Perhaps the most high-profile political prisoner in the Arab world, Alaa has spent most of the last seven years in prison in Egypt. These essays were smuggled, compiled by friends and relati... read more
The open-source investigative journalism and fact-checking network that works with an independent international collective of researchers, who recently reported on the Navalny poisoning, inc... read more
Gorgeous colour images, as well as translations and commentary on these celebrated Persian poems. Both manuscripts date from the C15th and are exquisitely illustrated. This will be ravishing... read more
The author fled Iraq with his family to Israel in 1950: this personal narrative of emigration also contends with the repercussions of Zionism for an Arab-Jew.
A sequence of essays about the Treaty that addressed the new Turkish state and the Middle East. At Versailles, before the rise of Ataturk, the West thought such matters had less claim on the... read more
Looks at the dwindling communities of Christians still living in the birthplace of the early church. From Lebanon to Iraq, JdiG records the rituals and customs of these dispersed but endurin... read more
In 2015, as war raged in Syria, Lowe set off on an 11,000 kilometre journey through Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and finally to Iran. Full of humour, anecdote and the abun... read more
Numerous contributors discuss different aspects of seafaring in the spread of Islamic culture, from its origins to the present. Well illustrated and fascinating.
In the C13th, the largest library in Europe contained fewer than 2000 books. Baghdad alone contained five libraries with between 200,000 and a million books.
How Mohammed-Reza Shah's close relationship with the US and his desire for autocratic rule sowed the seeds for the collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty and helped foment the Iranian revolution of... read more
In one generation, the Mongols reshaped the balance of world power, aided by the internecine struggles of the Byzantines, Seljuks, Crusaders and others.
From being America's most significant ally in the region, Iran suddenly became its greatest adversary: this account, from 1941 onwards, explains how the Shah himself contrived to lose suppor... read more
This is considered to be the definitive edition of Firdausi's epic poem; its illustrations are scattered in collections and museums around the world. They are gathered together in this volum... read more