Middle World

The destruction of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 was the greatest atrocity of World War I. Around one million Armenians were killed, and the survivors were scattered across the world. Although it is now a century old, the issue of what most of the world calls the Armenian Genocide of 1915 is still a live and divisive issue that mobilizes Armenians across the world, shapes the identity and politics of modern Turkey, and has consumed the attention of U.S. politicians for years.

Pamela Olson, a small town girl from eastern Oklahoma, had what she always wanted: a physics degree from Stanford University. But instead of feeling excited for what came next, she felt consumed by dread and confusion. This irresistible memoir chronicles her journey from aimless ex-bartender to Ramallah-based journalist and foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate.

There are many reasons why it might seem unwise to walk, mostly alone, through the Middle East. That, in part, is exactly why Leon McCarron did it. From Jerusalem, McCarron followed a series of wild hiking trails that trace ancient trading and pilgrimage routes and traverse some of the most contested landscapes in the world. In the West Bank, he met families struggling to lead normal lives amidst political turmoil and had a surreal encounter with the world's oldest and smallest religious sect.

In David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy, Nir Kedar offers a poignant study of the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Kedar provides an explication of the making of Israeli democracy in terms of its institutional-legal structures and social-cultural underpinnings. David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy connects the formal structures of democracy to the fundamental principles that they were constructed to serve—human freedom and dignity.

What happens when democracy produces "bad" outcomes? Is democracy good because of its outcomes or despite them? This "democratic dilemma" is one of the most persistent, vexing problems for America abroad, particularly in the Middle East. When Islamist parties rise to power through free elections, the United States has too often been ambivalent or opposed, preferring instead pliable dictators. With this legacy of democratic disrespect in mind, and drawing on new interviews with top American officials, Shadi Hamid explores universal questions of morality, power, and hypocrisy.

Christians in the Middle East are fleeing their homes or dying at the hand of Islamists creating the very real possibility of a successful faith-based holocaust. The implications of such an outcome for the region and the world are stark: a very fanatical militarized Islamist region that soon might be armed with nuclear weapons to threaten the world with atomic terrorism and the same insidious conditions that promote Christian genocide there could spread to America.

"גופה של לווייתן כחול נשטפה לחופי העיירה אַרקָטָה ביום שבת", כך מתחיל יובל דותן בספר הביכורים המרהיב שלו מסע מסחרר לתוך עולם של אקראיות, אבסורד, נונסנס ועצבות בלתי מזככת. אותה גופה של לווייתן מתחילה בעצם שרשרת של אירועים פנימיים בחייו של אלן הרשקוביץ, אחד הטייסים שנאלץ להעביר אותה בעזרת מסוק למשכן האוניברסיטה המקומית. אותה טיסה שגרתית לכאורה הופכת לטיסה המשמעותית ביותר של חייו. הוא מרחף מעל הים, אבל בעצם נוסק פנימה אל תוך נפשו, אל תוך זיכרונותיו, אל תוך הים האפל הפרטי שלו, והוא עולה משם שונה לגמרי, מבין שהוא חייב לשנות את חייו ולו במעט, אך אין לו מושג מה בדיוק לשנות בהם.

प्रीती हि वेलीसारखीच आहे. प्रीती म्हणजे केवळ यौवनाच्या प्रेरणेतून उद्भवणारी वासना नव्हे! तर सार्‍या संसाराचा आधार आहे ती! पण या वासनेला जेव्हा खोल भावनेची जोड मिळते, तेव्हाच प्रीती ही अमृतवेल होते. मग या वेलीवर करूणा उमटते, मैत्री फुलते.

हेच वि. स. खांडेकर यांनी उदाहरण देऊन पटवून दिले आहे. पहिले प्रेम हे कधीही अंतिम सत्य नसते कधी कधी पुन्हा झालेले प्रेमही पहिल्या प्रेमापेक्षा श्रेष्ठ असू शकते.

स्वाती चांदोरकर लिखित मराठी कादंबरी "एक पायरी वर".

لم تكن أشعة شمس الشتاء الهادئة لتمنع عنه ذلك الإحساس عندما التقت عينه بعينها وسط زحمة إشارة الإسعاف بالقرب من ميدان رمسيس، المعبر الوحيد له للخروج من حي شبرا الذي يقتنه وصولًا إلى وسط البلد، بالتحديد "قهوة صالح" الذي إعتداد على الجلوس عليها مع بعض الأصدقاء التي جمعتهم الصدفة معًا في مظاهرة أو ندوة ثقافية أو من تلك المجموعة المتسلقة التي تبحث لنفسها عن دور في الحياة فتمهنت من الثورية سبيل لها تخفي بها ضمور حياتها.

Number-one best-selling author and radio host Glenn Beck exposes the real truth behind the roots of Islamic extremism in Muslim teaching in this sharply insightful audiobook that debunks commonly held assumptions about Islam and the dream of a renewed caliphate.

Two years ago, Graham Robb moved to a lonely house on the very edge of England, near the banks of a river that once marked the southern boundary of the legendary Debatable Land. The oldest detectable territorial division in Great Britain, the Debatable Land served as a buffer between Scotland and England. It was once the bloodiest region in the country, fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and James V. After most of its population was slaughtered or deported, it became the last part of Great Britain to be brought under the control of the state.

When Maziar Bahari left London in June 2009 to cover Iran's presidential election, he assured his pregnant fiancée, Paola, that he'd be back in just a few days, a week at most. Little did he know, as he kissed her good-bye, that he would spend the next three months in Iran’s most notorious prison, enduring brutal interrogation sessions at the hands of a man he knew only by his smell: Rosewater.

Guinness is an irresistible lead character - smart and steadfast but also soulful and delightfully snarky. While the narrative offers adventure and some tragedy throughout, it also delivers humor and great tenderness. The scenes in Afghanistan, where Guinness is eventually deployed, are portrayed with a visceral grittiness. Readers can practically taste the ever present dust permeating the barren landscape. This is Jones’ first volume in her K-9 Heroes series, and it is a lovely tribute to the brave canine officers in the military.

Dr. Elisha Waldman's years at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center were filled in equal measure with a deep sense of accomplishment, with frustration when regional politics sometimes got in the way of his patients' care, and with tension over the fine line he would have to walk when the religious traditions of some of his patients' families made it difficult for him to give these children the care he felt they deserved. Navigating the baffling Israeli bureaucracy, the ever-present threat of war, and cultural clashes, Waldman learned to be content with small victories.

At the conclusion of World War I, a once promised unified Arab state, which was to include the modern Hejaz, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, Jordan and Iraq, did not materialize. Instead, the territories were divided between the French and British, but the British did reward the Hashemites by putting local leaders on the thrones of Iraq and Jordan....

Egyptian-born and London-raised, Alya Mooro grew up between two cultures and felt a pull from both. Where could she turn for advice and inspiration when it seemed there was nobody else like her? Today, Mooro is determined to explore and explode the myth that she must identify either as ‘Western’ or as one of almost 400 million other ‘Arabs’ across the Middle East.

Many of us are becoming aware of a growing global problem with national economies and terrorism, but some believe we are being led down this path by powerful people determined to destroy our free society in favor of their own greed. So, is this conspiracy nonsense?

In southern Iraq, a crushing silence hangs over the dunes. For nearly 5,000 years, the sands of the Iraqi desert have held the remains of the oldest known civilization: the Sumerians. When American archaeologists discovered a collection of cuneiform tablets in Iraq in the late 19th century, they were confronted with a language and a people who were at the time only scarcely known to even the most knowledgeable scholars.