Book Reviews

Abstract

82 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXIII, No.3, Spring 2010 Book Reviews Edited by Nadia Barsoum Middle East and North Africa THE FUTURE OF ISLAM, BY John Esposito, Oxford University press, New York 2010, 234pp. Here the author explores the major questions and issues that face Islam in the twenty-first century and that will deeply affect global politics. He introduces the reader to a new generation of Muslim thinkers. The book underscores the unexpected similarities between the Islamic world and the West and at times turns the mirror on the United States, revealing how we appear to Muslim. INDIA AND THE INDIANNES OF CHRISTIANITY, Essays on Understanding-Historical, Theological, and Bibliographical- in Honor of Robert Frykenbeg. Richard Fox Young, editor. William B.Publishig Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge,U.K., 283pp. The book features first-time studies on Christianity in a variety of unusual Indian settings, including tribal societies, and offers original contributions to an understanding of how India Christianity was perceived in the post independence period by India’s governing elite. Several essayists draw heavily on rare archival documentation in the UK, Germany, and India. The wealth of material and the perspective gathered here constitute a remarkable volume – a credit to the historian who inspired it. ENGAGING IRAN. By Nathan Gonzalez. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2007, 180pp. Offers a new standpoint to the debate about U.S.- Iranian relations which is a reduction in tension with the Islamic Republic would be a good move. LOSING IRAQ. By Stephen C. Pelletiere. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2007, 151pp. This explains that Iraq did not win a war of attrition through luck, persistence, and the use of chemicals. THE CITY’S PLEASURES: ISTANBUL IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. By Shirine Hamadeh. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2008, 350pp. This is an examination of the changes that addicted the fabric and architecture in Istanbul during the century after the decisive return of the Ottoman court to the capitol in 1703. 83 FIGHTING THE GREATER JIHAD. By Cheikh Anta Babou. Athens, OH, 2007, 294pp. This looks at the forging of Murid identity and teaching around the person and initiative of Amadu Bamba, as well as the ongoing refromation of this identity by current followers. LEAF OF ALLAH: KHAT & AND AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION IN HARERGE, ETHIOPIA 1875- 1991. By Ezekiel Gebissa. Athens, OH, 2004, 210pp. This study investigates the disadvantages of the new cash crop for the regional economy, farmer- state relations, the nature and balance of local social relations, as well as Harerge’s physical, socioeconomic and political landscapes. CONFLICTED ANTIQUITIES: EGYPTOLOGY, EGYPTOMANIA, EGYPTIAN MODERNITY. By Elliot Colla. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007, 345pp. Provides a rich cultural history of European and Egyptian interest in ancient Egypt and its material culture, from the early nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth. A MODERN HISTORY OF THE SOMALI, 4th ed. By I.M. Lewis. James Currey Ltd (Oxford, UK), Btec Books (Hargeisa, Somaliland) and Ohio University Press (Athens, Ohio). Explores the continuity of Somali forms of social organization and the ingeniousness with which the Somali way of life has adapted to all forms of modernity. THE CULTURAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN ISLAMICISM. By Timothy Marr. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 309pp. This book investigates the heritage of how Americans have used Islamic orientalist images to globalize the authority of domestic cultural power. HELL IN THE HOLY LAND: WORLD WAR I IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By David R. Woodward. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2006, 253pp. Explicit first hand accounts from written material such as diaries, letters and memoirs of British soldiers who fought were used to describe the fighting and dying in Egypt and Palestine. KURDISH IDENTITY: HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLITICAL STATUS . Edited by Charles G. MacDonald and Carole A. O’Leary. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2007, 336pp. Provides a basic understanding of the significance of the concept of Kurdish identity as it exists in the Middle East and elsewhere. THE ROAD NOT TRAVELED: EDUCATION REFORM IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2008, 359pp. This report explains the triumphs and challenges the growth of education encountered in order...