Although the Horn book called the pages overcrowded, I think the book is ideal for young or reluctant readers because there are so many pictures calculated to capture student interest. Short descriptions of religions in Egypt, Rome, and Mesopotamia lend to making comparisons and gaining a quick overview of the topic. The index lists 27 pages for Egypt, but some pages only mention Egypt in passing with no information about Egypt (example: p. 20 "In the Exodus story Moses and Aaron ask the pharaoh to let his Jewish slaves go free. When he refuses, God brings ten plagues down on Egypt, including frogs, boils, hail and locusts"). Includes maps and illustrations.

From the first page this kept me captivated by this book's wonderful knowledge and obvious intelligence. You can't help but give great trubute to the author for his extensive research. Five stars to a man who deserves them.

I bought this book while I was living in Egypt and used it as a tour guide when I wandered independently around the country. It gave the fullest descriptions I have seen anywhere of the antiquities and of the Islamic sights. It enabled me to explore with confidence that I would not get lost, and would find all the places of note.

It is compact - easy to carry in a rucksac or bicycle saddlebag. It survived the travelling well - just keeping it in a plastic bag to prevent too much sand and dust getting between the pages.

The maps were still sufficiently current to get you there, the plans of the monuments were excellent, and made sure every recess was findable.

I would recommend it to any independent traveller, even if now in an armchair. It is a pleasure to read as well as to use as a guide book.

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Although read only in German Language I consider the book as one of the best I have ever read about the Arab culture. The comprehensive approach and the definition of beauty in arab culture is fascinating.

Born in 1900 in a small Syrian town, the author "grew up fearing these bedouins, loathing the desert, and hating its people." He later became a distinguished scholar of Semitic languages at the American University of Beirut and, over a sixty-year period, meticulously collected materials on the selfsame Bedouin he once despised. His magnum opus on the subject appeared in Arabic in 1988 and now (four years after the author's death) in English, in an excellent translation.

The Bedouins and the Desert has the look and feel of an instant classic, due in part to the author's mix of personal experience and erudition, in part to the State University of New York Press's publishing a beautiful (and commendably inexpensive) volume. The book follows in the grand tradition of Doughty and Musil, documenting and explaining the desert, but it may be the last of its genre, for the Bedouin way of life has so deeply changed and diminished during the past half-century that a successor volume is highly unlikely. Jabbur organizes his book around four "pillars" of Bedouin life: the desert, the camel, the tent, and the Bedouin; naturally, the first and last receive predominant attention. While many of the sections read like a reference work (such as the listing of animals or tribes), the author's deep familiarity with desert poetry and his own observations frequently enliven the text with asides and insights-on everything from the role of falcons hunting gazelles to love marriages among the Bedouin.

Middle East Quarterly, March 1996

I have never thought of myself as a thriller fan, but the timely Middle East setting of Behind the Green Water and its fast pace captured my interest from the beginning. The protagonist Nash Devon, an American military officer, is complex, believable, and unlike many inflexible and unfeeling male characters, has heart. The back story comes forth gradually, supplying his motivation and creating his sympathetic personality. The novel satisfies our curiosity in particular about Iraq and reveals why this nation is potentially so dangerous. Yet we also meet some admirable Iraqi people and kind, if often discouraged, United Nations refugee workers. The author clearly has experience with the culture, towns, and countryside of Iraq, as well as Syria and Saudi Arabia, and convincingly describes the military environment and hardware. The intrique Devon confronts rings true, as well. Surprisingly, the novel develops an undercurrent of spirituality that relates to the title. Devon is on a cruelly difficult mission. Few will be able to set the book aside without knowing if he is successful, and few will be able to stop reading until they know whether Devon and the woman and boy he befriends can all escape their enemies.

How can it be that so many American Jews give unconditional support to the government of Israel? How can it be that the USA continues to support Saudi Arabia, the source of money and hate. How can it be that the United Nations the would be site of international law & fairaness has been so inept for fifty years?

I was l7, our great FDR had been dead since l945, before the war ended. The cold war added to world chaos. And at home President truman faced a hostil red-baiting Congress. Menwhile thouands of Jews freed from concentration camps lanquised in camps run by the Allies. There was no place for them. The new Labor leadership of UK were cold to them, worried about oil from Arabia.

Crum with a few Americans and a group of British went to Palestine, Europe and the Arab countrise. Their report was ignored. The British abandoned "ship" and the rest is history. A sad history.

I like it when an author takes a broad, difficult subject and 1.) gives a good generalization, with some proof 2.)penetrates very deep into a very few specific examples. Adelkhah does that quite well.

First, he touches on the broad view of an emerging civil culture in Iran, without which Iran cannot become a "modern" republic and certainly not a democratic one. He tells of the amazing changes to the city of Teheran as mayor Kharabashi challenged everyone to bring their (formerly private and exclusive) gardens out to the front of the street. If you have toured the traditional Middle East, you will have doubtless noticed that houses are built much like fortresses in the city-- emblematic of a culture that displays a seemingly congenital xenophobia.

He also traces the origins of the sports craze in Iran, and the explosion of public parks and spaces. One cannot walk away from the book without a genuine sense that the Islamic Republic of Iran is actually undergoing tectonic changes from within that threaten to cast aside the clerical domination of the country in favor of something entirely new to the world: a Muslim democracy, whatever that turns out to be.

This book is loaded with wounderful black and white and some color photographs of Beirut at the turn of the last century. The commentaries are very educational and provide an interesting popular insight into the history of the city. The brief account on the history of postcards in lebanon is interesting and adds significantly to the book. This book is a great addition to the library of anyone interested in the history of Lebanon in general and Beirut in particular. I only wish there were more color photographs.