Middle World

Afghanistan borders seven different countries and is a connection point for East, South, West, and Central Asia. It has long been a center of trade and culture, with many different civilizations throughout history calling it home. In this title, students will hear about Afghanistan’s wildlife, landscape, culture, and more.

Did you know that Iraq was home to the oldest known human civilization on Earth? This area used to be known as Mesopotamia, and many different ancient peoples lived there. Listeners will learn about daily life in Iraq, contemporary Iraqi culture, and the changes the country is going through today.

When thinking about America's role in the world, Dwight Eisenhower, George H. W. Bush, and Barack Obama may not seem to have a lot in common. But they do. While divided by background, generation, and political party, they exemplify a distinct and underappreciated tradition of American leadership: The Middle Way. As the scholar and former senior foreign policy official Derek Chollet shows in this deeply researched book, these three presidents took a centrist - and effective - approach to foreign policy.

Nonie Darwish lived for thirty years in a majority Muslim nation. Everything about her life was dictated by the Islamic law code known as Sharia. But Sharia isn't staying in majority Muslim nations. Darwish now lives in the West and brings a warning; the goal of radical Islam is to bring Sharia law to your country. If that happens, the fabric of Western law and liberty will be ripped in two. Weaving personal experience together with extensive documentation and research, Darwish exposes the facts and reveals the global threat posed by Sharia law.

Israel is a country with deep religious roots. It is considered the homeland of the Jewish people. In this book, young listeners will be introduced to Israel’s devout people, historic landmarks, and foods that create an interesting and unique cultural heritage.

A legendary civilization vanished under the Fertile Crescent and escaped a fate worse than death until Sumerologists questioned widely accepted truths. The Sumerians reemerged onto the extraordinary timeline of human history. Their tales of kings and gods, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, and their fearless trade in distant lands, during the remarkable Bronze Age, centered in the world’s first city-states that chronicled ancient rivalries and their enduring impact.

Laura Kasinof studied Arabic in college and moved to Yemen a few years later - after a friend at a late-night party in Washington, DC, recommended the country as a good place to work as a freelance journalist. When she first moved to Sanaa in 2009, she was the only American reporter based in the country. She quickly fell in love with Yemen’s people and culture, in addition to finding herself the star of a local TV soap opera.

رواية غير تقليدية لا تلتزم بعمر أو سن معين لقرائها كما أنها لا تلتزم بقالب روائي محدد، فتثور القوالب التقليدية كما ثار سيدنا إبراهيم في الماضي على العادات والتقاليد.

Are you setting your sights on the rich tapestry of experiences that await in Arabic-speaking lands, from the bustling markets of the Middle East to the timeless landscapes of North Africa? Or perhaps you’re eager to delve into the Arabic language in a way that transcends the confines of traditional, dry grammatical studies? If you're nodding in agreement, Learn Arabic: The Traveler's Survival Toolkit is your indispensable companion. This isn't just another boring language book; it's a gateway to confidently engaging with the Arabic-speaking world, tailored for tourists and travelers like you.

From the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the 18th century, many Western European writers viewed the Ottoman Empire with almost obsessive interest. In this path-breaking audiobook, Noel Malcolm ranges through these vital centuries of East-West interaction, studying all the ways in which thinkers in the West interpreted the Ottoman Empire as a political phenomenon - and Islam as a political religion.

In an alternate 1875 America, electricity is forbidden, Native Americans and Yankees are united, and eldritch evil lurks in the shadows. Young Archie Dent knows there really are monsters in the world. His parents are members of the Septemberist Society, whose job it is to protect humanity from hideous giants called the Mangleborn. Trapped in underground prisons for a thousand years, the giant monsters have been all but forgotten - but now they are rising again as the steam-driven America of 1875 rediscovers electricity, the lifeblood of the Mangleborn.

At the height of the Syrian Civil War, deep beneath the shattered streets of rebel-held Darayya was a secret library. This basement room filled with thousands of books, rescued under constant sniper fire from gutted buildings, was an oasis of normality in a country at war with itself. Here, despite a devastating four-year siege, people risked their lives to read. Over a period of more than a year, Mike Thomson heard their extraordinary stories via tenuous Skype calls, emails, social media messages, and audio diaries recorded on their mobile phones.

Obayda's family is in need of some good fortune, and her aunt has an idea to bring the family luck - dress Obayda, the youngest of four sisters, as a boy, a bacha posh. Life in this in-between place is confusing, but once Obayda meets another bacha posh, everything changes. Their transformation won't last forever, though - unless the two best friends can figure out a way to make it stick and make their newfound freedoms endure.

A heartwarming story of a stray dog and a US marine who met under the unlikeliest circumstances in Afghanistan - and who changed each other's lives forever.

The Future of Palestine: How Discrimination Hinders Change was inspired by the shocking "honor killing" of the author's classmate and friend, Israa Ghrayeb. Her alleged crime? The simple act of going out, in broad daylight, with her fiancé and his sister - an act Ghrayeb's cousin maintained was unacceptable in a conservative society. While Ghrayeb's killers may be free, their manner of thinking is anything but. Tamar Haddad seeks to open minds to diverse perspectives and to give voice to those who are commonly marginalized in conservative Palestinian society.

In 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim "the Grim" conquered Egypt and brought his empire for the first time in history into direct contact with the trading world of the Indian Ocean. During the decades that followed, the Ottomans became progressively more engaged in the affairs of this vast and previously unfamiliar region, eventually to the point of launching a systematic ideological, military and commercial challenge to the Portuguese Empire, their main rival for control of the lucrative trade routes of maritime Asia.

The term Moor is a historical rather than an ethnic name. It is an invention of European Christians for the Islamic inhabitants of Maghreb (North Africa), Andalusia (Spain), Sicily and Malta, and was sometimes use to designate all Muslims. It is derived from Mauri, the Latin name for the Berbers who lived in the Roman province of Mauretania, which ranged across modern Algeria and Morocco. Saracen was another European term used to designate Muslims, though it usually referred to the Arabic peoples of the Middle East and derives from an ancient name for the Arabs, Sarakenoi.

إنّها حكاية الغجر وعالمهم الغريب..فبعيدًا عن الصورة النمطية للغجر المتمايلين على أنغام الموسيقى والمبتسمين دومًا يغوص جمال ناجي في أعماق عالم الغجر، نشاتهم وتقاليدهم وأسباب تشتّتهم منذ ولادة جدهم الأول عن طريق حكاية الغجريّ "سبلو" الذي يقرِّر ترك حياة الغجر والاستقرار في الوادي إلى جانب الفلاحين مع زوجته وابنته "هجير" فيشتري قطعة أرضٍ من "عثمان أبو بركة" ويستقرَّ هناك، لكنَّ مجرمي الكهوف لا يتركونه وشانه فيفقد زوجته ويبدأ رحلة البحث عن قاتلها. يتزامن ذلك مع هجرة جموعٍ من الغجر إلى الوادر وبحثهم عن حياة الاستقرار ونموّ بذرة الحب في قلب "هجير".

آنذاك لم تكن تفكر أبدًا في العمل أو السفر خارج القاهرة، بل ربما لم تكن تفكر بالأساس في مغادرة غرفتها...كانت قد مرّت فترة ليست بقصيرة منذ تخرجت من الجامعة، قضتها فيما يشبه حالات البيات الشتوي، لم تفكر في العمل ولا في المشاركة في أي نشاط اجتماعي، وكأنها صنعت لنفسها نمطًا للحياة داخل غرفتها وتكيّفت معه، بل وربما صارت تستمتع به. وكلما فاتحتها أمها أو أختها أو مدام إيمان جارتها في موضوع خروجها للحياة كانت تراوغهن، وكلما حاولن حثّها على الظهور في المجتمعات، كانت تتعلّل بأنها سوف تبحث عن بعض الدورات التدريبية لاكتساب لغة جديدة أو خبرة إضافية...ولا تفعل شيئًا من ذلك...

لمدينة "مكة" عدة وجوه؛ وجه مؤمن متدين سماوي، ووجه تجاري بحكم موقعها المميز، ووجه مكة الثقافي بشعرائها وكتّابها وندواتهم... ثم هناك الوجه السرّي، الوجه العاشق !!