PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Ussama Makdisi is Professor of History and the first Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University. He is the author of The Culture of Sectarianism, Artillery of Heaven, and Faith Misplaced.
Beyond the excellent historical work in which Makdisi engages, his profound rewriting of narratives of sectarianism and coexistence will have a great impact on readers' understanding of the modern Middle East. . . . Offers hope for an existence that does not distinguish between Muslim and non-Muslim or Jew and non-Jew but aims to humanize those who have been seen as inferior. * Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations * A hugely important corrective to widespread stereotypes about relations between Muslims, Christians and Jews before Israel's creation. * Peter Beinart * An outstanding study with insight about the agency of Arab intellectuals, thinkers and people at large who, despite twentieth-century local and global violence, persist in struggling for a better world. This is a must- read for all scholars and students of Middle East and cultural studies. * Arab Studies Quarterly * Seeking to counter contemporary perceptions of the Middle East as a region riven by sectarian strife, Makdisi examines the 'culture of coexistence' which he believes prevailed in the Ottoman Empire and in the post-Ottoman Arab world, despite its religious diversity. * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy * This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Middle East's present and who might be hopeful for the region's future. * Middle East Journal *
