Middle Eastern History

The story of a hotel. The story of a nation. When the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan's first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connected to the world. More than fifty years on, the Inter-Continental is still standing. It has endured Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a grievous civil war, a US invasion and the rise, fall...

Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon are unlikely peacemakers, dedicated to finding a solution to the bitter war that has decimated historical, ancient land and ended family lines. Despite the losses they have suffered, the resolve of their friendship has taught them that strength and unity are more powerful than the violence of separation. Throughout their travels, they...

NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Douglas Murray, international bestselling author and renowned cultural commentator confronts what he views as the most pressing issue of our time: why Western support of the Palestinian cause is ultimately playing into the hands of a much more dangerous force.Drawing from intensive on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon, Murray presents a compelling case that places...

Riveting and original ... a work enriched by solid scholarship, vivid personal experience, and acute appreciation of the concerns and aspirations of the contending parties in this deeply unequal conflict - Noam Chomsky The twentieth century for Palestine and the Palestinians has been a century of denial: denial of statehood, denial of nationhood and denial of history. The Hundred Years'...

NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Douglas Murray, international bestselling author and renowned cultural commentator, confronts what he views as the most pressing issue of our time: why Western support of the Palestinian cause is ultimately playing into the hands of a much more dangerous force. Drawing from intensive on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, Murray presents a compelling case that...

From one of our foremost public intellectuals, an essential reckoning with the war in Gaza, its historical conditions, and moral and geopolitical ramifications. Memory of the Holocaust, the ultimate atrocity of Europe's civil wars and the paradigmatic genocide, has shaped the Western political and moral imagination in the postwar era. Fears of its recurrence have been routinely invoked to justify...

Renowned Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe's groundbreaking work on the formation of the State of Israel. Along with the late Edward Said, Ilan Pappe is the most eloquent writer of Palestinian history. NEW STATESMAN Between 1947 and 1949, over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes...

An intimate account of the Israel-Palestine conflict and beyond, from one of Australia's most experienced foreign correspondents. Now updated with a foreword by Stan Grant and a new author's note. 'Lyons knows if you stand with the suffering, you're closer to the truth' Stan Grant, award-winning journalist and bestselling author 'A penetrating analysis of power with empathy for the human...

Winner of the Jewish Book of the Year Award Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn is an illuminating voyage into the heart of one of the world's most intriguing countries. Authored by Daniel Gordis, a prominent intellectual and insightful analyst of Israeli society as noted by The Forward, this remarkable narrative takes readers on an enthralling journey from...

Enemies and Neighbours by Ian Black is a masterful, comprehensive exploration of the century-long conflict between Jews and Arabs over the Holy Land. Starting from the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of British colonial rule in 1917, the narrative delves into the intricate and turbulent history that has shaped modern-day Israel and Palestine. Black offers a compelling,...

Penguin Classics relaunch The Jewish War by Josephus is a superbly detailed and evocative record of the Jewish rebellion against Rome between AD 66 and 70, marked by treachery and atrocity. Originally a rebel leader, Josephus changed sides after he was captured, becoming a Rome-appointed negotiator. This unique position allowed him to observe these turbulent events firsthand, from the siege...

In this unique book, His Holiness the Dalai Lama tells the full story of his 75-year struggle with China to save Tibet and its people. The Dalai Lama has had to contend with the People’s Republic of China his entire life. He was 15 years old when communist China invaded Tibet in 1950, only 19 when he had his first...

If there's a more important or timely book in 2024, I'm yet to come across it. Five big shiny stars. GOOD READING MAGAZINE Samah Sabawi has written a story of courage and struggle. Her generosity is such that above all she has gifted us a story of love of family and country. TONY BIRCH The story of a family over...

Thoroughly updated and revised for 2024, Jerusalem: The Biography is the history of the Middle East through the lens of the Holy City and the Holy Land, from King David to the wars and chaos of today. The history of Jerusalem is the story of the world: Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of...

The devastation of 7 October 2023 and the horrors that followed astounded the world. But the Israel–Palestine conflict didn’t start on 7 October. It didn’t start in 1967 either, when Israel occupied the West Bank, or in 1948 when the state of Israel was declared. It started in 1882, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in what was then Ottoman...

The West and Islam—the sword and the scimitar—have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Byzantine emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the significant battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on...

Antoun Issa powerfully captures his mother's true experiences of love, heartbreak and new hope during the violence of civil war. Beirut, 1974. Laila Khalil has just come of age for marriage. The eldest of five in a poor Catholic family, Laila knows that she must fulfil her family's expectations. But her heart is drawn to the handsome Nicolas, a coiffeur...

A timely and measured examination of how U.S.Iran relations reached their current impasse and what it will take to move beyond years of distrust.The United States and Iran have been locked in a decades-long standoff, fuelled by missteps, misunderstandings, and clashing ambitions. In these pages a leading Iranian expert clarifies the dynamics driving a conflict that has devastated the Middle...

If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale. This rich, elegiac compilation of work from the late Palestinian poet and professor, Refaat Alareer, brings together his marvellous poetry and deeply human writing about literature, teaching, politics, and family. The renowned poet and literature professor Refaat Alareer was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City...

This original and deeply provocative book was the first to make Palestine the subject of a serious debate—one that is now more critical than ever. With the rigorous scholarship that he brought to his influential Orientalism and an exile’s passion (he was Palestinian by birth and had been a member of the Palestine National Council), Edward W. Said traces the...

With a new introduction by Christopher de Bellaigue Shah of Shahs depicts the final years of the Shah in Iran and is a compelling meditation on the nature of revolution and the devastating results of fear. Here, Kapuscinski describes the tyrannical monarch who, despite his cruel oppression of the Iranian people, sees himself as the father of a nation, capable...

Runciman's great Crusades trilogy reissued in Penguin Modern Classics 'The whole tale is one of faith and folly, courage and greed, hope and delusion' The triumph of the First Crusade transformed the eastern Mediterranean, creating a series of European-ruled states along the coast and in Armenia. But the region's Muslim rulers were far from defeated, and the major cities of...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 'Magnificent . . . Important and hugely readable' - William Dalrymple, Financial Times 'A wildly ambitious and entertainingly lurid history' - James Barr, The Times 'A panoramic and thought-provoking account' - Guardian 'A winning portrait of seven centuries of empire, teeming with life and colour' - Sunday...

An authoritative and deeply personal narrative history of the State of Israel, by one of the most influential journalists writing about the Middle East today, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit charts the development of the Israeli state through a captivating and often poignant lens. Not since Thomas Friedman's groundbreaking From Beirut to Jerusalem...

A Line in the Sand by James Barr offers a compelling and intricate examination of the British-French rivalry that shaped the modern Middle East. Set against the historical backdrop of the early 20th century, the book meticulously delves into the clandestine agreements and political manoeuvring that redrew the boundaries of a region in turmoil. In 1916, amidst the devastation of...

A spellbinding narrative history of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and its devastating consequences by the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia. THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NEW STATESMAN, ATLANTIC AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A brilliant tale of greed, paranoia and hubris... a good place to start for anyone seeking to understand the current crisis'...

Compiled by bestselling author susan abulhawa, an Arabic-English bilingual anthology of essays from eighteen young Palestinian writers trying to survive the genocide in Gaza.In early 2024, writer and activist susan abulhawa managed to enter Gaza twice through the Rafah crossing. There, at the Culture and Free Thought Association, susan held a series of workshops for young people who had been...

Reveals a riveting portrait of a nation mired in complexities. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has promoted itself as an open country: oil-rich but investing in culture, tourism, social innovation, and establishing itself as a beacon in the Middle East mired in violence. However, the murder in October 2018 of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Istanbul embassy reveals a darker...

Passionate, powerful and thought-provoking, in The Hidden Face of Eve, leading feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi provides a shocking account of the oppression of women in the Arab world. Inspired by her experiences working as a doctor in rural Egypt and her life as an activist for women’s rights, she charts the injustices and violence faced by women in the...

The Islamic State stunned the world with its savagery, destructiveness, and military and recruiting successes. However, its most striking and distinctive characteristic was its capacity to build governing institutions and a theologically grounded national identity. What explains the rise of ISIS and the caliphate, and what does it portend for the future of the Middle East? In this book, one...

A compelling history of the Ptolemies, the decline of Egypt, and the rising power of the Roman Empire The Ptolemaic era, Egypt's last and one of its longest dynasties, was in many ways a gilded age. Its early rulers restored and even expanded Egyptian power. Over a span of 300 years, the period witnessed intellectual enlightenment, imaginative state-building, and some...

"In its comprehensive sweep, deep probing and acute critical analysis, Finkelstein's study stands alone." —Noam Chomsky "No one who ventures an opinion on Gaza ... is entitled to do so without taking into account the evidence in this book." —The Intercept The Gaza Strip is among the most densely populated places in the world. More than two-thirds of its inhabitants...

ROBERT FISK HAS BEEN REPORTING FROM THE MIDDLE EAST WITH INCOMPARABLE DEPTH AND UNDERSTANDING…AND EXTRAORDINARY COURAGE — NOAM CHOMSKY In this final work from renowned journalist Robert Fisk, he picks up reporting on the Middle East where his internationally bestselling The Great War of Civilisation left off. From the Arab uprisings and the Syrian civil war to Israel’s conflicts with...

With a thrilling narrative that sheds much light on recent events, this national bestseller brings to life the 1953 CIA coup in Iran that ousted the country's elected prime minister, ushered in a quarter-century of brutal rule under the Shah, and stimulated the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism in the Middle East. Selected as one of the best books...

‘A gripping account. Essential reading to understand the roots of the 2011 Arab Spring and the conflicts that have devastated so much of the region' EUGENE ROGAN, author of The Arabs: A History President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who ruled Egypt for eighteen years from the coup d'état of 1952, is best known in the West for wresting the Suez Canal...

Connect with the celestial powers of ancient goddesses Explores beliefs and myths from Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, and around the Mediterranean, revealing how ancient goddesses were powerful Queens of the Heavens and Guardians of the Underworld, not passive fertility symbols. Looks at creator goddesses, sun goddesses, lunar goddesses, warrior maiden goddesses, and night goddesses, including Hathor, Asherah, Inanna, Hekate, Athena, Astarte,...

Is the destruction of Gaza only a consequence of the October 7, 2023 attack, or is it also the outcome of a long process of dispossession and eradication? Do Palestinians have the right to resist the occupation? Is talking about genocide anti-Semitism? Enzo Traverso goes to the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by calling history into question and offers a...

Profoundly personal as well as historically significant ... In his moral clarity and baring of the heart, Shehadeh recalls writers such as Ghassan Kanafani and Primo Levi - Hisham Matar, New York Times Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee, he was also the father of bestselling author and activist Raja. In this new and searingly personal...

Another astonishing work of graphic non-fiction, the story of a girl growing up in Iran during the Revolution. Wise, often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, Persepolis tells the story of Marjane Satrapi's life in Tehran from the ages of six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of...

An epic history of Islam and the Middle East through the cities which best epitomised it. Islamic civilisation was once the envy of the world. From a succession of glittering, cosmopolitan capitals, Islamic empires lorded it over the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and swathes of the Indian subcontinent. For centuries, the caliphate was both ascendant on the battlefield...

Xenophon's account of the Greek war with Persia through the eyes of a young Athenian searching for his destiny abroad. In The Persian Expedition, Xenophon, a young Athenian noble who sought his destiny abroad, provides an enthralling eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army—the Ten Thousand—to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the Persian throne....

The extraordinary story of the Arab world, from defeat and colonisation to independence and astonishing wealth. Eugene Rogan has written an authoritative new history of the Arabs in the modern world. Starting with the Ottoman conquests in the sixteenth century, this landmark book follows the story of the Arabs through the era of European imperialism and the Superpower rivalries of...

‘Wonderful’ JOHN BARTON ‘A stupendous intellectual achievement’ ANDREW PETTEGREE ‘A stunning love song to the Bible . . . this will be a classic’ CHINE MCDONALD The remarkable story of the most influential book in human history. The Bible is the world's best-known text. Yet, it is a book that never was—its original form does not exist and probably never...

The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk is an expansive and compelling historical account from one of the most seasoned journalists of our time, offering a penetrating exploration of the Middle East's tumultuous history over the last fifty years. Fisk's work draws upon his extensive first-hand experience in the region, providing readers with a vivid and unflinching narrative that...

Enemies and Neighbors by Ian Black presents a comprehensive exploration of the complex and enduring Arab-Zionist conflict, a subject steeped in historical significance and current relevance. Through meticulous research and an intimate understanding of the region, Black delivers a narrative that offers insight into one of the most polarising conflicts of modern times. This sweeping history begins at the end...

Catch-67 is an introspective and thought-provoking exploration into the heart of one of the world's most enduring and complex conflicts—the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Authored by best-selling Israeli writer Micah Goodman, the book delves into the profound ideological and political rifts that have defined Israeli society since the Six-Day War. This seminal event left Israel with territorial gains that have since triggered...

Krithia by Mat McLachlan is a deeply engaging and moving exploration of one of the lesser-known yet profoundly significant battles of World War I. This poignant tale, brought to light by the bestselling military historian and author of The Cowra Breakout, takes readers to the southern tip of the Gallipoli peninsula in May 1915. As World War I raged on,...

In this groundbreaking book, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation, the outspoken and radical Israeli historian Ilan Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel. Each chapter of Ten Myths About Israel meticulously deconstructs widely-held beliefs that have been ingrained into the collective consciousness through media repetition, military endorsement,...

Land Between the Rivers by Bartle Bull is a sweeping historical epic that spans five thousand years of human civilization. Beginning with the legendary figure of Gilgamesh building the walls of Uruk at the dawn of recorded history, the narrative unfolds across millennia, culminating in the dramatic events of 1958 with the fall of Iraq’s last monarchy. This engrossing tale...

Israel by Noa Tishby is a captivating and modern exploration of one of the world's most debated nations. This New York Times bestseller offers not just a history lesson but a dynamic, multi-faceted portrait of the country. In Israel, Noa Tishby guides readers through an engaging and comprehensive timeline, starting from Biblical times to today’s headlines. Tishby seamlessly interweaves historical...

The Gaza Strip is one of the most widely-reported regions in the world—yet misinformation about its history and its people abounds. In this vital book, historian Anne Irfan explains Gaza’s outsized political significance through six pivotal moments in its modern history, beginning with Israel’s expulsion of the Palestinian people upon its establishment in 1948, when the Gaza region was truncated...

The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk is a compelling and profound chronicle that spans half a century of the turbulent and violent history of the Middle East. This exhaustive account is narrated by one of the most experienced and respected journalists of our time. With unparalleled passion and intensity, Fisk takes readers...

Nothing could prepare historian Jean-Pierre Filiu for what he encountered in Gaza.   Noted historian of Gaza, Jean-Pierre Filiu, spent a month there between December and January 2025. This is his up-close, immersive documentary of reality inside the Palestinian enclave.Filiu is a historian who specialises in Gazan history, and has travelled there regularly since 1980. He also knows the Arabic...

Discover the rise and fall of the world's greatest empire in the stunning first instalment of The Golden Age, an epic new series from the nation's finest historical novelist. After the Gods. After the Myths and Legends came the world of Men. In their front rank stood Pericles. The Lion of the Golden Age. 'Brings war in the ancient world...

Palestinianism is not only the newest manifestation of anti-Semitism; it also poses grave threats to peace, human rights, and democratic values. Its dangers must be exposed and challenged in the marketplace of ideas. It is the purpose of this book to pose that challenge and to put Palestinianism on trial for the moral crimes of bigotry, incitement to violence, and...

The Great War ended with the Ottoman Empire’s defeat, its remaining territories destined for partition at the Paris Peace Conference. However, this settlement was complicated by a global moment of Muslim internationalism, as revolutions, revolts, and wars of independence swept across the Muslim world. Muslim internationalists resisted European imperialism, demanded self-determination, envisioned federations, and sought anticolonial alliances with Soviet Russia....

The Chronicle of Seert, a Middle Arabic history written in the late tenth or eleventh century, draws on earlier Syriac sources from the Church of the East dating back to the sixth and seventh centuries and is the richest repository of these earlier materials. It is a monument to a literature that is now mostly destroyed and an invaluable source...

Key essays by a notable scholar address some of the most pressing questions facing Israel today. Over the course of his rich career, David Ellenson—one of the most outstanding Jewish scholars, intellectuals, and thinkers of our time—probed the tension between tradition and modernity, especially as reflected in the ceaseless reinterpretation of liturgical and halakhic texts. Alongside that scholarly interest, largely...

A nuanced history of seafaring communities in the Indian Ocean, where the force of British imperial power depended on the expertise of local divers and sailors to feed a global demand for pearls. In the late nineteenth century, thousands of men and boys across the northern rim of the Indian Ocean dove daily to the ocean floor in search of...

A major new history of Saudi Arabia, from its eighteenth-century origins to the present day Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, a major player on the international stage, and the site of Islam's two holiest cities. It is also one of the world's only absolute monarchies. How did Saudi Arabia get to where it is...

In June 1968, a twenty-four-year-old Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan B. Sirhan assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy, marking yet another killing in a decade haunted by political violence. As he was being subdued, Sirhan shouted, "I can explain. I did it for my country," by which he meant Palestine. On trial, he testified that his motives included opposition to Zionism, with...

The Ottoman Empire long used flexible administrative arrangements to govern its vast domains. Starting in the 1830s, however, European intervention in Ottoman affairs resulted in the emergence of a new type of negotiated province. The "privileged provinces," which included Egypt and Mt. Lebanon, enjoyed levels of administrative autonomy that were unparalleled not only within the Ottoman domains but also in...

Demographic Anxieties examines how the Israeli settler-colonial state and its borders shape Palestinian women's reproductive freedom. Grounded in a Black feminist reproductive justice framework, this work foregrounds the sexual politics of settler colonialism by demonstrating how Israeli policies profoundly impact Palestinian women's reproductive rights, health, and decision-making. Based on in-depth interviews and more than two years of ethnographic research with...

Come for a walk with me, if you would, along the streets of Jerusalem. My family has walked these streets for more than a thousand years. With this invitation, Palestine: A Primer offers a powerful introduction to Palestinian history through a century of conflict and resistance. Blending incisive research with his own family memories, celebrated scholar Rashid Khalidi traces Palestine's...

In October 1971, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, held a celebration to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. Dozens of heads of state descended on Persepolis for these celebrations, where they were regaled with sumptuous banquets and entertainment. Critical journalists in Western Europe and North America lambasted the Shah for...

In the mid-eighteenth century, the Russian tsar sent two expeditions across the Caspian Sea in response to an extraordinary plea for assistance from the recently subjugated Kalmyk Khan. The official journals of these expeditions, here translated into English for the first time, record the encounters of Captains Tebelev and Kopitovskii (in 1741 and 1745, respectively) with the Turkmen tribes of...

The seminal role of the Anunnaki in shaping human civilisation is unveiled, revealing the mystical roots of esoteric knowledge and its impact on secret societies and the evolution of consciousness. The Anunnaki—one of the most enigmatic groups in history—played a heavy role in early human civilisation. But where did they come from, and who were they? In Anunnaki Revelation, author...

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR NONFICTION • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • From the author of the landmark bestseller Lawrence in Arabia comes a stunningly revelatory narrative history of the Iranian Revolution, one of the most momentous events in modern times....

A lively and informed account of Egypt’s recent history and current situation In this immensely readable and thoroughly researched book, Tarek Osman explores what has happened to the biggest Arab nation since President Nasser took control of the country in 1954. This new edition takes events up to summer 2013, looking at how Egypt has become increasingly divided under its...

A startling exploration of slavery in the Islamic world from the 7th century to the present. Slavery in the Islamic world has a long, diverse and controversial history. Captives and Companions is a brilliant synthesis of history and contemporary reportage that brings to life the voices of the enslaved in stories of eighth-century concubines and ninth-century revolts, thirteenth-century slave soldiers...

From a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (The New Yorker) comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume military history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land. Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by...

قبيلة اللواتية في عُمان by Dr Ahmed Hussain Al-Saffar offers a historical and linguistic analytical study of the Lawati tribe, presenting it as a historical and cultural phenomenon that transcends conventional genealogical narratives. The book critically re-examines the name, origin, and linguistic structure through a multi-disciplinary critique. The work begins by deconstructing the historical connotations of the name "Lawati," exploring...

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the status and roles of women within the socio-economic framework of the Achaemenid Empire. Drawing primarily on the Persepolis Fortification and Treasury Archives, it foregrounds the documentary evidence as a lens through which the lives, labour, and agency of women—both within royal institutions and beyond—can be critically assessed. Women of the Empire explores...

What was the role of local history-writing in the early Islamic World, and why was it such a popular way of thinking about the past? In this innovative study, Harry Munt explores this understudied phenomenon. Examining primary sources in both Arabic and Persian, Munt argues that local history-writing must be situated within its appropriate historical contexts to explain why it...

The Arab Spring created attempts to transition towards democracy by the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan. This study compares the methods used by the secular leaders of Tunisia and Egypt to deal with people power demanding revolution with the methods that the monarchs of Morocco and Jordan resorted to in accommodating their people's priority of reform. In contrast...

All original edition. Nothing added, nothing removed. This book traces the history of the ancient Khazar Empire, a major but almost forgotten power in Eastern Europe, which in the Dark Ages became converted to Judaism. Khazaria was finally wiped out by the forces of Genghis Khan, but evidence indicates that the Khazars themselves migrated to Poland and formed the cradle...

The early sixteenth century saw the rise of two Mediterranean empires—the Christian Habsburgs, based in Spain and Austria, and the Muslim Ottomans, centered in the Balkans and Anatolia—with strikingly similar ambitions. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500–1558) and Sultan Süleyman (1495–1566) each pursued grand universalist visions, seeking to unite Islam and Christendom under a universal monarchy that would resolve wars...

The Promise of Violence by Younes Saramifar explores how revolutionaries in Iran have chosen to identify memories of the Iran-Iraq War as their 'collective' memory. They regard this war era as a temporal reference in history—"the time of times", or at times, even "a time beyond time". Can a sole event and its violence truly become, for some, the all-encompassing,...

Volume one of the classic Islamic history of the world, now available to a new generation of readers in a fully unabridged edition. Written by the great fourteenth-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldûn, The Muqaddimah, or "Introduction," is the earliest critical study of history. Though intended as the preface and first book of a world history, it is a wholly self-contained...

Volume two of the classic Islamic history of the world, now available to a new generation of readers in a fully unabridged edition. Written by the great fourteenth-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldûn, The Muqaddimah, or 'Introduction', is the earliest critical study of history. Though intended as the preface and first book of a world history, it is a wholly self-contained...