In 1830, with France's colonial empire in ruins, Charles X ordered his army to invade Ottoman Algiers. Victory did not salvage his regime from revolution, but it began the French conquest of Algeria, which was continued and consolidated by the succeeding July Monarchy. In By Sword and Plow, Jennifer E. Sessions explains why France chose first to conquer Algeria and then to transform it into its only large-scale settler colony. Deftly reconstructing the political c...

**The inspiring story of three young Sudanese boys who were driven from their homes by civil war and began an epic odyssey of survival, facing life-threatening perils, ultimately finding their way to a new life in America“A moving, beautifully written account, by turns raw and tender.” —Los Angeles TimesA Washington Post Best Book of the Year**Between 1987 and 1989, Alepho, Benjamin, and Benson, like tens of thousands of young boys, took flight fro...

In the first decades of the nineteenth century, no place burned more brightly in the imagination of European geographers––and fortune hunters––than the lost city of Timbuktu. Africa's legendary City of Gold, not visited by Europeans since the Middle Ages, held the promise of wealth and fame for the first explorer to make it there. In 1824, the French Geographical Society offered a cash prize to the first expedition from any nation to visit Timbuktu and return to tell the tale.One o...

An authoritative history of the Knights of St. John, from Jerusalem to Malta, told by the bestselling author of The Great Siege.Known by many names through their centuries-long career, The Knights Hospitaller of Saint John dedicated themselves to defending the poor and sick. First formed in Jerusalem during the Crusades of the eleventh century, the Order of Saint John grew in wealth and power rivaled only by the Knights Templar. They survived exile from the...

I congratulate Andebrhan Welde Giorgis on his high-quality and extremely informative book that has not only the merit to be an update on the political situation in Eritrea but also asks the pertinent questions on the future of his marvelous country. He does it with tact and success, based on his long experience as freedom fighter, as senior public servant, as Ambassador and his rich experience of Africa.----Each country in Africa must be able to determine its own future. Freedom, responsib...

Ancient Egypt has gripped the popular imagination like no other country and the lure of its pyramids and the Nile are a magnet for visitors from all over the world. Here is an overview of its long and complex history which is an invaluable companion for every visitor to its shores. This book spans the entire history of Egypt, from the murkiest origins of prehistory right up to the latest developments - all in a style that is as entertaining as it is well-informed. It makes sense of the major ...

Mikail Roshan Housani was a man who always got what he wanted and he had no qualms whatsoever about using abduction rape and murder to achieve his goal which isn't surprising because he was a past master of all three and a practicing psychopath. What he wanted now was Mrs Develin Capritzo Sarquazi Rose – Sarah and her children but it had to be accomplished before she returned to Morocco and the gathering of the Benghazi. And there was another matter; the elimination of Sarah's current husb...

It all began at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, New York, in 1961 - Two Princeton graduates - John Hopkins and Joe McPhillips - have returned from Peru. Loathe to return to a life of work, marriage and mortgages, they are tempted by a mysterious letter from Kenya. Hatching a plan to ride a motorbike across North Africa, they buy a sleek, white R50 BMW and paint her name - 'The White Nile' - on the fuel tank, in honour of the route they plan to follow. In limpid, elegant prose, Hop...

Libya is a typical example of a colonial or external creation. This book addresses the emergence and construction of nation and nationalism, particularly among Libyan exiles in the Mediterranean region. It charts the rise of nationalism from the colonial era and shows how it developed through an external Libyan diaspora and the influence of Arab nationalism.From 1911, following the Italian occupation, the first nucleus of Libyan nationalism formed through the activities of Libyan e...

"A theoretically sophisticated reading of the mediation of social and spiritual relationships in Fez." —Gregory Starrett, University of North Carolina at CharlotteThe sacred calls that summon believers are the focus of this study of religion and power in Fez, Morocco. Focusing on how dissemination of the call through mass media has transformed understandings of piety and authority, Emilio Spadola details the new importance of once-marginal Sufi practices such as spi...

This book explores how Modernist movements all across the Mediterranean basin differed from those of other regions**.** The chapters show how the political and economic turmoil of a period marked by world war, revolution, decolonization, nationalism, and the rapid advance of new technologies compelled artists, writers, and other intellectuals to create a new hybrid Mediterranean Modernist aesthetic which sought to balance the tensions between local and foreign, tradition and innovation, an...

Alternately identified with either the countries of the Mediterranean, those of the Middle East, or other African territories, the nations of northern Africa occupy a unique physical and historical place. After centuries of fielding various foreign invaders, northern Africans have absorbed and co-opted Greek, Roman, and Arab peoples and traditions, among others. Under the pervasive turmoil that has ensued after colonial rule and internecine warfare, readers will encounter a region of vario...