Random House New Releases - History - Middle East

Freud And The Non-European by Jacqueline Rose

2014-01-07T00:30:00-05:00

Freud And The Non-European
Written by Edward Said
Afterword by Jacqueline Rose
Introduction by Christopher Bollas

eBook, 88 pages | Verso | Philosophy; History - Middle East | $17.95 | 978-1-78168-199-2 (1-78168-199-6)

Using an impressive array of material from literature, archaeology and social theory, Edward Said explores the profound implications of Freud’s Moses and Monotheism for Middle-East politics today. The resulting book reveals Said’s abiding interest in Freud’s work and its important influence on his own.

He proposes that Freud’s assumption that Moses was an Egyptian undermines any simple ascription of a pure identity, and further that identity itself cannot be thought or worked through without the recognition of the limits inherent in it. Said suggests that such an unresolved, nuanced sense of identity might, if embodied in political reality, have formed, or might still form, the basis for a new understanding between Jews and Palestinians. Instead, Israel’s relentless march towards an exclusively Jewish state denies any sense of a more complex, inclusive past.

Freud And The Non-European by Jacqueline Rose

2014-01-07T00:30:00-05:00

Freud And The Non-European
Written by Edward Said
Afterword by Jacqueline Rose
Introduction by Christopher Bollas

Trade Paperback, 88 pages | Verso | Philosophy; History - Middle East | $17.95 | 978-1-78168-145-9 (1-78168-145-7)

Secrets of the Knights Templar by Susie Hodge

2013-12-03T00:30:00-05:00

Secrets of the Knights Templar A Chronicle 1129-1312
Written by Susie Hodge

Hardcover, 384 pages | Quercus | History - Medieval; History - Europe; History - Middle East | $26.95 | 978-1-62365-052-0 (1-62365-052-6)

Informally organized in 1119 to protect pilgrims on their journeys to visit the Holy Land, and officially sanctioned by the Catholic Church in 1129, the medieval Knights Templar grew into an elite fighting force that played a central role in the battles of the Crusades. They were highly trained, well equipped, and unafraid to take up the sword to defend the church at the limits of western civilization.

Secrets of the Knights Templar is the compelling chronicle of the warrior monks and their fight to defend the Catholic faith, and of their participation in the efforts to vie for control of the Holy Land with the Muslim armies of Kurdish military genius Saladin and his successors. Though they were initially celebrated for their military acumen and acts of bravery, the once-celebrated order was eventually dismantled in disgrace, accused of political crimes as well as crimes against the faith.

With its concise, authoritative, and accessible narrative—amplified by extensive citations from contemporary sources, and accompanied by generously captioned and stunning images of the period—Secrets of the Knights Templar brings a distant era of history dramatically and vividly to life. It is the perfect gift for anyone with a love of medieval, religious, or military history.

Secrets of the Knights Templar by Susie Hodge

2013-12-03T00:30:00-05:00

Secrets of the Knights Templar A Chronicle 1129-1312
Written by Susie Hodge

eBook | Quercus | History - Medieval; History - Europe; History - Middle East | $26.95 | 978-1-62365-053-7 (1-62365-053-4)

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

2013-11-19T00:30:00-05:00

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

Hardcover, 464 pages | Spiegel & Grau | History - Israel; History - Middle East; History - Military | $28.00 | 978-0-385-52170-3 (0-385-52170-7)

A groundbreaking, ambitious, and authoritative examination of Israel by one of the most influential columnists writing about the Middle East today

My Promised Land tells the story of Israel as it has never been told before. Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis. Through revealing stories of significant events and of ordinary individuals—pioneers, immigrants, entrepreneurs, scientists, army generals, peaceniks, settlers, and Palestinians—Israeli journalist Ari Shavit illuminates many of the pivotal moments of the Zionist century that led Israel to where it is today. We meet the youth group leader who recognized the potential of Masada as a powerful symbol for Zionism; the young farmer who bought an orange grove from his Arab neighbor in the 1920s, and with the Jaffa orange helped to create a booming economy in Palestine; the engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel’s nuclear program; the religious Zionists who started the settler movement. Over an illustrious career that has spanned almost thirty years, Shavit has had rare access to people from across the Israeli political, economic, and social spectrum, and in this ambitious work he tells a riveting story that is both deeply human and of profound historical dimension.

As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, My Promised Land asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? And can Israel survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing, both internal and external, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.

Praise for My Promised Land

“With the heart of a storyteller and the mind of a historian, Ari Shavit has written a powerful and compelling book about the making of modern Israel. No country is more emotionally connected to the United States, and no country’s fate matters more to many Americans. And yet, until Shavit’s My Promised Land, it has been growing more difficult to sense the character of Israel through all the caricatures. This book is vital reading for Americans who care about the future, not only of the United States but of the world.”—Jon Meacham

“A beautiful, mesmerizing, morally serious, and vexing book. I’ve been waiting most of my adult life for an Israeli to plumb the deepest mysteries of his country’s existence and share his discoveries, and Ari Shavit does so brilliantly, writing simultaneously like a poet and a prophet. My Promised Land is a remarkable achievement.”—Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent, The Atlantic

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

2013-11-19T00:30:00-05:00

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

eBook, 464 pages | Spiegel & Grau | History - Israel; History - Middle East; History - Military | $13.99 | 978-0-8129-8464-4 (0-8129-8464-1)

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

2013-11-19T00:30:00-05:00

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

Unabridged Compact Disc | Random House Audio | History - Israel; History - Middle East; History - Military | $35.00 | 978-0-385-35959-7 (0-385-35959-4)

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

2013-11-19T00:30:00-05:00

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | History - Israel; History - Middle East; History - Military | $20.00 | 978-0-385-35960-3 (0-385-35960-8)

The Faithful Scribe by Shahan Mufti

2013-09-24T00:30:00-05:00

The Faithful Scribe A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family, and War
Written by Shahan Mufti

Hardcover, 352 pages | Other Press | History - Middle East; Social Science - Islamic Studies; Religion - Islam - History | $26.95 | 978-1-59051-505-1 (1-59051-505-6)

A journalist explores his family’s history to reveal the hybrid cultural and political landscape of Pakistan, the world’s first Islamic democracy

Shahan Mufti’s family history, which he can trace back fourteen hundred years to the inner circle of the prophet Muhammad, offers an enlightened perspective on the mystifying history of Pakistan. Mufti uses the stories of his ancestors, many of whom served as judges and jurists in Muslim sharia courts of South Asia for many centuries, to reveal the deepest roots—real and imagined—of Islamic civilization in Pakistan.

More than a personal history, The Faithful Scribe captures the larger story of the world’s first Islamic democracy, and explains how the state that once promised to bridge Islam and the West is now threatening to crumble under historical and political pressure, and why Pakistan’s destiny matters to us all.

The Faithful Scribe by Shahan Mufti

2013-09-24T00:30:00-05:00

The Faithful Scribe A Story of Islam, Pakitan, Family, and War
Written by Shahan Mufti

eBook, 352 pages | Other Press | History - Middle East; Social Science - Islamic Studies; Religion - Islam - History | $20.99 | 978-1-59051-506-8 (1-59051-506-4)

Manzikert 1071 by Christa Hook

2013-08-20T00:30:00-05:00

Manzikert 1071 The breaking of Byzantium
Written by David Nicolle
Illustrated by Christa Hook

Trade Paperback, 96 pages | Osprey Publishing | History - Medieval; History - Military - Other; History - Middle East | $21.95 | 978-1-78096-503-1 (1-78096-503-6)

On 26 August 1071 a large Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV met the Saljuq Turk forces of Sultan Alp Arslan near the town of Manzikert to the far east of the Byzantine Empire. The battle ended in a decisive defeat for the Byzantine forces, with the wings of the army routing following withering Turkish arrow fire, and the centre overwhelmed, with the Byzantine emperor captured and much of his fabled Varangian guard killed. This battle is justifiably regarded as a turning point in Middle Eastern, European and to some extent even world history. It is seen as the primary trigger of the Crusades, and as the moment when the power of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire was irreparably broken. The Saljuq victory opened up Anatolia to Turkish-Islamic conquest, which was eventually followed by the establishment of the Ottoman state which went on the conquer south-eastern and much of central Europe, the entire Middle East and most of North Africa. Nevertheless the battle itself was the culmination of a Christian Byzantine offensive, intended to strengthen the eastern frontiers of the empire and re-establish Byzantine domination over Armenia and northern Mesopotamia. Turkish Saljuq victory was in no sense inevitable and might, in fact, have come as something of a surprise to those who achieved it - at least in proving to be so complete. It was not only the battle of Manzikert that had such profound and far-reaching consequences, many of these stemmed from the debilitating Byzantine civil war which followed and was a direct consequence of the defeat.

Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson

2013-08-06T00:30:00-05:00

Lawrence in Arabia War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Written by Scott Anderson

Hardcover, 592 pages | Doubleday | History - Middle East; History - Military - World War I; Political Science - International Relations - Diplomacy | $28.95 | 978-0-385-53292-1 (0-385-53292-X)

A thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history—the Arab Revolt, and the secret game to control the Middle East

The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War One was, in the words of T.E. Lawrence, "a sideshow of a sideshow." As a result, the conflict was shaped to a remarkable degree by a small handful of adventurers and low-level officers far removed from the corridors of power. Curt Pruefer was an academic attached to the German embassy in Cairo, whose clandestine role was to foment jihad against British rule. Aaron Aaronsohn was a renowned agronomist and committed Zionist who gained the trust of the Ottoman governor of Palestine even as he built an elaborate anti-Ottoman spy ring. William Yale was the fallen scion of the American aristocracy, who traveled the Ottoman Empire on behalf of Standard Oil, dissembling to the Turks in order to gain valuable oil concessions. At the center of it all was Lawrence. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist digging ruins in Syria; by 1917 he was riding into legend at the head of an Arab army, as he fought a rearguard action against his own government and its imperial ambitions.

Based on four years of intensive primary document research, LAWRENCE IN ARABIA definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.

Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson

2013-08-06T00:30:00-05:00

Lawrence in Arabia War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Written by Scott Anderson

eBook, 592 pages | Doubleday | History - Middle East; History - Military - World War I; Political Science - International Relations - Diplomacy | $14.99 | 978-0-385-53293-8 (0-385-53293-8)

On Saudi Arabia by Karen Elliott House

2013-06-04T00:30:00-05:00

On Saudi Arabia Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines--and Future
Written by Karen Elliott House

Trade Paperback, 320 pages | Vintage | History - Middle East; Political Science - World - Middle Eastern; Social Science - Anth/Cultural | $16.95 | 978-0-307-47328-8 (0-307-47328-7)

With over thirty years of experience writing about Saudi Arabia, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former publisher of The Wall Street Journal Karen Elliott House has an unprecedented knowledge of life inside this shrouded kingdom. Through anecdotes, observation, analysis, and extensive interviews, she navigates the maze in which Saudi citizens find themselves trapped and reveals the sometimes contradictory nature of the nation that is simultaneously a final bulwark against revolution in the Middle East and a wellspring of Islamic terrorists.

Saudi Arabia finds itself threatened by fissures and forces on all sides, and On Saudi Arabia explores in depth what this portends for the country’s future—and our own.

The Dispensable Nation by Stephen Hoye

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr
Read by Stephen Hoye

Unabridged Compact Disc | Random House Audio | Political Science - International Relations; History - Middle East; Political Science - Political Freedom & Security | $40.00 | 978-0-385-36043-2 (0-385-36043-6)

In a brilliant and revealing book destined to drive debate about the future of American power, Vali Nasr questions America’s dangerous choice to engage less and matter less in the world.

Vali Nasr, author of the groundbreaking The Shia Revival, worked closely with Hillary Clinton at the State Department on Afghan and Pakistani affairs. In The Dispensable Nation, he takes us behind the scenes to show how Secretary Clinton and her ally, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, were thwarted in their efforts to guide an ambitious policy in South Asia and the Middle East. Instead, four years of presidential leadership and billions of dollars of U.S. spending failed to advance democracy and development, producing mainly rage at the United States for its perceived indifference to the fate of the region.

After taking office in 2009, the Obama administration had an opportunity to fundamentally reshape American foreign policy, Nasr argues, but its fear of political backlash and the specter of terrorism drove it to pursue the same questionable strategies as its predecessor. Meanwhile, the true economic threats to U.S. power, China and Russia, were quietly expanding their influence in places where America has long held sway.

Nasr makes a compelling case that behind specific flawed decisions lurked a desire by the White House to pivot away from the complex problems of the Muslim world. Drawing on his unrivaled expertise in Middle East affairs and firsthand experience in diplomacy, Nasr demonstrates why turning our backs is dangerous and, what’s more, sells short American power. The United States has secured stability, promoted prosperity, and built democracy in region after region since the end of the Second World War, he reminds us, and The Dispensable Nation offers a striking vision of what it can achieve when it reclaims its bold leadership in the world.

The Dispensable Nation by Stephen Hoye

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr
Read by Stephen Hoye

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Political Science - International Relations; History - Middle East; Political Science - Political Freedom & Security | $20.00 | 978-0-385-36044-9 (0-385-36044-4)

The Dispensable Nation by Vali Nasr

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr

Hardcover, 320 pages | Doubleday | Political Science - International Relations; History - Middle East; Political Science - Political Freedom & Security | $28.95 | 978-0-385-53647-9 (0-385-53647-X)

The Dispensable Nation by Vali Nasr

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr

eBook, 320 pages | Doubleday | Political Science - International Relations; History - Middle East; Political Science - Political Freedom & Security | $14.99 | 978-0-385-53648-6 (0-385-53648-8)

Return of a King by William Dalrymple

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

Return of a King The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
Written by William Dalrymple

Hardcover, 560 pages | Knopf | History - Military - Afghan War (2001-); History - Middle East; History - Great Britain | $30.00 | 978-0-307-95828-0 (0-307-95828-0)

From William Dalrymple—award-winning historian, journalist and travel writer—a masterly retelling of what was perhaps the West’s greatest imperial disaster in the East, and an important parable of neocolonial ambition, folly and hubris that has striking relevance to our own time.

With access to newly discovered primary sources from archives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and India—including a series of previously untranslated Afghan epic poems and biographies—the author gives us the most immediate and comprehensive account yet of the spectacular first battle for Afghanistan: the British invasion of the remote kingdom in 1839. Led by lancers in scarlet cloaks and plumed helmets, and facing little resistance, nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the mountain passes from India into Afghanistan in order to reestablish Shah Shuja ul-Mulk on the throne, and as their puppet. But after little more than two years, the Afghans rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into rebellion. This First Anglo-Afghan War ended with an entire army of what was then the most powerful military nation in the world ambushed and destroyed in snowbound mountain passes by simply equipped Afghan tribesmen. Only one British man made it through.

But Dalrymple takes us beyond the bare outline of this infamous battle, and with penetrating, balanced insight illuminates the uncanny similarities between the West’s first disastrous entanglement with Afghanistan and the situation today. He delineates the straightforward facts: Shah Shuja and President Hamid Karzai share the same tribal heritage; the Shah’s principal opponents were the Ghilzai tribe, who today make up the bulk of the Taliban’s foot soldiers; the same cities garrisoned by the British are today garrisoned by foreign troops, attacked from the same rings of hills and high passes from which the British faced attack. Dalryrmple also makes clear the byzantine complexity of Afghanistan’s age-old tribal rivalries, the stranglehold they have on the politics of the nation and the ways in which they ensnared both the British in the nineteenth century and NATO forces in the twenty-first.

Informed by the author’s decades-long firsthand knowledge of Afghanistan, and superbly shaped by his hallmark gifts as a narrative historian and his singular eye for the evocation of place and culture, The Return of a King is both the definitive analysis of the First Anglo-Afghan War and a work of stunning topicality.

Return of a King by William Dalrymple

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

Return of a King The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
Written by William Dalrymple

eBook, 560 pages | Knopf | History - Military - Afghan War (2001-); History - Middle East; History - Great Britain | $15.99 | 978-0-307-95829-7 (0-307-95829-9)

From the Hardcover edition.

Random House New Releases - History - Middle East

Freud And The Non-European by Jacqueline Rose

Freud And The Non-European Written by Edward Said Afterword by Jacqueline Rose Introduction by Christopher Bollas

Freud And The Non-European by Jacqueline Rose

Freud And The Non-European Written by Edward Said Afterword by Jacqueline Rose Introduction by Christopher Bollas

Secrets of the Knights Templar by Susie Hodge

Secrets of the Knights Templar A Chronicle 1129-1312Written by Susie Hodge

Secrets of the Knights Templar by Susie Hodge

Secrets of the Knights Templar A Chronicle 1129-1312Written by Susie Hodge

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of IsraelWritten by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of IsraelWritten by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of IsraelWritten by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of IsraelWritten by Ari Shavit

The Faithful Scribe by Shahan Mufti

The Faithful Scribe A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family, and WarWritten by Shahan Mufti

The Faithful Scribe by Shahan Mufti

The Faithful Scribe A Story of Islam, Pakitan, Family, and WarWritten by Shahan Mufti

Manzikert 1071 by Christa Hook

Manzikert 1071 The breaking of ByzantiumWritten by David Nicolle Illustrated by Christa Hook

Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson

Lawrence in Arabia War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle EastWritten by Scott Anderson

Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson

Lawrence in Arabia War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle EastWritten by Scott Anderson

On Saudi Arabia by Karen Elliott House

On Saudi Arabia Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines--and FutureWritten by Karen Elliott House

The Dispensable Nation by Stephen Hoye

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in RetreatWritten by Vali Nasr Read by Stephen Hoye

The Dispensable Nation by Stephen Hoye

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in RetreatWritten by Vali Nasr Read by Stephen Hoye

The Dispensable Nation by Vali Nasr

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in RetreatWritten by Vali Nasr

The Dispensable Nation by Vali Nasr

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in RetreatWritten by Vali Nasr

Return of a King by William Dalrymple

Return of a King The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42Written by William Dalrymple

Return of a King by William Dalrymple

Return of a King The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42Written by William Dalrymple

Freud And The Non-European
Written by Edward Said
Afterword by Jacqueline Rose
Introduction by Christopher Bollas

Freud And The Non-European
Written by Edward Said
Afterword by Jacqueline Rose
Introduction by Christopher Bollas

Secrets of the Knights Templar A Chronicle 1129-1312
Written by Susie Hodge

Secrets of the Knights Templar A Chronicle 1129-1312
Written by Susie Hodge

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

My Promised Land The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Written by Ari Shavit

The Faithful Scribe A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family, and War
Written by Shahan Mufti

The Faithful Scribe A Story of Islam, Pakitan, Family, and War
Written by Shahan Mufti

Manzikert 1071 The breaking of Byzantium
Written by David Nicolle
Illustrated by Christa Hook

Lawrence in Arabia War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Written by Scott Anderson

Lawrence in Arabia War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Written by Scott Anderson

On Saudi Arabia Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines--and Future
Written by Karen Elliott House

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr
Read by Stephen Hoye

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr
Read by Stephen Hoye

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr

The Dispensable Nation American Foreign Policy in Retreat
Written by Vali Nasr

Return of a King The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
Written by William Dalrymple

Return of a King The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
Written by William Dalrymple