In the face of vicious oppression and years of authoritarian and neoliberal ideology, how did the Arab Left assert itself during the Arab Uprisings? In this bold new account, Caroline Rooney outlines
Afghanistan in the 20th century was virtually unknown in Europe and America. At peace until the 1970s, the country was seen as a remote and exotic land, visited only by adventurous tourists or researc
The century after the conquests of Timur witnessed the division of eastern and western Iran between his Turko-Mongol successors, and a flowering of Persian culture in the great cities of Herat, Samarq
In the mid-nineteenth century, many functions of British government were alleged to have taken place behind the closed doors of the secretive clubs of London's St.James's district.This phenomenon, of
Armenian national identity has long been associated with what has come to be known as the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Immersing the reader in the history, culture and politics of Armenia – from its fou
Arthur Conan Doyle was not simply the creator of the world’s greatest detective; he was also an intrepid traveller and extraordinary travel writer. His descriptions of his journeys and adventures - wh
The Phoenicians present a tantalizing face to the ancient historian. Latin sources suggest they once had an extensive literature of history, law, philosophy and religion; but all now is lost. Offering
Offering new perspectives on the relationship between Shi'is and Sufis in modern and pre-modern times, this book challenges the supposed opposition between these two esoteric traditions in Islam by ex
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw the establishment of the new Safavid regime in Iran. Along with reuniting the Persian lands under one rule, the Safavids initiated the radical transformatio
Classical Greece and its legacy have long inspired a powerful and passionate fascination. The civilization that bequeathed to later ages drama and democracy, Homer and heroism, myth and Mycenae and th
The years of the Spanish Civil War filled twentieth-century Spain with hope, frustration and drama. Not only did it pit countryman against countryman, and neighbor against neighbor, but from 1936-39 t
The extraordinary creative energy of Renaissance Italy lies at the heart of modern western culture. This creativity extended far beyond the visual arts and architecture: dress history, dance history,
Khaled, the spoiled idle son of a pasha, meets Malim, carpenter's apprentice and son of a scoundrel, when he comes to fix a broken window. In the course of his work, Malim stumbles across a stash of m
This well-established and respected directory supports actors in their training and search for work on stage, screen and radio. It is the only directory to provide detailed information for each listin
The renaissance of Shi’i Islam began in the 15th century when the Ismailis experienced the Anjudan revival and Twelver Shi’i traditions were renewed. This renaissance gained further strength when the Safavids succeeded in establishing a state in the early decades of the 16th century, making Ithna’ashari Shi’i Islam their official religion. This open access book represents the most recent scholarship on the intellectual and spiritual life of the age. Although the political and artistic developments of the Safavid era of the 16th–18th centuries have been extensively studied, the complexities of the different groups, movements and strands of thought in the renaissance of Shi’i Islam still remain largely unexplored. The chapters in this book reveal what prepared the ground for its appearance as well as its achievements. The major themes that characterised the Shi’i renaissance are explored, including: popular reactions to messianic movements; the development of legal theories and concepts
Gradually since 2003, Turkey's autocratic leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to make Turkey a great power -- in the tradition of past Turkish leaders from the late Ottoman sultans to Ataturk, the
Moldova is a new nation-state with a long history. Despite only recently gaining independence, following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova's roots stretch all the way back to the Principal
When I had finished the old lady spoke softly: "It takes great strength to open such a heavy door."At the start of the twentieth century in China, the Hans were married in an elaborate ceremony before
From 1501, when the first slaves arrived in Hispaniola, until the nineteenth century, some twelve million people were abducted from west Africa and shipped across thousands of miles of ocean – the inf
Renowned as great centres of learning, the cities of Baghdad and Isfahan were atthe heart of the Islamic civilization as rich capital cities and centres of intellectualthought. Their distinct cultural voices inspired a unique historical dialogue, whichfinds new expression in Baghdad and Isfahan, the story of how knowledge wastransmitted and transformed within Islamic lands, and then spread across Europe.Capturing the history of Baghdad and Isfahan from 750 to 1750, Elaheh Kheirandishdraws on the voices of court astronomers, mathematicians, scientists, mystics,jurists, statesmen and Arabic and Persian translators and scholars to document theextensive and lasting contribution of sciences from Islamic lands to the history ofscience. Kheirandish bases her narrative on a unique medieval manuscript and otherhistorical sources and the result is more than a thousand-year ‘tale of two cities’ – itis a city by city, and century by century, look at what it took to change the world.In a feat of tr
