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78 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXVIII, No.1, Fall 2014 Book Reviews Edited by Nadia Barsoum The Middle East, Turkey, South Asia THE WALL: Fragmenting the Palestinian Fabric in Jerusalem edited by Robert. D. Brooks, published by the International Peace and Cooperation Center, Jerusalem, 2007, pp.158. This work focuses on the political, economic , and social impact of the wall and its assault on basic human rights. The expert’s analyses are buttressed by the most recent data available , including case studies of twelve major enclaves Palestinian communities and a poll over 1000 Palestinian households. ISLAMIST PARTIES AND POLITICAL NORMALIZATION IN THE MUSLIM WORLD edited by Quinn Mecham and Julie Chernov Hwang, published by University of Pennsylvania press, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 232. Islamist parties represent diverse interests and behaviors that are tied to their particular domestic contexts READINGS IN: Early Indian History by Romila Thapar, published by Oxford University Press, new Delhi, India 2013, pp.492. This selection of essays provides a fascinating account of the history of the subcontinent through a sensitive and critical reading of the past. The author brings various aspects of society, economy, religion, political, formations, philosophy and narratives into historical context. TURKEY, ISLAM, NATIONALISM, AND MODERNITY: A History, 1789-2007 by Carter Vaughn Findley, published by Yale University Press2010, New Haven, US, pp.527. Findley offers a panoramic view of 200 years of Ottoman and Turkish history. The authors argue that as modernity threatened imperial survival, two different responses arose. A radical, secularizing current competed with a conservative, Islamic current , and the resulting dialectic shaped the course of change in Turkey. KARACHI: Ordered Disordered and the Struggle for the City by Lauren Gayer, published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi, India, pp.336. The author sees Karachi as one of the ost violent city. Karachi has endured endemic political conflict and criminal violence. These struggles for the city have become ethnicised. Despite the chronic state of urban political warfare, Karachi remains the cornerstone of the economy of Pakistan. There is indeed order of a kind in the city’s permanent civil war. 79 INDIA BEFORE EUROPE by Catherine B. Asher and Cynthia Talbot, published by Cambridge University Press, UK 2006, PP.312. The author takes the reader on a journey across the political, economic, religious, and cultural landscapes of medieval India from the Ghurid conquests and the Delhi Sultanate, through the rise and fall of the southern kingdom of Viayanagara, to the peripheries of empire, and finally to the great court of the Mughals. THE MIDDLE EAST: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years by Bernard Lewis, published by Scribner 1995, New York, NY. Pp.433.Lewis details the myriad forces that have shaped the history of the Middle East: the Islamic religion and legal system; the traditions of the governments; the elites-military, commercial, religious, intellectual and artistic-and the commonalty, including such socially distinct groups as slaves, women and non-believers. This survey of the history and civilization of the Middle East reveals the huge Islamic contribution to European life, as well as the European contribution to the Islamic world. METHOD, STRUCTURE, AND DEVELOPMENT IN al-FARABIS COSMOLOGY by Damien Janos, published by Brill, Boston 2012, pp.433. This work synthesize the recent scholarship on al-Farabi‘s metaphysics and cosmology and to open new analytical perspectives in order to contribute to a resolution of some of the most outstanding problems regarding his thought. MARTYRDOM IN MODERN ISLAM: Piety, Power, and Politics by Meir Hatinan, published by Cambridge University Press, pp.276. This book traces the evolving Islamic perceptions of martyrdom, its political and symbolic functions, and its use of past legacies in both Sunni and Shi’i milieus, with comparative references to Judaism, Christianity, and other non –Islamic domains, the study provides in depth analysis of modern Islamic martyrdom and its various interpretations while also evaluating the historical realities in which such interpretation were molded and debated. THE OTTOMAN AGE OF EXPLORATION by Giancarlo Casale published by Oxford University Press 2010, pp.281.Casale presents a picture of the global reach of the Ottoman State during the sixteenth century. The book argues that the Ottomans...

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