Through extravagant processions led by palace women, the Mamluk state projected a message of power and prestige at home and abroad, turning the Hajj obligation into a soft-power tool
[caption id="attachment_55228931" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady"][/caption]
No one walks quite like Margaret Thatcher. She scurries with her knees bent, the…
[caption id="attachment_55228839" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Muslim women in Cairo walk the streets"][/caption]
Reporters are forever on the hunt for “real people” in their quest to…
[caption id="attachment_55228761" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Eve Arnold. 1912 - 2012"][/caption]
The art world mourns an exceptional loss today as it is announced that world-renowned…
The Road to Tahrir Square: Egypt and the United States from the Rise of Nasser to the Fall of Mubarak
Lloyd C. Gardner
The New Press 2011
The Road to Tahrir Square offers a condensed account of…
[caption id="attachment_552284" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Osman Yousefzada (Alex Beattie)"][/caption]
“I had quite a conservative upbringing, so I just went wild, before deciding I’d…
[caption id="attachment_55228262" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Dubai hosts its annual film festival"][/caption]
Launched in 2004, the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has grown…
The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society under Asad and the Baath Party.
Nokalaos van Dam
I.B. Taurus 2011
This book, now in its fourth volume, is a thorough and highly informative…
[caption id="attachment_55227975" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Emerging Arab Voices edited by Peter Clarke"][/caption]
Emerging Arab Voices offers highly original writing…
The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
Daniel Yergin
Allen Lane, 2011
The Quest by Daniel Yergin is a magisterial account of the complex evolution of energy…
[caption id="attachment_55227603" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Monir with her work, Tehran 1970s (Photos courtesy of The Third Line)"][/caption]
Against the backdrop of the Second World…
As support for Israel weakens across the US political spectrum, once-taboo questions about military aid, lobbying influence, and US backing are moving into the mainstream
Algeria is one of Africa's largest producers of hydrocarbons, and its proximity to customers in Europe makes it of growing interest as importers fret over a prolonged supply crisis from countries
Through extravagant processions led by palace women, the Mamluk state projected a message of power and prestige at home and abroad, turning the Hajj obligation into a soft-power tool