Arriving in the UK to pursue my PhD after a career in Journalism in my native country Lebanon, a few days before September 11, 2001, set me on a journey to put right the way my region and its people are represented in British and international media. The Middle East, the Arab region, Islam, and Muslims became the focal point of coverage for many years that followed. Most of that coverage had been tainted with negative stereotypes that do not speak true to who we are and what we stand for. Achieving fair representation and portrayal of ethnic and religious minorities have become one of my life passions.
The late Fred Halliday addressed in his book the most circulated myths of the Middle East and its people. It is an easy read and it sets straight many of the daily myths that we have picked up from western popular culture (mainly Hollywood) and Anglo-American media representation including news on the culture and religion of the people of the Middle East.
Much ink has been spilled in recent years about the Middle East. At the same time, no other region has been as misunderstood, nor framed in so many cliches and mistakenly held beliefs. In this much-needed and enlightening book, Fred Halliday debunks one hundred of the most commonly misconstrued 'facts' concerning the Middle East - in the political, cultural, social, and historical spheres. In a straightforward and simple way that illuminates the issues without compromising their underlying complexities he gets to the core of each matter. The Israel-Palestine crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S.-led Gulf invasions, the Afghan-Soviet conflict, and…
I’m a clairaudient medium and I’ve been a professional tarot card reader for 23 years. Delving into past lives is not only something I’m fascinated with but something I do for my spiritual business, as well. The most important part for my clients is not only knowing about their past lives but understanding how the struggles and lessons learned in those lives are applicable to their present life on this planet. History repeats itself is not just a cliche; I’ve always known how important it is to process and release these karmic teachings.
This is the very first book that I ever picked up regarding past lives back when I was 18 years old and wandering through a bookshop. It presents compelling evidence on the continuation of our souls through the accounts of children who vividly recall their past lives.
Reading their stories, I was filled with awe and a sense of wonder about the vastness of our existence beyond this lifetime. The book challenged my worldview, inviting me to question and explore the concept of reincarnation from a scientific perspective, and how this awareness could bring about healing and transformation in my present life.
For nearly seven decades psychiatrist Dr. Ian Stevenson has been travelling the world, tracking reports of children who claim to have lived before. Spontaneously they will recall vivid details about complete strangers who died before they were born, people they say they once were. And when the memories are checked against the facts of real lives, they match to an astonishing degree. It took journalist Tom Shroder years to persuade Dr. Stevenson to allow him to accompany him on his field research, the first ever to have that privilege. From the hills of Beirut, Lebanon to the slums of northern…
My name is Mayssoun Sukarieh. I teach in London( King’s College) and I live in many places, physically at different times of the year, and mentally all the time. This made me fascinated on how ideas translate in different places according to contexts, and what people do with ideas they hear, create, or adopt. I am passionate about the study of power, whether studying elites- but in relation to their effects on other classes, or power of ideas and thoughts specifically ones that are connected to capitalism as an ideology.
This book is similar to mine but instead of focusing on the spread and dissemination of capitalism, it focuses on the dissemination and adaptation of radical, socialist, and anarchist ideas in the Eastern Mediterranean region during the nineteenth century, and argues that the cities of Alexandria, Cairo, and Beirut played a major role in this process.
In particular, dense social and intellectual networks that linked key segments of the population in these cities together were pivotal in facilitating both the spread of these ideas and the ways in which they were reworked, reinterpreted, and adapted to local and regional contexts.
Though focusing on a different time period and on the spread of counter-hegemonic rather than hegemonic ideas, Khoury’s work is similar to the argument that I have been developing in this book, in the sense that it traces the regional networks and spaces of individuals and organizations who played a…
In this groundbreaking book, Ilham Khuri-Makdisi establishes the existence of a special radical trajectory spanning four continents and linking Beirut, Cairo, and Alexandria between 1860 and 1914. She shows that socialist and anarchist ideas were regularly discussed, disseminated, and reworked among intellectuals, workers, dramatists, Egyptians, Ottoman Syrians, ethnic Italians, Greeks, and many others in these cities. In situating the Middle East within the context of world history, Khuri-Makdisi challenges nationalist and elite narratives of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern history as well as Eurocentric ideas about global radical movements. The book demonstrates that these radical trajectories played a fundamental role in…
I am a thriller writer who was born and grew up in Kuwait during a period when the country was threatened with invasion by Iraq. My father was the Preventative Health Officer for the Kuwait Oil Company. At the end of 1960 Ian Fleming visited the country and they became close friends. At the time Britain depended on inside information to prepare for military Operation Vantage. The experiences I had of that time and of that relationship, even as a child, were crying out to be written about. Despite the Middle East being a hotspot for espionage during that period of the Cold War, there’s been relatively little written about it.
This book is the inside story of the gossip which came out of the St. George Hotel, a famous Beirut meeting place during the 1950s for journalists and travelers and a regular hot spot for spies. It reads like a Bond thriller and no doubt Ian Fleming downed several of his pink gins there before he travelled on to Kuwait. Many Western plots took shape in its bar, including the plan to restore the monarchy in Baghdad, an attempt to overthrow King Hussein, and the assassination of a Syrian president. The value to me of this book is its historical relevance. Destroyed in the civil war that raged through Lebanon, this account of the famous bar somehow defies the bombs and keeps it alive.
An insider's account of true espionage, intrigue and conspiracy in the post-war Middle East, which reads like a Bond-esque thriller. Spies, journalists, politicians, tycoons, would-be assassins and oil sheiks mingle in the luxurious St George Hotel bar, the cosmopolitan centre of Beirut. From the 1950's through to its destruction in 1975 due to civil war, the plots, deals, and stories that came out of this famous hotel and its beachside bar make fascinating reading, featuring famous names as Kim Philby, Miles Copeland, Wilbur Crane and James Russell Barracks. Many incidents which went on to shape Middle Eastern history are related…
I am a Lebanese-born, New York-based Caterer, Chef, and Owner of Edy’s Grocer in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Born and raised in Lebanon, I have a passion for Middle Eastern food, culture, and, cookbooks. Growing up with a grandmother who never wrote one recipe down, it's been a journey to nail each recipe she used to make. When I moved to America, it was so hard to find good Middle Eastern cookbooks. Fast forward to 2024, a plethora of talented chefs have written books to help transport me back to Lebanon, sharing our Middle Eastern cultures, flavors, and heritage in such a beautiful way. I am proud of these cookbooks representing the Middle East.
Rose from Washington DC’s Maydan also takes a deep dive into her cookbook, from growing up in Lebanon and the recipes she grew up with to opening the restaurant and watching it grow.
It’s cool to see that whole journey represented in a cookbook and Lebanese food on display in another beautiful cookbook.
The debut cookbook from Rose Previte, creator of the Michelin-starred restaurant Maydan and beloved Compass Rose, explores bold flavors, accessible, shareable recipes, and overlapping foodways, spanning from the Middle East to North AfricaRose Previte introduces readers to the eclectic cultures of the region spanning North Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East through food, offering a nuanced, informed, and yet entirely warm and personal way in. Before opening her beloved Washington, DC, restaurants Maydan and Compass Rose, Previte traveled old spice trade routes to learn from home cooks, and it became apparent how adjacent cooking traditions informed and folded back…
I am passionate about the power of food and cooking, and how it can bring people together, allow us to explore our creativity, and nourish both body and soul. I’ve spent over 20 years creating recipes for home cooks, published in magazines, and inspiring confidence in the kitchen. Now I share my best advice, takes on traditional favorites, and the beauty of food and entertaining in cookbooks and on TaraTeaspoon.com. I encourage cooks to find cookbooks they inspire, with tested recipes, helpful tips, and beautiful pictures to entice all the senses. Trying new recipes from my cookbook list will bring joy to your cooking and entertaining.
The fact that the recipes in this book are authentic Mediterranean home cooking doesn’t mean they don’t stand up to almost any dinner party. Whether you’re putting on a sit-down dinner or a festive buffet, the sides, mains, and snacks from this cookbook are fresh and flavorful enough to hold their own. I add a salad, small plate recipe, side dish, or skewer from this book to many dinner parties. The recipes mix well with menu items from other flavor profiles. I love that there is a generous amount of bread recipes that are simple and approachable. They are perfect additions to any meal where you want your guests to feel at home and comfortable.
Since she was six years old, Julie Ann Sageer (nicknamed Julie Taboulie by her close-knit family) has had a passion for cooking the meals of her Lebanese heritage. Just like in her Emmy- nominated cooking show Cooking with Julie Taboulie, each of her recipes comes with hands-on instructions, tips, and tricks for making homemade Middle Eastern dishes using heaps of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Here you'll find dishes that range from classics like falafel, shawarma, and (of course) taboulie, to warming Bazilla - a stew of tomato, green pea, and lamb - to honey and rosewater-infused desserts. In these 125 recipes,…
Omar Sakr is a poet. Son of Sin is his first novel and his prose reflects his poetic style.
You can see this in extracts such as:
“…the staggered and warped back and forth of people who don’t know how to talk to each other without trying to win, to force the other to concede.”
And this is what appealed to me about this work. It’s less of a narrative and more of a meditation on identity. Yes, there are story elements, but the words make you muse on what it means to ‘fit in’.
One message I took away is the idea that our identity is linked to memory, and memory fades. And it’s reflections like this that makes this novel stay with you long after the final page.
Poet Omar Sakr’s debut novel is a fierce and fantastic force that illuminates the bonds that bind families together as well as what can break them.
An estranged father. An abused and abusive mother. An army of relatives. A tapestry of violence, woven across generations and geographies, from Turkey to Lebanon to Western Sydney. This is the legacy left to Jamal Smith, a young queer Muslim trying to escape a past in which memory and rumour trace ugly shapes in the dark. When every thread in life constricts instead of connects, how do you find a way to breathe? Torn…
My father is Palestinian, my mother English. I am a typical diaspora Palestinian, having moved many times. I’m intrigued by what this highly politicized nationality–being Palestinian–does to peoples’ emotions, their desire to be accepted and thrive, their sense of community, their ability to deal with the challenges and joys of political engagement as well as the difficulties of not being political if they choose not to be. Being Palestinian is an extreme case of what humans can be forced to endure as political and social animals. Living under military occupation gives rise to huge sacrifices and pure heroism in the most quotidian way. Acts that deserve recognition.
Take the bleakest setting you can imagine–such as a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon –quadruple the population, encircle it, populate it with militias, then turn yourself into an absurdist or a surrealist to describe it. This seems to be the task that Maarouf has set himself with this collection of short stories, which are as funny and surprising as they are somber and sobering.
He is a poet and a comedian. The poet in him stops, dwells, absorbs, and is porous to the unfolding loss around him before the comedian kicks in with his will to survive. A quirky, uncanny collection.
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2019
A brilliant collection of fictions in the vein of Roald Dahl, Etgar Keret and Amy Hempel. These are stories of what the world looks like from a child's pure but sometimes vengeful or muddled perspective. These are stories of life in a war zone, life peppered by surreal mistakes, tragic accidents and painful encounters. These are stories of fantasist matadors, lost limbs and perplexed voyeurs. This is a collection about sex, death and the all-important skill of making life into a joke. These are unexpected stories by a very fresh voice. These…
Basically, it’s a story about Syrian refugees who have made it to the Greek island of Lesbos.
I’ve been going to the same island – and indeed, village – for the last 20 years, and in 2015-2017 I personally worked extensively with the refugees. Alameddine’s portrayal of the place, people, and situation is perfect. It’s the first novel I read with a trans protagonist, in this case a female Lebanese doctor who comes for a week to help the refugees.
Structurally, the book is unique. Through short chapters (sometimes only a couple of pages long so they are more like scenes,) the trans doctor tells her story of grappling with her sexual identity in a very homophobic cultural environment, woven into a story of one Syrian family in desperate straits, and frequently told to someone only referred to as “you” who turns out to the author himself. Beautifully written and…
'A beautiful, well paced, enraging, funny and heartbreaking book' the Guardian
'Spectacular . . . Alameddine's irreverent prose evokes the old master storytellers from my own Middle Eastern home . . . deeply poignant' New York Times
Mina Simpson, a Lebanese doctor, arrives at the infamous Moria refugee camp on Lesbos, Greece, after being urgently summoned for help by her friend who runs an NGO there. Alienated from her family except for her beloved brother, Mina has avoided being so close to her homeland for decades. But with a week off work…
I’m a professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where I teach and write about topics ranging from feminism to World War. I became interested in the history of the Armenian Genocide because my grandmother was a survivor. Other books I’ve written include: Women Making News: Gender and Journalism in Modern Britain; Smyrna’s Ashes: Humanitarianism, Genocide and the Birth of the Middle East and The British Empire and the Armenian Genocide.
I appreciated how Tanielian so sensitively and expertly
described the human tragedy of World War I in the Middle East.
She demonstrates
how the Ottoman homefront was affected by wartime politics, disease, and
ecological disaster. When you read this book, you will see the importance of the
civilian side of living through a global conflict. It really was a lived
experience that continues in the memory of those living in the region.
With the exception of a few targeted aerial bombardments of the city's port, Beirut and Mount Lebanon did not see direct combat in World War I. Yet civilian casualties in this part of the Ottoman Empire reached shocking heights, possibly numbering half a million people. No war, in its usual understanding, took place there, but Lebanon was incontestably war-stricken. As a food crisis escalated into famine, it was the bloodless incursion of starvation and the silent assault of fatal disease that defined everyday life.
The Charity of War tells how the Ottoman home front grappled with total war and how…
