Caesarea Philippi: Banias, The Lost City of Pan

Caesarea Philippi: Banias, The Lost City of Pan
John Wilson (Author)

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Syria

Banias is a city that has seen almost every age of history pass through it: from Canaanite times, via the Romans and the Crusades, to its eventual destruction in the 1967 Six Days War. John Francis Wilson brings us the first continuous history of this fascinating city. Herod, Vespasian, Saladin and even Mark Twain have all left their mark on the city of Pan, whose story can now be brought to the general reader for the first time. John Francis Wilson has had complete access to the site and has drawn upon a wealth of sources in order to provide the first comprehensive history of this remarkable city. Banias's important role in political, military and religious developments has long been deserving of a continuous narrative that takes in the full spectrum of the city's history. With the publication of this book, Banias' story can be read by both the scholar and the general reader alike.

• Rank: #141493 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-15
• Released on: 2004-09-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.21" h x 1.06" w x 6.14" l, 1.62 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

The Syria Dilemma (Boston Review Books)

The Syria Dilemma (Boston Review Books)
Nader Hashemi (Editor), Danny Postel (Editor)

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Syria

The current conflict in Syria has killed more than 80,000 people and displaced four million, yet most observers predict that the worst is still to come. And for two years, the international community has failed to take action. World leaders have repeatedly resolved not to let atrocities happen in plain view, but the legacy of the bloody and costly intervention in Iraq has left policymakers with little appetite for more military operations. So we find ourselves in the grip of a double burden: the urge to stop the bleeding in Syria, and the fear that attempting to do so would be Iraq redux.

What should be done about the apparently intractable Syrian conflict? This book focuses on the ethical and political dilemmas at the heart of the debate about Syria and the possibility of humanitarian intervention in today's world. The contributors--Syria experts, international relations theorists, human rights activists, and scholars of humanitarian intervention--don't always agree, but together they represent the best political thinking on the issue. The Syria Dilemma includes original pieces from Michael Ignatieff, Mary Kaldor, Radwan Ziadeh, Thomas Pierret, Afra Jalabi, and others. Contributors:Asli Bâli, Richard Falk, Tom Farer, Charles Glass, Shadi Hamid, Nader Hashemi, Christopher Hill, Michael Ignatieff, Afra Jalabi, Rafif Jouejati, Mary Kaldor, Marc Lynch, Vali Nasr, Thomas Pierret, Danny Postel, Aziz Rana, Christoph Reuter, Kenneth Roth, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Fareed Zakaria, Radwan Ziadeh, Stephen Zunes

• Rank: #416689 in Books
• Published on: 2013-09-us.html
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Asmahan's Secrets : Woman, War, and Song (Middle East Monograph Series, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin)

Asmahan's Secrets : Woman, War, and Song (Middle East Monograph Series, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin)
Sherifa Zuhur (Author)
(5)

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Syria

The great Arab singer Asmahan was the toast of Cairo song and cinema in the late 1930s and early 1940s, as World War II approached. She remained a figure of glamour and intrigue throughout her life and lives on today in legend as one of the shaping forces in the development of Egyptian popular culture. In this biography, author Sherifa Zuhur does a thorough study of the music and film of Asmahan and her historical setting.

A Druze princess actually named Amal al-Atrash, Asmahan came from an important clan in the mountains of Syria but broke free from her traditional family background, left her husband, and became a public performer, a role frowned upon for women of the time.

This unique biography of the controversial Asmahan focuses on her public as well as her private life. She was a much sought-after guest in the homes of Egypt's rich and famous, but she was also rumored to be an agent for the Allied forces during World War II.

Through the story of Asmahan, the reader glimpses not only aspects of the cultural and political history of Egypt and Syria between the two world wars, but also the change in attitude in the Arab world toward women as public performers on stage. Life in wartime Cairo comes alive in this illustrated account of one of the great singers of the Arab world, a woman who played an important role in history.

• Rank: #544724 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.27" h x 5.24" w x .71" l, .85 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Euphrates River Valley Settlement: The Carchemish Sector in the Third Millennium Bc (Levant Supplementary Volume)

Euphrates River Valley Settlement: The Carchemish Sector in the Third Millennium Bc (Levant Supplementary Volume)
Edgar Peltenburg (Editor)

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Syria

Pre-state ceremonial monuments, rich mortuary arrangements, forts, walled settlements and temples: all these occur in a narrow stretch of the Euphrates River valley prior to the rise of Carchemish, one of the major capital cities of the Ancient Near East. This well-illustrated book examines recently discovered evidence from the hinterlands of archaeologically inaccessible Carchemish in its regional context. Amongst the 18 contributors Tony Wilkinson characterizes the neighbouring regions of Carchemish, Guy Bunnens elaborates on a site hierarchy within the valley and Gioacchino Falsone appraises unpublished records from excavations at Carchemish itself. These material culture studies are important for those interested in the emergence of complex societies that do not conform to the Mesopotamian paradigm.

• Rank: #165630 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.27" h x .98" w x 11.69" l, 3.09 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Arab Migs: Mikoyan i Gurevich MiG-15 and MiG-17 in Service With Air Forces of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and Syria

Arab Migs: Mikoyan i Gurevich MiG-15 and MiG-17 in Service With Air Forces of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and Syria
Tom Cooper (Author), David Nicolle (Author)

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Syria

• Rank: #238697 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 254 pages

Figurines, Slaves and Soldiers: The Iron Age Figurines from the Euphrates Valley, North Syria

Figurines, Slaves and Soldiers: The Iron Age Figurines from the Euphrates Valley, North Syria
Dr Victoria Clayton (Author)

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Syria

2600 years ago Kar Shalmaneser was a bustling commercial city on the Euphrates River. A glorious royal residence, reminiscent of the magnificence of the Assur palaces was built on the remains of thousands of years of prior occupation; King Shalmaneser III’s home away from home when visiting the outlying provinces of his great empire. In the middle city, merchants created small-scale enterprises, selling their products as far away as the capital Assur. One such businessman , possibly named Hanni, may have had such a workshop, where archaeological excavations have recovered a number of baked clay figurines, human and animal… • Who made them? • What purpose did they serve? • How can archaeologists think about figurines? • Why are figurines so fascinating? This book challenges traditional ways of thinking about figurines. Based on her doctoral research, Victoria Clayton offers a thought-provoking approach to the interpretation of these never-before published Iron Age figurines from the site of Kar Shalmaneser (present day Tell Ahmar) which are part of a tradition of Upper Euphrates figurine making.

• Rank: #410768 in Books
• Published on: 2013-05-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

Revolt in Syria: Eye-witness to the Uprising

Revolt in Syria: Eye-witness to the Uprising
Stephen Starr (Author)

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Syria

In January 2011 President Bashar al-Assad told the Wall Street Journal that Syria was "stable" and immune from revolt. In the months that followed, and as regimes fell in Egypt and Tunisia, thousands of Syrians took to the streets calling for freedom, with many dying at the hands of the regime. In Revolt in Syria: Eye-Witness to the Uprising, Stephen Starr delves deep into the lives of Syrians whose destiny has been shaped by the state for almost fifty years. In conversations with people from all strata of Syrian society, Starr draws together and makes sense of perspectives illustrating why Syria, with its numerous sects and religions, was so prone to violence and civil strife. Through his unique access to a country largely cut off from the international media during the unrest, Starr delivers compelling first hand testimony from both those who suffered and benefited most at the hands of the regime. Revolt details why many Syrians wanted Assad's government to stay as the threat of civil war loomed large, the long-standing gap between the state apparatus and its people and why the country's youth stood up decisively for freedom. Starr also sets out the positions adhered to by the country's minorities and explains why many Syrians believe that enforced regime change might precipitate a region-wide conflict.

• Rank: #212081 in Books
• Published on: 2012-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim conquest of Syria (Campaign)

Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim conquest of Syria (Campaign)
David Nicolle (Author)
(7)

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Syria

Osprey's Campaign title for one of the battles in which Muslims attempted to overtake Syria. In 636 AD, after protracted skirmishing and minor engagements the Arab and Byzantine armies faced each other on the banks of the Yarmuk river. The Byzantines were initially successful, driving back the Arab right wing. Finally, though, the Arab counter-attacks broke the Byzantine lines and the subsequent pursuit became a rout. The awful fate of the fleeing Byzantine soldiers was remembered for several generations until it was recorded in early Islamic histories. David Nicolle not only looks at the battle itself but also the whole decisive Arab campaign - from the Muslim invasion of 633/4 to the fall of Byzantine Syria.

• Rank: #105249 in Books
• Published on: 1994-05-26
• Released on: 1994-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

The Desert and the Sown: The Syrian Adventures of the Female Lawrence of Arabia

The Desert and the Sown: The Syrian Adventures of the Female Lawrence of Arabia
Gertrude Bell (Author), Rosemary O'Brien (Introduction)
(8)

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Syria

A seeming contradiction, Gertrude Bell was both a proper Victorian and an intrepid explorer of the Arabian wilderness. She was a close friend of T. E. Lawrence, and played an important role in creating the modern map of the Middle East after World War I. The Desert and the Sown is a chronicle, illustrated by over 160 photos, of Bell's 1905 journey from Jericho to Antioch, a land of warring tribes under Turkish control.

• Rank: #49827 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.35" h x 5.43" w x .83" l, .96 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

The Maronites: The Origins of an Antiochene Church: A Historical and Geographical Study of the Fifth to Seventh Centuries (Cistercian Studies)

The Maronites: The Origins of an Antiochene Church: A Historical and Geographical Study of the Fifth to Seventh Centuries (Cistercian Studies)
Paul Naaman (Author)

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Syria

The Maronite Church is one of twenty-two Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Pope of Rome. Her patriarch is in Lebanon. Forty-three bishops and approximately five million faithful make up her presence throughout the world. The story of Maron, a fifth-century hermit-priest, and the community gathered around him, later called the Maronites, tells another fascinating story of the monastic and missionary movements of the Church. Maron's story takes place in the context of Syrian monasticism, which was a combination of both solitary and communal life, and is a narrative of Christians of the Middle East as they navigated the rough seas of political divisions and ecclesiastical controversies from the fourth to the ninth centuries. Abbot Paul Naaman wisely places the study of the origins of the Maronite Church squarely in the midst of the history of the Church. His book offers plausible insights into her formation and early development, grounding the Maronite Church in her Catholic, Antiochian, Syriac, and monastic roots.

• Rank: #694249 in Books
• Published on: 2011-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.39" h x .59" w x 5.39" l, .57 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 199 pages

A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria (Indiana Series in Middle East Studies)

A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria (Indiana Series in Middle East Studies)
Christa Salamandra (Author)
(1)

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Syria

"[F]illed with rare encounters with Syria’s oldest, most elite families. Critics of anthropology’s taste for exoticism and marginality will savor this study of upper-class Damascus, a world that is urbane and cosmopolitan, yet in many ways as remote as the settings in which the best ethnography has traditionally been done.... [Written] with a nuanced appreciation of the cultural forms in question and how Damascenes themselves think, talk about, and create them." —Andrew Shryock

In contemporary urban Syria, debates about the representation, preservation, and restoration of the Old City of Damascus have become part of status competition and identity construction among the city’s elite. In theme restaurants and nightclubs that play on images of Syrian tradition, in television programs, nostalgic literature, and visual art, and in the rhetoric of historic preservation groups, the idea of the Old City has become a commodity for the consumption of tourists and, most important, of new and old segments of the Syrian upper class. In this lively ethnographic study, Christa Salamandra argues that in deploying and debating such representations, Syrians dispute the past and criticize the present.

Indiana Series in Middle East Studies—Mark Tessler, general editor

• Rank: #895782 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-10
• Released on: 2004-12-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.21" h x .43" w x 6.14" l, .68 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

• ISBN13: 9780253217226
• Condition: New
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The Monuments of Syria

The Monuments of Syria
Ross Burns (Author)
(6)

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Syria

Syria is home to some of the world's richest historical and archaeological remains--dating from the Bronze Age through Byzantine times to the Ottoman Period. Until now, however, they have been little known and rarely visited. Only a handful of sites are familiar from travel literature: the Roman desert city of Palmyra, the Crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers, and the great Ummayad Mosque of Damascus. This is the definitive historical guide to Syria.

• Rank: #184767 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society (Medieval Mediterranean)

The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society (Medieval Mediterranean)
Michael Winter (Editor), Amalia Levanoni (Editor)

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Syria

This volume consists of 19 studies by leading historians of the Mamluks. Drawing on primary Arabic sources, the studies discuss central political, military, urban, social, administrative, economic, financial and religious aspects of the Mamluk Empire that was established in 1250 by Mamluks (manumitted military slaves, mostly Turks and Circassians). It was a Sunni orthodox state that had a formidable military, a developed and sophisticated economy, a centralized Arab bureaucracy and prestigious religious and educational institutions. There are special articles about Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Safed and Acre. The last part of the volume describes the Mamluk military class that survived in Egypt (although in a transformed form) under the Ottoman suzerainty after the Empire annexed Egypt and Syria in 1517. With contributions by Reuven Aharoni, Reuven Amitai, Frederic Bauden, Jonathan Berkey, Daniel Crecelius, Joseph Drory, Jane Hathaway, Robert Irwin, Donald Little, Nimrod Luz, Carl Petry, Thomas Philipp, Yossef Rapoport, Andre Raymond, Donald S. Richards, Warren Schultz and Hannah Taragan.

• Rank: #185016 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.61" h x 1.38" w x 6.61" l, 2.17 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 450 pages

Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah: The Unholy Alliance and Its War on Lebanon

Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah: The Unholy Alliance and Its War on Lebanon
Marius Deeb (Author)

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Syria

Christians, Islam, and the Crisis of Modernity in Egypt

In Motherland Lost, Samuel Tadros provides a clear understanding of the Copts—the native Egyptian Christians—and their crisis of modernity in conjunction with the overall developments in Egypt as it faced its own struggles with modernity. He argues against the dominating narratives that have up to now shaped our understanding of the Coptic predicament--their eternal persecution, from the Roman and Byzantine emperors to the rule of Islam, and the national unity discourse--asserting rather that it is due to the crisis of modernity.

Linking the Egyptian and Coptic stories, the book argues that the plight of Copts today is inseparable from the crisis of modernity and the answers developed to address that crisis by the Egyptian state and intellectuals, as well as by the Coptic Church and laypeople. The author asserts that the answers developed by Egyptian intellectuals and state modernizers to the challenge modernity poses revolved around the problem of Islam. The Copts, then, although affected, like their fellow Egyptians, by the challenge of modernity, were faced with a separate crisis: a specific challenge to their ancient church and the need for a new orientation and revival to be able to deal with modernity and its discontents. Tadros concludes that the prospects for Copts in Egypt appear bleak and are leading to a massive Coptic exodus from Egypt.

• Rank: #754784 in Books
• Published on: 2013-07-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback

Secret War in the Middle East: The Covert Struggle for Syria, 1949-1961

Secret War in the Middle East: The Covert Struggle for Syria, 1949-1961
Andrew Rathmell (Author)

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Syria

Covert action and terrorism have played major roles in the policies of the Middle East. It is impossible to comprehend the intricacies of regional politics without an understanding of the covert machinations that lie beneath the surface. This work is an in-depth study of Syrian politics and foreign relations between 1949 and 1961.; Topics covered include the role of foreign governments in manipulating Syria's numerous military coups; the covert struggle to remove Adib al-Shishakli, the conflicts in the late 1950s between Syrian politicians and officers, the consolidation of power in Syria by chief Abd al-Hamid Sarraj and his covert battles with Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq from 1957 onwards. Previously unstudied aspects of Syrian covert intervention in the 1958 Lebanese Civil War and of a Syrian-Jordanian "dirty war" are also included. Throughout the book, particular attention is paid to the role of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

• Rank: #587395 in Books
• Published on: 2013-07-30
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Letters from the East: Crusaders, Pilgrims and Settlers in the 12th-13th Centuries (Crusade Texts in Translation)

Letters from the East: Crusaders, Pilgrims and Settlers in the 12th-13th Centuries (Crusade Texts in Translation)
Malcolm Barber (Translator), Keith Bate (Translator)

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Syria

No written source is entirely without literary artifice, but the letters sent from Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine in the high middle ages come closest to recording the real feelings of those who lived in and visited the crusader states. They are not, of course, reflective pieces, but they do convey the immediacy of circumstances which were frequently dramatic and often life-threatening. Those settled in the East faced crises all the time, while crusaders and pilgrims knew they were experiencing defining moments in their lives. There are accounts of all the great events from the triumph of the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 to the disasters of Hattin in 1187 and the loss of Acre in 1291. These had an impact on the lives of all Latin Christians, but at the same time individuals felt impelled to describe both their own personal achievements and disappointments and the wonders and horrors of what they had seen. Moreover, the representatives of the military and monastic orders used letters as a means of maintaining contact with the western houses, providing information about the working of religious orders not found elsewhere. Some of the letters translated here are famous, others hardly known, but all offer unique insight into the minds of those who took part in the crusading movement.

• Rank: #599163 in Books
• Published on: 2013-07-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 206 pages

ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT

ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT
Michael Taylor (Author)

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Syria

A teenage king in 223 BC, Antiochus III inherited an empire in shambles, ravaged by civil strife and eroded by territorial secessions. He proved himself a true heir of Alexander: he defeated rebel armies and embarked on a campaign of conquest and reunification. Although repulsed by Ptolemy IV at the Battle of Raphia, his eastern campaigns reaffirmed Seleucid hegemony as far as modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Returning westward, he defeated Ptolemy V at Panion (200 BC) and succeeded in adding Koile Syria to the Seleucid realm.

At the height of his powers, he challenged growing Roman power, unimpressed by their recent successes against Carthage and Macedon. His expeditionary force was crushed at Thermopylae and evacuated. Refusing to bow before Roman demands, Antiochus energetically mobilized against Roman invasion, but was again decisively defeated at the epic battle of Magnesia. Despite the loss of territory and prestige enshrined in the subsequent Peace of Apamea, Antiochus III left the Seleucid Empire in far better condition than he found it. Although sometimes presented as a failure against the unstoppable might of Rome, Antiochus III must rank as one of the most energetic and effective rulers of the Ancient world.

In addition to discussing the career of Antiochus III, Michael Taylor examines Seleucid military organization and royal administration.

• Rank: #821585 in Books
• Published on: 2013-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience (M.E.R.I. Special Studies)

Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience (M.E.R.I. Special Studies)
Professor Alixa Naff PhD (Author)
(2)

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Syria

A unique study in American immigra­tion and assimilation history that also provides a special view of one of the smaller ethnic groups in American society.

 

Naff focuses on the pre-World War I pio­neering generation of Arabic-speaking immigrants, the generation that set the patterns for settlement and assimilation. Unlike many immigrants who were drawn to the United States by dreams of industrial jobs or to escape religious or economic persecution, most of these ar­tisans and owners of small, disconnected plots of land came to America to engage in the enterprise of peddling. Most planned to stay two or three years and re­turn to their homelands.

• Rank: #119218 in Books
• Published on: 1993-03-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.37" h x 6.42" w x .0" l, 1.25 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

A History Of Antioch In Syria: From Seleucus To The Arab Conquest

A History Of Antioch In Syria: From Seleucus To The Arab Conquest
Glanville Downey (Author)
(1)

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Syria

Reprint of the original 1961 edition. Large Octavo. Decorated Cloth. Book xvii, 752 p. illus., maps. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1961.
Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the Near East and was a cradle of gentile Christianity. Downey covers its history from its origins through to the Arab Conquests.

Downey s work is a monument of industry, an immense accumulation of facts, and of interpretations which are eminently sensible and cautious. It will certainly remain the standard work on the history of Antioch until there are new and major excavations of the site, and probably long thereafter.

• Rank: #158000 in Books
• Published on: 2012-09-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.63" h x 7.00" w x 10.00" l, 3.45 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 786 pages

The Discovery of Dura-Europos

The Discovery of Dura-Europos
Clark Hopkins (Author), Bernard Goldman (Editor)

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Syria

From the third century A.D. until the 1920s, the ancient city of Dura, which the Greeks called Europos, lay covered by the sands of time. Today, hardly a book that touches on the ancient Eastern Mediterranean or on the development of art and religion in the West is without reference to the spectacular discoveries made at this site on the western bank of the Euphrates River. The Parthian Temple, the painted Christian Chapel, and the standing Jewish Synagogue with its four walls covered with paintings from the Old Testament are vital sources for the understanding of pagan religions, Judaism in the early centuries of the Christian Era, and early Christianity. The chance discovery of Dura by British troops in 1920 and its subsequent study of French and American archaeologists resulted in one of the most famous archaeological recoveries of the twentieth century. Scholarly publication of the finds at Dura has been copious, but here the exciting story of the actual campaigns is revealed. As Dura's riches are gradually uncovered through these chapters, a deeper understanding of their meaning emerges.

• Rank: #147925 in Books
• Published on: 1979-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 10.00" h x .75" w x 7.01" l, 1.76 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Blood Libel: The Damascus Affair of 1840

Blood Libel: The Damascus Affair of 1840
Ronald Florence (Author)
(4)

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Syria

"This is great material, and Florence…handles it with dramatic flair….An excellent work of popular history."—Publishers Weekly

Damascus, February 1840. A Capuchin monk and his servant disappear without a trace. By the end of the day, rumors point to the Jewish community, a tiny minority in the city's rich but delicate balance of religions and ethnicities. Within weeks, the rumors turn to accusations of ritual murder, the infamous "blood libel." Fiendish tortures in the pasha's dungeons, coerced confessions, manufactured evidence, and the fury of the crowds are enough to convict the accused Jews. By the time the rest of the world learns of the events in Damascus, the entire leadership of the Jewish community is awaiting execution.

Narrating with a novelist's skill, Ronald Florence recounts the unexpected twists of the story and the strange alliances forged by mutual fears and misperceptions as the Damascus affair became a worldwide cause—the Moslem majority were not the accusers of the Jews; the French consul, representative of the nation that had first recognized Jews as citizens, was the chief prosecutor; the Sultan defended the accused Jews; the liberal London Times considered whether the accusations might be true. The legacies of the growing rift among the minorities, the dominant Arab society, and the outside world are the divisions in the Middle East today and the myths that continue to feed and sustain anti-Semitism.

Blood Libel is a gripping historical narrative that explores the fragile social fabric of a society as it stretches and ultimately rips into shreds of hatred and fear.

• Rank: #130160 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-17
• Released on: 2006-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.95" h x .75" w x 5.95" l, 1.00 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages