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"Despite the recent surge of interest in geographical concepts and ideas, most social, cultural, and political studies are riddled with unexamined spatial assumptions. The Myth of Continents initiates a much-needed consideration of this state of affairs. Through a wide-ranging analysis of such metageographical constructs as East, West, Europe, and Asia, Lewis and Wigen provide provocative insights into the nature and significance of the ways we usually divide up the world. Moreover, they do so in an engaging and highly readable style. Readers of The Myth of Continents will never again see the world regions in quite the same way."--Alexander B. Murphy, author of The Regional Dynamics of Langu...
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Flanagan deals with methodological issues in his discussion of not just Davidic studies but also the whole area of what he terms 'social world studies' - his label for social scientific analyses of ancient Israel. Also addressed in this book are the traditions of biblical history as well as archeological and literary information and how it pertains to David.
Professor Lee provides a social and cultural history of the Cyreans, the mercenaries of Xenophon's Anabasis. While they have often been portrayed as a single abstract political community, this book reveals that life in the army was mostly shaped by a set of smaller social communities: the formal unit organisation of the lochos ('company'), and the informal comradeship of the suskenia ('mess group'). It includes full treatment of the environmental conditions of the march, ethnic and socio-economic relations amongst the soldiers, equipment and transport, marching and camp behaviour, eating and drinking, sanitation and medical care, and many other topics. It also accords detailed attention to the non-combatants accompanying the soldiers. It uses ancient literary and archaeological evidence, ancient and modern comparative material, and perspectives from military sociology and modern war studies. This book is essential reading for anyone working on ancient Greek warfare or on Xenophon's Anabasis.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the greatest threats to world peace today. Yet for all the importance and passion of this conflict very little is actually known about the story behind the headlines. Behind each confrontation and each act of terrorism is a long and deep story. This primer on the Arab-Israeli conflict, first published in 1989, examines the real stories behind the conflict and separates fact from fable. By carefully documenting, each claim and counter-claim, many widely-held beliefs are unmasked as myths.
Tales of deforestation and desertification in North Africa have been told from the Roman period to the present. Such stories of environmental decline in the Maghreb are still recounted by experts and are widely accepted without question today. International organizations such as the United Nations frequently invoke these inaccurate stories to justify environmental conservation and development projects in the arid and semiarid lands in North Africa and around the Mediterranean basin. Recent research in arid lands ecology and new paleoecological evidence, however, do not support many claims of deforestation, overgrazing, and desertification in this region. Diana K. Davis’s pioneering analysi...
The universe may well have begun with an immense act of fragmentation, "the big bang," that sent particles flying in all directions to perform spectacular acts of creation and destruction. The fragment, volatile and unpredictable, is not simply the static part of a once-whole thing but itself something in motion. Drawing upon art history, archaeology, literature, numismatics, philosophy, and film, this book explores the significance of the fragment and addresses the powerful drives that have impelled it into the cultural mainstream. Book jacket.
While the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk realm in 1516-17 doubtlessly changed the balance of political power in Egypt and Greater Syria, the changes must be seen as a wide-ranging transition process. The present collection of essays provides several case studies on the changing situation during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and explains how the reconfiguration of political power affected both Egypt and Greater Syria. With reference to the first volume (2017), this second volume continues the debate on key issues of the transition period with contributions by scholars from both Mamluk and Ottoman studies. By combining these perspectives, the authors provide a more comprehensive and nuanced picture of the process of transformation from Mamluk to Ottoman rule.
This exciting new book for students of Middle Eastern politics provides a comprehensive introduction to the complexities of the region, its politics and people. Combining a thematic framework for examining patterns of politics with individual chapters dedicated to specific countries, the book explores current issues within an historical context. Presenting information in an accessible and inclusive format, the book offers: coverage of the historical influence of colonialism and major world powers on the shaping of the modern Middle East a detailed examination of the legacy of Islam analysis of the political and social aspects of Middle Eastern life: alienation between state and society, pove...
This book offers diverse debates on the possible manifestations and meanings of the term "Middle East."