Recent Publications

Israel

Circles of Exclusion: The Politics of Health Care in Israel, by Dani Filc. Ithaca, NY and London, UK: Cornell University Press, 2009. xi + 162 pages. Notes to p. 169. Bibl. to p. 177. Index to p. 191. $35. This work examines access to healthcare in Israel by looking at marginalized groups in Israeli society. The author focuses on the poor, the elderly, Israeli Arabs, Arabs in the Palestinian Territories, and non-Israeli citizens in Israel. The author argues that a "neo-liberal" and "Americanized" version of healthcare that sees patients as customers is becoming the norm in Israel, with negative consequences. (DA)

Turkey

Spiritual Dimensions of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Risale-i Nur, ed. and with an intro. by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi'. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2008. x + 415 pages. Bibl. to p. 425. Contribs. to p. 430. Index to p. 438. $29.95 paper. This edited collection of essays examines Sais Nursi's magnum opus, Risale-i Nuri, which was written during a transformational period in Turkey —the end of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of the Turkish Republic. The contributors explore Risale-i Nur not just as a theological work but also as Nursi's vision of Turkey's place as a nation, empire, and part of the umma. (DA)

Language and Literature

The Gulistan of Sa'di: Bilingual English and Persian Edition with Vocabulary, by Shaykh Mushrifuddin of Sa'di, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston. Bethesda, MD: Ibex Publishers, 2008. xi + 253 pages. Manuscript variants to p. 174. Gloss. of proper names to p. 178. Bibl. to p. 182. Persian vocab. to p. 190. Arabic vocab. to p. 247. $60. This is the first complete English translation since 1774 of Sa'di's Gulistan, a work read as a primer in Persian for centuries and one of the most highly regarded and widely read works of Persian poetry. The Gulistan is divided into sections and largely addresses social interactions and contains moral instructions. The book contains the original Persian and an English translation, as well as an extensive glossary of terms that may be unfamiliar to an English reader. (DA)

The Tales of Sabalan, by Mohammad Reza Bayrami, trans. M. R. Ghanoonparvar. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, Inc., 2008. xi + 118 pages. $18 paper. This book contains the first English translations of two works by the acclaimed author Mohammad Reza Bayrami. The stories center around a boy coming of age in rural, northwestern Iran, and highlight aspects of village life. (DA)

Modern History and Politics

People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East, by Joris Luyendijk. New York, NY: Soft Skull Press, 2009. 245 pages. $14.95. In this work, Luyendijk describes his experiences and perceptions of working as a journalist in the Middle East. Luyendijk argues that there is a contradiction between representations of the Middle East in contemporary Western journalism and the reality of life in the region. According to the author, the intense security focus of coverage creates an environment where exceptions to the rule are the only events reported, resulting in Western audiences believing that the exceptions make up the rule. He further argues that Orientalism, exoticism, and journalists' lack of knowledge of the region color their work and distort perceptions of the Middle East in the West. (DA)

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, by P.W. Singer. New York: The Penguin Press, 2009. 438 pages. Notes to p. 482. Index to p. 499. $29.95. Singer examines how advances in robotics and technology are drastically changing conflict resolution in the Middle East and around the world. Singer argues that technology is approaching "the Singularity," the point at which advances in robotics and technology in general create a reality so drastically different that our current understanding of the world will be erased and replaced with a new one. He argues that these rapid advances create an entirely new mode of warfare that the United States and other nations must come to terms with in order to create an effective and controllable military. (DA)

Pre-20^TH Century History

A Brief History of the Aghuank' Region: A History of Karabagh...