CivilSociety Resource / Reference Library
Entrepreneurship, personal development, life coaching, return migration, research on inter-communal stress, and the Middle East
Listed by author, with links to Amazon.com for more information (when possible)
See also: The WWW Virtual Library on Migration and Ethnic Relations
Entrepreneurship, personal development, life coaching, return migration, research on inter-communal stress, and the Middle East
Listed by author, with links to Amazon.com for more information (when possible)
See also: The WWW Virtual Library on Migration and Ethnic Relations
Topics
I. Middle East (General)
Gabrieli, Francesco. Arab Historians of the Crusades
A considerable amount of history during the early Middle Ages was written by Middle Easterners, and their scholarship should be taken seriously, as shown in this book.
Goldberg, E., Kasaba, R., and Migdal, J. Rules and Rights in the Middle East: Democracy, Law, and Society
Glubb, John. (Stein & Day,1988). A Short History of the Arab Peoples
Excellent short review of who is where and how they differ from each other. Written in detail, but easily understood by non-experts and non-historians, this book will give you a strong understanding of how the current crises are merely continuations of what has happened before, but yet also the hope of seeing patterns in how conflicts were resolved in the past.
Hourani, Albert. History of the Arab Peoples
This is a very detailed account of the main tribes and leaders and social movements that shaped the foundations of the Middle East as we know it today. The index is well-developed, which will make it much easier for you to find information when you need it, and have to skim and re-skim large portions to find information about a certain region or time period.
Jabar, Faleh and Dawod, Hosham. Tribes and Power: Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Middle East
This is one of the few works that can give you a view of the Middle East from the viewpoint of tribal and clan loyalties.
Lamb, David. The Arabs
Maalouf, Amin. Crusades Through Arab Eyes
This book explains the crusades as primarily political invasions, without much true spirituality involved for many participants. He shows, interestingly, that many Christians were better treated under Muslim rulers than under the rule of Europeans. You will benefit from seeing how there were good people on all sides of the conflicts, as well as the bad.
An important part of this book, is the Epilogue. In this summary, a comparison is made of the "Franj-administered" and "Occidental-administered" territories, with emphasis on the rights and responsibilities of rulers and subjects. There is a lot of wisdom in this comparison, and should be studied well by those attempting to envision institution-building in the future. Especially when any act of violence against the western lands or westerners can be portrayed in Arab media simply as vengeance for expeditions in 1191AD.
Mansfield, Peter. The Arabs
Maybury, Richard The Thousand Year War in the Mideast: How It Affects You Today
Best historical perspective on the insider/outsider and local/foreign tensions in the Middle East. The approach given by Maybury will clear up questions you may have about imperialism and political domination as they are attributed to western powers--there have been massacres and despots and wicked abuses of power in the Middle East since the beginning of time. There are no simple resolutions to the conflicts of today, so at least attempt to understand why and how the conflicts continue to simmer until they occasionally break out in open war. Please read it!
Miles, Hugh. Al Jazeera : How Arab TV News Challenges America
Analyses why and how the agenda of Al Jazeera Television seems so opposite to what is shown on mainline western news shows. You will gain from this book at least a few more diverse opinions about why diversity in media is healthier than uniformity, and why there will always be a need for other perspectives on how social events in the Middle East are portrayed. The author does attempt to compare and contrast western with Middle Eastern media portrayals of the same events, but could have done more to show not just "truth" as broadcast, but rather, "perceptions of that truth" as received by the audiences.
Nydell, Margaret K. Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Westerners
You will find this to be one of the very best overviews of the main values and ideals that westerners find unusual or uncomfortable. This book gives tremendous help to move beyond "this is wrong" towards "this is different."
Patai, Raphael. The Arab Mind
Pryce-Jones, David. The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs
Pressfield, Steven. The Afghan Campaign: A Novel
Middle Eastern tribes vs. western imperialism. Both fight for honor, or to avoid shame, but the rhetoric appeals to different senses of duty and obligation, one at the group level and one at the individual level. This excellent presentation of West vs. East is wrapped in the story of Alexander of Macedonia vs. Afghanistan.
Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How we see the rest of the world
Said, Edward. Orientalism
Schwartz, Peter. Scenarios for the Middle East, Keynote Presentation to the World Affairs Council, 6/2005
The full presentation on how to project trends into the future of the Middle East; this is (was?) downloadable.
Schwedler, Jilian, ed. Toward Civil Society in the Middle East?: A Primer
Excellent compendium of thoughts and analyses of social systems in the Middle East. You will find this a well-documented overview of social systems thinking within the non-commercial sectors.
Scudder, Lewis R. (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America, No 30). The Arabian Mission's Story: In Search of Abraham's Other Son
This is an extremely well-documented history of modern Christian activity in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. The extensive bibliography and references make it a great resource on the modernization of the Arabian peninsula, Iraq and Iran.
Shaaban, Bouthaina. Both Right and Left Handed: Arab Women Talk About Their Lives
Van Ess, John. 1943. Meet the Arab
Personal account of a lifetime in the Middle East, beginning in the very early 1900s. Told from a first-person perspective, it is a biography immersed i the modernization of the Middle East and shows the changes brought by war, and by oil wealth.
Gabrieli, Francesco. Arab Historians of the Crusades
A considerable amount of history during the early Middle Ages was written by Middle Easterners, and their scholarship should be taken seriously, as shown in this book.
Goldberg, E., Kasaba, R., and Migdal, J. Rules and Rights in the Middle East: Democracy, Law, and Society
Glubb, John. (Stein & Day,1988). A Short History of the Arab Peoples
Excellent short review of who is where and how they differ from each other. Written in detail, but easily understood by non-experts and non-historians, this book will give you a strong understanding of how the current crises are merely continuations of what has happened before, but yet also the hope of seeing patterns in how conflicts were resolved in the past.
Hourani, Albert. History of the Arab Peoples
This is a very detailed account of the main tribes and leaders and social movements that shaped the foundations of the Middle East as we know it today. The index is well-developed, which will make it much easier for you to find information when you need it, and have to skim and re-skim large portions to find information about a certain region or time period.
Jabar, Faleh and Dawod, Hosham. Tribes and Power: Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Middle East
This is one of the few works that can give you a view of the Middle East from the viewpoint of tribal and clan loyalties.
Lamb, David. The Arabs
Maalouf, Amin. Crusades Through Arab Eyes
This book explains the crusades as primarily political invasions, without much true spirituality involved for many participants. He shows, interestingly, that many Christians were better treated under Muslim rulers than under the rule of Europeans. You will benefit from seeing how there were good people on all sides of the conflicts, as well as the bad.
An important part of this book, is the Epilogue. In this summary, a comparison is made of the "Franj-administered" and "Occidental-administered" territories, with emphasis on the rights and responsibilities of rulers and subjects. There is a lot of wisdom in this comparison, and should be studied well by those attempting to envision institution-building in the future. Especially when any act of violence against the western lands or westerners can be portrayed in Arab media simply as vengeance for expeditions in 1191AD.
Mansfield, Peter. The Arabs
Maybury, Richard The Thousand Year War in the Mideast: How It Affects You Today
Best historical perspective on the insider/outsider and local/foreign tensions in the Middle East. The approach given by Maybury will clear up questions you may have about imperialism and political domination as they are attributed to western powers--there have been massacres and despots and wicked abuses of power in the Middle East since the beginning of time. There are no simple resolutions to the conflicts of today, so at least attempt to understand why and how the conflicts continue to simmer until they occasionally break out in open war. Please read it!
Miles, Hugh. Al Jazeera : How Arab TV News Challenges America
Analyses why and how the agenda of Al Jazeera Television seems so opposite to what is shown on mainline western news shows. You will gain from this book at least a few more diverse opinions about why diversity in media is healthier than uniformity, and why there will always be a need for other perspectives on how social events in the Middle East are portrayed. The author does attempt to compare and contrast western with Middle Eastern media portrayals of the same events, but could have done more to show not just "truth" as broadcast, but rather, "perceptions of that truth" as received by the audiences.
Nydell, Margaret K. Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Westerners
You will find this to be one of the very best overviews of the main values and ideals that westerners find unusual or uncomfortable. This book gives tremendous help to move beyond "this is wrong" towards "this is different."
Patai, Raphael. The Arab Mind
Pryce-Jones, David. The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs
Pressfield, Steven. The Afghan Campaign: A Novel
Middle Eastern tribes vs. western imperialism. Both fight for honor, or to avoid shame, but the rhetoric appeals to different senses of duty and obligation, one at the group level and one at the individual level. This excellent presentation of West vs. East is wrapped in the story of Alexander of Macedonia vs. Afghanistan.
Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How we see the rest of the world
Said, Edward. Orientalism
Schwartz, Peter. Scenarios for the Middle East, Keynote Presentation to the World Affairs Council, 6/2005
The full presentation on how to project trends into the future of the Middle East; this is (was?) downloadable.
Schwedler, Jilian, ed. Toward Civil Society in the Middle East?: A Primer
Excellent compendium of thoughts and analyses of social systems in the Middle East. You will find this a well-documented overview of social systems thinking within the non-commercial sectors.
Scudder, Lewis R. (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America, No 30). The Arabian Mission's Story: In Search of Abraham's Other Son
This is an extremely well-documented history of modern Christian activity in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. The extensive bibliography and references make it a great resource on the modernization of the Arabian peninsula, Iraq and Iran.
Shaaban, Bouthaina. Both Right and Left Handed: Arab Women Talk About Their Lives
Van Ess, John. 1943. Meet the Arab
Personal account of a lifetime in the Middle East, beginning in the very early 1900s. Told from a first-person perspective, it is a biography immersed i the modernization of the Middle East and shows the changes brought by war, and by oil wealth.
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