Welcome to our book review site go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The Chinese Brush Painting Bible
Chinese brush painting uses minimal strokes to describe the essence of a subject and capture its rhythm and grace. This beautiful book contains 200 exquisite motifs to re-create, from flowers and fruits to wildlife and scenery. This book starts with a brief history of Chinese painting styles, followed by a chapter on materials, tools, and basic techniques. The heart of the book is a directory of 200 motifs, starting with the "Four Gentlemen"â?¬â? the bamboo, orchid, plum, blossom and crysanthemum. Chinese painting courses usually begin with the Four Gentlemen because the wide range of strokes required to paint each of them provides a catalog of strokes that can then be used to paint any o...
Chinese Brush Painting
An introduction to Chinese brush painting.
The Struggle for Mastery in the Fertile Crescent
In this book, Fouad Ajami analyzes the struggle for influence along the Fertile Crescent—the stretch of land that runs from Iran's border with Iraq to the Mediterranean—among three of the regional powers who have stepped into the vacuum left by the West: Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. He explains that, of the three powers competing for influence, Saudi Arabia and Iran are in it for the long haul. Each of those powers has a sense of mission and constituencies that enable them to stick it out and pay the price for a sphere of influence. Each country's prospects for supremacy is detailed and Ajami asserts that Iran must ultimately be reckoned to be the strongest.
Islamism and the Future of the Christians of the Middle East
This is a sobering account of the ordeal of Christian Arabs of the Middle East in this era of Islamist radicalism. Although those Christians are leaving their homelands in record numbers, the author laments, the powers of the West have shown little interest in their fate.
Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah
In a detailed sequel to Marius Deeb's authoritative Syria's Terrorist War on Lebanon and the Peace Process, he demonstrates how the coalition of Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah has used assassination, terrorism, and force against the peaceful and liberal democratic Cedar Revolution, trying to undermine its success in pushing the Syrian Army out of Lebanon and in winning the parliamentary elections of 2005 and 2009.
The Syrian Rebellion
Fouad Ajami offers a detailed historical perspective on the current rebellion in Syria. Focusing on the similarities and differences in skills between former dictator Hafez al-Assad and his successor son, Bashar, Ajami explains how an irresistible force clashed with an immovable object: the regime versus people who conquered fear to challenge a despot of unspeakable cruelty.
The End of Modern History in the Middle East
Bernard Lewis looks at the new era in the Middle East. With the departure of imperial powers, the region must now, on its own, resolve the political, economic, cultural, and societal problems that prevent it from accomplishing the next stage in the advance of civilization. There is enough in the traditional culture of Islam on the one hand and the modern experience of the Muslim peoples on the other, he explains, to provide the basis for an advance toward freedom in the true sense of that word.
In Retreat
Explaining how the U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East could have long-term consequences as other forces come forward to fill the gap, Russell A. Berman details how the retreat began and how the reduction of the U.S. commitment has, in turn, set off a wave of repercussions. He analyzes what motivates such a retreat, how much it is a choice of the Obama administration, and how much it is rooted in U.S. cultural leanings that could outlast the administration. In Retreat warns not only about changing evaluations about this specific corner of the globe but also about predispositions to retreat from politics altogether, from the burden of leadership, and from the advocacy for democracy.
The Wave
Middle East expert Reuel Marc Gerecht argues that the Middle East may actually be at the beginning of a momentous democratic wave whose convulsions could become the region's defining theme during Obama's presidency. He describes the powerful Middle Eastern democratic movements coming from both the left and right and argues that America must reassess democracy's supposed lack of a future in the region.
Jihad in the Arabian Sea
Camille Pecastaing looks at the twenty-first-century challenges facing the region around the Bab el Mandeb-the tiny strait that separates the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean-from civil war, piracy, radical Islamism, terrorism and the real risk of environmental and economic failure on both sides of the strait. The author takes us with him into Somalia and Yemen, Eritrea and Djibouti, with excursions into Ethiopia and the Sudan, as he reveals how the economic and environmental crisis currently in gestation could lead to more social dislocation and violence in this strategically important region.
