"The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress is a travel book by American author Mark Twain, published in 1869, which humorously chronicles what Twain called his 'Great Pleasure Excursion' on board the chartered vessel Quaker City (formerly USS Quaker City), through Europe and the Holy Land, with a group of American travelers in 1867." --

Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history:...

The ninth edition of this widely acclaimed text has been extensively revised to reflect the latest scholarship and the most recent events in the Middle East. As an introduction to the history of this turbulent region from the beginnings of Islam to the present day, the book is distinguished by its clear style, broad scope, and balanced treatment. It focuses on the evolution of Islamic institutions and culture, the influence of the West, the modernization...

After the panic of 9/11, intelligence agencies, including state and local police and their nascent anti-terror divisions, realized they had failed the country and had to share all their precious info with the total intel community--something all their years of training had taught them never to do.

Acclaimed Israeli intelligence analyst Avi Melamed has spent more than thirty years interpreting Middle East affairs. His long-awaited Inside the Middle East challenges widely-accepted perceptions and provides a gripping and uniquely enlightening guide to make sense of the events unfolding in the region-to answer how the Arab world got to this point, what is currently happening, what the ramifications will be, how they will affect Israel, and what...

"Describes the countries of the Middle East, including the history, geography, governments, economies, and cultures of the region. Includes critical "Think About It" questions and "Landmark Profile" and "Animal Profile" special features"--

"How did a group of religious fanatics, clad in black pajamas and armed to the teeth, manage to carve out a violent, fundamentalist "Islamic state" in wide swaths of Syria and Iraq? How did the widely celebrated revolution against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad descend into a movement led by a psychopathically violent band of jihadists dedicated to the destruction of America? And just who are these brutal Islamic militants--many speaking unaccented...

"This sweeping history of the ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia, Iran) takes readers on a journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquest of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to bricklayers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that they faced over time...

"The bestselling author of The Secretary tells the gripping story of the real roots of the Sunni-Shia conflict in Middle East in the 1979 Iran Revolution that changed the region forever"--

"From Syria to Egypt, northern Iraq to the Gaza Strip, ancient communities that were the birthplaces of prophets and saints are losing any living connection to Christianity, the religion that once was such a characteristic feature of their social and cultural lives. In The Vanishing, journalist Janine di Giovanni writes about the last traces of small, hardy Christian communities that have become fearful of outsiders and where ancient rituals are quietly...