12: Evangelical Volunteers in Israel as Long-term Pilgrims: Ambassadors for the KingdomPart III: Closing Words13: Redeeming Western Holy Places and Contested Holy Cities-: Appendix – Discussion Points

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2022

        Reconstructing lives

        Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières

        by Vanja Kovacic, Bertrand Taithe

        This book attempts to establish a more holistic approach to the rehabilitation of war-injured civilians, one that adjusts to the patients' long-term needs. Kovacic not only offers an insight into the daily realities of patients during and after rehabilitation, but seeks to develop a new way to perceive, respect and involve them in health care. Based on comprehensive interviews with patients and MSF staff, as well as extended field observations, Reconstructing lives follows Syrian and Iraqi war-injured civilians in their journey to recovery. From their improvised medical treatment in their home countries, to the MSF-run hospital in Amman Jordan, to their return home, Kovacic explores how individuals attempt to pick up the pieces of their previous lives, add new elements from their treatment and travel experiences, and finally establish a new reconstructed reality. The book explores how the interaction between MSF staff and their patients contributes to the immense task of healing that awaits victims of war. The reader visits the intimate medical and domestic spaces that usually remain closed to the outside observer, spaces rich with human contact, perceptions, emotions, conflicts and reconciliations.

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        Children's & YA

        The Dinoraf

        by Hessa Al Muhairi

        An egg has hatched, and what comes out of it? A chicken? No. A turtle? No. It’s a dinosaur. But where is his family?  The little dinosaur searches the animal kingdom for someone who looks like him and settles on the giraffe. In this picture book by educator and author Hessa Al Muhairi, with illustrations by Sura Ghazwan, a dinosaur sets out in search of animals like him. He finds plenty of animals, but none that look the same...until he meets the giraffe. This story explores identity and belonging and teaches children about accepting differences in carefully crafted language.

      • Trusted Partner
        January 1993

        Metallgefäße im Iraq I

        (Von den Anfängen bis in die Akkad-Zeit). Mit naturwissenschaftlichen Beiträgen von Emmerich Pászthory und Ernst Pernicka

        by Müller-Karpe, Michael / Beiträge von Pászthory, Emmerich; Beiträge von Pernicka, Ernst

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2017

        Air power and colonial control

        by David Omissi

        Air policing was used in many colonial possessions, but its most effective incidence occurred in the crescent of territory from north-eastern Africa, through South-West Arabia, to North West Frontier of India. This book talks about air policing and its role in offering a cheaper means of 'pacification' in the inter-war years. It illuminates the potentialities and limitations of the new aerial technology, and makes important contributions to the history of colonial resistance and its suppression. Air policing was employed in the campaign against Mohammed bin Abdulla Hassan and his Dervish following in Somaliland in early 1920. The book discusses the relationships between air control and the survival of Royal Air Force in Iraq and between air power and indirect imperialism in the Hashemite kingdoms. It discusses Hugh Trenchard's plans to substitute air for naval or coastal forces, and assesses the extent to which barriers of climate and geography continued to limit the exercise of air power. Indigenous responses include being terrified at the mere sight of aircraft to the successful adaptation to air power, which was hardly foreseen by either the opponents or the supporters of air policing. The book examines the ethical debates which were a continuous undercurrent to the stream of argument about repressive air power methods from a political and operational perspective. It compares air policing as practised by other European powers by highlighting the Rif war in Morocco, the Druze revolt in Syria, and Italy's war of reconquest in Libya.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2022

        Reconstructing lives

        by Vanja Kovacic

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction

        El baile de la abuela muerta (Dead grandma's dance)

        by Elina Malamud

        A hundred years of history from two branches of a Jewish family, set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia, from the early 19th century to their migration to Argentina in the early 20th century. It's not just the tradition of the Jews from Eastern Europe, but a vivid portrayal of the characters that inhabited this complex and diverse society of declining nobility, gypsies, and Bolsheviks. Clandestine loves, uprisings, and persecutions are described with nostalgic detail, alongside an unexpected display of Hasidic humor and magic.

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        In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat

        by Iman Mersal

        ‘In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat’ is a book that traces the life of an unknown Egyptian writer who died in 1963, four years before the release of her only novel. The book does not follow a traditional style to present the biography of Al-Zayyat, or to restore consideration for a writer who was denied her rights. Mersal refuses to present a single story as if it is the truth and refuses to speak on behalf of the heroine or deal with her as a victim, but rather takes us on a journey to search for the individuality that is often marginalised in Arab societies. The book searches for a young woman whose family burned all her personal documents, including the draft of her second novel, and was completely absent in the collective archives.   The narration derives its uniqueness from its ability to combine different literary genres such as fictional narration, academic research, investigation, readings, interviews, fiction, and fragments of the autobiography of the author of the novel. The book deals with the differences between the individuality of Enayat, who was born into an aristocratic family, graduated from a German school and wrote her narration during the domination of the speeches of the Nasserism period, and that of Mersal, a middle-class woman who formed her consciousness in the 1990s and achieved some of what Enayat dreamed of achieving but remained haunted by her tragedy.   The book deals with important political, social and cultural issues, as we read the history of psychiatry in modern Egypt through the pills that Enayat swallowed to end her life on 3 January 1963, while her divorce summarises the continuing suffering of women with the Personal Status Law. We also see how the disappearance of a small square from her neighbourhood reveals the relationship between modernity and bureaucracy, and how the geography of Cairo changes, obliterated as the result of changes in political regimes. In the library of the German Archaeological Institute, where Enayat worked, we find an unwritten history of World War II and, in her unpublished second novel, we see unknown stories of German scientists fleeing Nazism to Cairo. We also see how Enayat’s neglected tomb reveals the life story of her great-grandfather, Ahmed Rashid Pasha, and the disasters buried in the genealogy tree.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2022

        Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan

        The cult of the Two Grand Elders

        by Fabian Graham

        In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums, tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell's 'enforcers', the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations. Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan offers an ethnography of contemporary Chinese Underworld traditions, where night-time cemetery rituals assist the souls of the dead, exorcised spirits are imprisoned in Guinness bottles, and malicious foetus ghosts are enlisted to strengthen a temple's spirit army. Understanding the religious divergences between Singapore and Malaysia (and their counterparts in Taiwan) through an analysis of socio-political and historical events, Fabian Graham challenges common assumptions about the nature and scope of Chinese vernacular religious beliefs and practices. Graham's innovative approach to alterity allows the reader to listen to first-person dialogues between the author and channelled Underworld deities. Through its alternative methodological and narrative stance, the book intervenes in debates on the interrelation between sociocultural and spiritual worlds, and promotes the destigmatisation of spirit possession and discarnate phenomena in the future study of mystical and religious traditions.

      • Trusted Partner
        September 2010

        Der Irak in Israel

        Vom zionistischen Staat zur transkulturellen Gesellschaft

        by Siebers, Stefan

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        Children's & YA
        January 2015

        Hatless

        by Lateefa Buti / Illustrated by Doha Al Khteeb

        Kuwaiti children’s book author Lateefa Buti’s well-crafted and beautifully illustrated children’s book, Hatless, encourages children (ages 6-9) to think independently and challenge rigid traditions and fixed rituals with innovation and creativity.   The main character is a young girl named Hatless who lives in the City of Hats. Here, all of the people are born with hats that cover their heads and faces. The world inside of their hats is dark, silent, and odorless.   Hatless feels trapped underneath her own hat. She wants to take off her hat, but she is afraid, until she realizes that whatever frightening things exist in the world around her are there whether or not she takes off her hat to see them.   So Hatless removes her hat.    As Hatless takes in the beauty of her surroundings, she cannot help but talk about what she sees, hears, and smells. The other inhabitants of the city ostracize her because she has become different from them. It is not long before they ask her to leave the City of Hats.   Rather than giving up or getting angry, Hatless feels sad for her friends and neighbors who are afraid to experience the world outside of their hats. She comes up with an ingenious solution: if given another chance, she will wear a hat as long it is one she makes herself. The people of the City of Hats agree, so Hatless weaves a hat that covers her head and face but does not prevent her from seeing the outside world. She offers to loan the hat to the other inhabitants of the city. One by one, they try it on and are enchanted by the beautiful world around them. Since then, no child has been born wearing a hat. The people celebrate by tossing their old hats in the air.   By bravely embracing these values, Hatless improves her own life and the lives of her fellow citizens.     Buti’s language is eloquent and clear. She strikes a skilled narrative balance between revealing Hatless’s inner thoughts and letting the story unfold through her interactions with other characters. Careful descriptions are accompanied by beautiful illustrations that reward multiple readings of the book.

      • Trusted Partner
        April 2019

        Spiritual Growth

        by Rabbi Paul Steinberg

        This book began with Paul Steinberg's realization that although religions are struggling to meet the needs and trends of our modern age, spirituality is not. Its contemporary manifestations continue to thrive, and Jews can be found throughout all varieties of spiritual leadership in America.Facing the fact that, for whatever reason, Jewish leaders simply have not done a good job of translating the ancient, spiritual wisdom of their beliefs into contemporary language and images that resonate with mass appeal, Rabbi Steinberg knew that the faith of his fathers was ready for a new spiritual message. And so he has written it―a message that is both particular to Judaism and uses Jewish language and text as starting points for a view that is universal enough to include spiritual concepts, terms, and expressions from many other spiritual traditions.Spiritual Growth: A Contemporary Jewish Approach provides both a language and a set of Jewish spiritual principles that are accessible and integrated with contemporary life, as well as being deep and authentically real (i.e., not “dumbed down” for anyone). It is a work that emerged out of Rabbi Steinberg's own personal experiences, pains, and spiritual journey―the trials and growth documented in his highly successful book Recovery, the 12 Steps, and Jewish Spirituality.There are not a lot of works like this. There are books on Jewish scholarship, history, and theology. But books on Jewish spirituality tend usually to focus on a particular motif, such as the feminine, grief, aging, or Kabbalistic biblical interpretations. Spiritual Growth: A Contemporary Jewish Approach presents its message through the psycho-spiritual world view of 2018 but without the language and narrative of a therapist. It is an important contribution to the spiritual-seeking community at large, to Jews who have become alienated from their faith, and to anyone interested in learning more about what a historically vibrant spirituality can bring to today's troubled world.

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