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Tag Archives: Middle East
Of Babylonians, demons, and bankers
Continuing in the Big Book Catchup… Paul Kriwaczek’s Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization covers Mesopotamian history from the establishment of Eridu to the rise of the first Persian empire. This is a survey of thousands of years of … Continue reading
Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews
Tagged ancient world, doomsday, essays, fantasy, goods/services, Gore Vidal, health/wellness, history, Middle East
4 Comments
Enough Already
Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism© 2021 Scott Horton330 pages The war on terror has consumed American resources and human lives for well over twenty years now, breaking numerous countries, deforming the United States at multiple levels, and perpetuating … Continue reading
Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, World Affairs
Tagged 2000s, 2010s, Africa, history, Middle East, terror war
14 Comments
The Afghan Campaign
The Afghan Campaign: A Novel© 2006 Steven Pressfield 368 pages Afghanistan, 330 B.C. Alexander the Great, having toppled the Persian Empire and won eternal glory for himself and his men, now looks with hungry eyes to India. The way to … Continue reading
COVID Reviews #3: Romans, Dogs, and Saudis
I don’t know if anyone misses my usual chatty, sometimes florid reviews, but they’re impossible to do on a phone. More mini-reviews it is! Continuing my onslaught of the TBR pile, I finished Lives of Famous Romans, by Olivia Coolridge. … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged animal domestication, Arabia, Central Asia, history, Islam, Middle East, Persia-Iran, Rome
4 Comments
COVID Reviews #2: Afghans and Turks and Austrians, oh my!
Khaled Hosseini’s third book is also his most unusual. His previous two books followed friendships which which were forged, broken, and tested over the years as Afghanistan reeled from one chaotic event to another. And the Mountains Echoed is more … Continue reading
Posted in historical fiction, history, Reviews
Tagged Austria, historical fiction, history, Middle East, Turkey
2 Comments
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns© 2007 Khaled Hosseini372 pages “There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don’t teach it in school . . . Only one skill. And it’s this: … Continue reading
Posted in historical fiction, Reviews
Tagged Central Asia, historical fiction, Middle East, women
5 Comments
Losing an Enemy
Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy 472 pages © 2017 Trita Parsi Losing an Enemy is now a profoundly depressing book, being an extensive history of an agreement that could have started erasing fifty years of … Continue reading
Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews
Tagged Middle East, Persia-Iran, Politics-CivicInterest
9 Comments
The Looming Tower
The Looming Tower: Al-Queda and the Road to 9/11 © 2006 Lawrence Wright 480 pages “[…] we’re told that they were zealots, fueled by religious fervor…religious fervor. And if you live to be a thousand years old, will that make … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews, World Affairs
Tagged Arabia, crime, Egypt, history, Islam, Middle East, nine-eleven, politics, Politics-CivicInterest
4 Comments
The Ministry of Guidance Invites You Not To Stay
The Ministry of Guidance Invites You Not to Stay© 2010 Hooman Majd272 pages Hooman Majd left Iran for the first time as a young boy, barely eight months old, and when his own son was eight months old, Majd returned. … Continue reading