Book Reviews

Abstract

92 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXV, No.2, Winter 2012 Book Reviews Edited by Nadia Barsoum TOGETHER THEY FOUGHT: Gandhi-Nehru correspondence 19211948 , edited by Uma Iyengar and Lalitha Zackariah. Published by Oxford University Press, 2011, 558pp. Carefully selected, judiciously annotated and chronologically arranged, this book takes the readers on a journey through the political arena of a nation in pangs of birth and into the inner workings of two brilliant minds of the twentieth century. MONUMENTAL MATTERS: The Powers, Subjectivity, and Space of India’s Mughal Architecture by Santhi Kavuri-Bauer, Published by Duke University Press, 2011, 216pp. The author focuses on the prominent role of Mughal architecture in the construction and contestation of the India National landscape. She examines the representation and eventual preservation of the monuments, from their disrepair in the colonial past to their present status as protected heritage sites. Since independence, the state has attempted to construct a narrative of Mughal monuments as symbols of a unified, secular nation. ARAB DETROIT 9/11: Life in the Terror Decade edited by Nabeel Abraham, Sally Howell, and Andrew Shryock. Published by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 2011, pp. 413. This Volume is the latest in a rich tradition of scholarship on the Middle Eastern immigrant and ethnic communities of greater Detroit is a metropolitan area that is home to several North America’s oldest and largest Lebanese, Palestinian, Yemeni, and Iraqi populations. CHURCHILL’S SECRET WAR: The British Empire and The Ravaging of India during World War II by Madhusree Mukerjee Published by Basic Books( a member of the Perseus Books Group, New York, 2010, pp. 332. In this historical study Mukerjee combines close research with a vivid narrative to place this overlooked tragedy into the largest context of the Second World War, India’s fight for freedom and Churchill’s legacy. AN ARAB’S JOURNEY TO COLONIAL SPANISH AMERICA: The travel of Elias al-Musili in the Seventeenth Century. Translated from the Arabic and edited by Caesar E. Farah. Published by Syracuse University Press, New York 2003, pp.117. This study is historically important; it is a document for scholars of early modern history and of the church in Latin America. Al-Musili shares his perceptions of native peoples, their customs , beliefs and treatments by Spanish conquistadors. CITY OF STRANGERS: Gulf Migration and the Indian Community in Bahrain by Andrew M. Gardner. Published by Cornell University Press, New York 2010, pp.188. Gardner has produced a useful analysis of labor migration both in Bahrain and elsewhere in the region. The book sheds light on a population of skilled and unskilled workers in the Middle East’s fastest growing region. The author examines the labor’s life and the many ways they adapt and resist, as well as the ways they are beaten down. FAITH AND POWER: Religion and Politics in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis. Published by Oxford University Press, New York 2010, pp.208. Lewis examines the role of religion in the Middle East, revealing how it has shaped society for good and for ill. To realize this, Lewis has brought together writings on religion and government in the Middle East, highlighting an interrelationship quite different than in the Western world. The collection includes previously unpublished writings, English originals of articles published before only in foreign languages, and an introduction to the book by Lewis. ISLAM’S QUANTUM QUESTION: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science by Nidhal Guessoum. Published by I. B. Touris, New York 2011, pp.403. Guessoum suggests that the Islamic world, just like the Christian, needs to take scientific questions with the utmost seriousness if it is to recover its true heritage and integrity. Islam’s “Quantum Question” , he argues can be answered by a credible harmonization of Qur’anic belief and scientific truth. ENGAGING EXTREMISTS: Trade-offs. Timing and Diplomacy edited by I. William Zartman and Guy Oliver Faure. Published by United States Institute of Peace, Washington 2011, pp.315. This volume explores the actual complexity of the subject of terrorism. In the face of terrorism and militant extremism, states must strike a delicate balance between isolation and engagement. This study provides valuable insight...