Book Reviews

Abstract

105 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 41, No.3, Spring 2018 Book Reviews Edited by Nadia Barsoum Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF YEMEN: Buildings That Fill my Eye edited by Trevor H.J. Marchand: United Kingdom, London, Gingko Library 2017, 231 pages. In bringing together the astute observations and reflections of an international and interdisciplinary group of acclaimed scholars, this book aims to raise awareness of Yemen’s long history of cultural creativity and the urgent need for international collaboration to protect it and its people from the destructive forces that have beset the region. EMPIRES AND ANARCHIES: A History of Oil in the Middle East by Michael Quentin Morton. United Kingdom, London, Reaktion Books Ltd, 2017, 263 pages. Empires and Anarchies is an unconventional history of oil in the Middle East. In the author’s account the burnt-out remains of Saddam Hussein’s armaments and the human tragedy of the Arab Spring are as much of the story as the shimmering skylines of oilrich nations. From the first explorers trudging through the desert to the excesses of the Peacock Throne and the high stakes of OPEC, Morton lays out the history of oil in compelling detail, arguing that oil simultaneously enriched and fractured the Middle East, eroding traditional ways of life, and eventually contributing to the rise of Islamic radicalism. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the promises and peril of the world’s oil boom. 106 FROM INDEPENDENCE TO REVOLUTION: Egypt Islamists and the Contest for Power by Gilian Kennedy. United Kingdom, London, Hurst & Company publishers 2017, 262 pages. The author is taking an approach to emphasize those studies of political Islam concentrate on either ideology or strategy rather than using a framework, which argues for both to be accounted together. It concludes that in Egypt from 1952 to 2012, the absence of this dialectical process of ideology and strategy was the decisive factor in the failure of radicals, conservatives and progressives to create and maintain lasting consent to their national project. Chapter 2 examines the Nasser period (1952-1970). Chapter 3 examines how political Islam evolved during Anwar Sadat’s presidency from (19701981 ). Chapter 4 examines how political Islam evolved during Mubarak’s presidency from (1981-1992) and the author will outline the continuation of Sadat’s economic liberalization and how the Islamist movement reacted to Mubarak’s political overtures and the continuation of economic liberalization policies in light of a spiraling socio-economic crisis among the lower and middle income class. Chapter 5 examines how Mubarak moved from containment to confrontation against Egypt opposition groups (1992-2011). TRIBES AND POLITICS IN YEMEN: A History of the Houthi Conflict by Marieke Brandt. United States, New York, Oxford University Press 2017, 466 pages. This book is based on years of anthropological fieldwork expertise both on the ground and through digital anthropological approaches. It offers a detailed account of the local complexities of the Houthi conflict and its historical background and underscores the absolute imperative of understanding the local, personal, and non-ideological nature of internal conflict in Yemen. The Houthi conflict is multifaceted and complex, and its local narrative as recorded in this volume constitutes only one manifold ways of approaching and explaining the conflict. The many other narratives of the Houthi conflict sometimes compete: the sectarian narrative, the domestic political narrative, the boundary narrative, the proxy war narrative. The Yemeni government has its own version. Foreign nations have their different claims. This book research objective is to explore the local dynamics of the Houthi conflictthus required spanning a broad period, from 1960 to the present time. 107 JINNEALOGY: Time, Islam, and Ecological Thought in the Medieval Ruins of Delhi by Anand Vivek Tasnneja. California, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2017, 312 pages. The author discover that in the ruins of a medieval palace in Delhi, a unique phenomenon occurs: Indians of all castes and creeds meet to socialize and ask the spirits for help. The spirits they entreat are Islamic jinns, and they w In the ruins of a medieval palace in Delhi, a unique phenomenon occurs: Indians of all castes and rite out requests...