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Reviews (218)

So good, I almost cried
This book puts a lot of the middle east politics and US politics and policies into a clearer light and is an amazing story of the daughter of the head of the FAA marrying a direct decendent of Mohammad, King Hussein. I really couldn't believe when people like Ted Turner would pop up out of nowhere in this book and show up in Jordan. It's a small world...
A Kept Woman
This is a pretty long autobiography, but Queen Noor has led a pretty interesting life so it makes sense. The story is not simply about her and King Hussein, but her role as a Queen and what she was able to accomplish during her time in Jordan. Although she talks about her husband very lovingly, I didn't `feel' the romance in this story. It wasn't a fairy tale to me - it seemed more as though she was subservient to her husband and that she basically did as she was told. I don't think it was a great as we are led to believe by the media. Thankfully, the focus is mostly on the Middle East region and its struggles. The book was a good way to learn about the region and was a pretty interesting read.

Surprisingly informative...
I had not realized to what extent these memoirs would actually provide a historical, and yes, to some degree, subjective prospective of the crisis in the Middle East.As someone already with an interest in Arab culture, I enjoyed it.(I live in an area possessing the largest Arab population outside of the Middle East, and went to school with many kids from this background.)
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Subjects:  1. 1951-    2. 1952-1999    3. Arab-Israeli conflict    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Jordan    9. Middle East - General    10. Middle East - History - 20th Century    11. Noor,    12. Politics and government    13. Queen, consort of Hussein, Kin    14. Queens    15. Royalty    16. Women    17. Biography & Autobiography / General    18. Bargain   

Reviews (1)

From Backwater to Strategic Ally
Jordan is a nation that according to some accounts, was "dreamed of from the backseat of Churchill's car." Formerly an Ottoman ruled area, Jordan Stretches from the Syrian Desert in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba in the south. the nation was considered by most to be a backwater inhabited by various Bedouin tribes. It is interesting to note that on Amazon.com I have seen only a few histories of this pivotal nation, when you search for "Jordan" most of the results deal with basketball player Michael Jordan. This book came as a fresh surprise.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: World    5. Jordan    6. Middle East - General    7. Political History    8. Royalty    9. Asian / Middle Eastern history: from c 1900 -    10. History / Middle East    11. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT   

Subjects:  1. Comparative    2. History    3. Law    4. Legal History    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Legal status, laws, etc.    7. Middle East - Israel    8. Nationalism    9. Palestine    10. Palestinian Arabs    11. 20th century    12. Law / Legal History    13. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    14. pre-1948 Palestine; Israel; Trans-Jordan; Ottoman Empire; Middle East; Levant; mandate system; Negev Desert; Beersheba; Jerusalem; Bedouin; ultraorthodox; Jews; Arabs; Palestinians; British colonialism; colonial discourse theory; Orientalism; anticolonialism; nationalism; Zionism; Hebrew law; Islamic law; halakhah; sharia; Norman Bentwich; Gad Frumkin; Thomas Haycraft; Michael McDonnell; Harry Trusted; Richard Manning; Randolph Copland; Owen Corrie; William FitzGerald; Hasan Sidqi al-Dajani; Margaret Nixon; Frederic Goadby; von Savigny; Samuel Eisenstadt; Paltiel Dickstein; Mordechai Eliash; Asher Gulak; Avraham Freimann; Fahmi al-Husayni; Abd al-Latif Salah; Aref el-Aref; Abcarius Bey; rabbinical courts; Jewish courts; sharia courts; slavery; child marriage; League of Nations; Tel Aviv School of Law and Economics; Hebrew University; Hebrew University of Jerusalem; al-Huquq   

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Agriculture    3. Agriculture - General    4. Economic aspects    5. Farmers    6. History    7. History: World    8. Jordan    9. Land settlement    10. Middle East - General    11. Rural Sociology    12. Technology & Industrial Arts    13. Agriculture & related industries    14. Asian / Middle Eastern history    15. Social history   

Reviews (1)

A New Definition of Jordanian Identity
In his book "Colonial Effects", Mr. Massad analyzes how Jordan's identity has evolved since the colonial time.He emphasizes how this was achieved mainly by the means of two institutions: the law and the military.Considering that it was to take place in a newly formed country constituted of a very diverse population, this was quite a challenge.Colonial Effects was written as a dissertation, which makes it very structured and scholarly.Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: World    5. Jordan    6. Middle East - General    7. National characteristics, Jord    8. National characteristics, Jordanian    9. National state    10. Politics and government    11. Postcolonialism    12. Asian / Middle Eastern history    13. Asian studies    14. History / Middle East    15. Nationalism    16. Social & cultural anthropology   

Reviews (5)

Awkward Israeli OohRa tilt
I will keep this short. The only necessary chapter to read is on the Zahal. the IDF. Much of the book depends on silly, childish praise for the realistically superior Israeli Force. So much so that it makes for pedantic reading. I do not recommend.

pretty comprehensive review of the war
The six days war is a pivital event in Middle East Politics after the second world war. Hammel provides an excellent detailed account of the war in six days in june. Tactical Retelling of 1967 Six Day War
Hammel's "Six Days of War" is one of the best secondary sources available regarding the 1967 Six-Day War. It is written in a popular format rather than an academic research format although it does have extensive references and a large bibliography. The book is clearly intended for popular consumption rather than discussion of university academics. Hammel is a well-known military writer and has extensively written about WWII although this is his first foray into the volatile military environment of the Middle East.Read more

Subjects:  1. Campaigns    2. Causes    3. History - Military / War    4. History, Military    5. History: World    6. Israel    7. Israel-Arab War, 1967    8. Jewish    9. Middle East    10. Military - General    11. Military History - U.S. Civil War    12. Asian / Middle Eastern history    13. Egypt    14. Jordan    15. Syria    16. War & defence operations    17. c 1960 to c 1970   

Subjects:  1. History    2. History: World    3. Middle East - General    4. Asian / Middle Eastern history: postwar, from c 1945 -    5. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    6. Jordan   

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History: American    4. Middle East - General    5. ASIA    6. Asian / Middle Eastern history    7. History / Middle East    8. Jordan--History    9. Modern period, c 1500 onwards    10. Ottoman Empire    11. World history   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Government - Comparative    3. History - General History    4. Jordan    5. Middle East - General    6. Political Science    7. Politics and government    8. Politics/International Relations    9. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    10. Political Science / Foreign Legal Systems   

Subjects:  1. Asia - Central    2. Description And Travel    3. Guidebooks    4. Jordan    5. Middle East - General    6. Middle East - History    7. Travel    8. Travel - Foreign    9. Historical geography    10. Places & peoples: general interest   

Reviews (15)

Exposing the falsifiers
This book is an important exposure of academic mendacity and intellectual dishonesty. Karsh carefully reads the ' so- called revisionist historians' and shows how they have deliberately falsified records, used skimpy facts, made massive generalizations from a single instance, omitted and slanted evidence that contradicts their own claims.
A very revealing book
This is a classic book.I read it when it first came out.It had a big effect on me.It may have changed me as a person more than any other book I have ever read.
This is how history should be written.
Rely on primary sources.
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Subjects:  1. 1917-1948    2. Foreign relations    3. Great Britain    4. Historiography    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Israel-Arab War, 1948-1949    9. Jewish-Arab relations    10. Jordan    11. Middle East - General    12. Middle East - Israel    13. Palestine    14. Asian / Middle Eastern history: from c 1900 -    15. History / Middle East    16. Israel   

Editorial Review

In 1897, under order of First Zionist Congress president Theodor Herzl, two Austrian rabbis traveled to Palestine to explore the possibility of locating a Jewish state there. "The bride is beautiful," the rabbis cabled Herzl, "but she is married to another man." That "other man" was the Palestinian Arab nation, long established in the region as a political entity. Undeterred, Herzl pressed on with his program of emigration, ignoring Palestine's existing occupants and creating in the process what came to be known as the "Arab question."Read more

Subjects:  1. History: World    2. 20th century    3. Asian / Middle Eastern history: postwar, from c 1945 -    4. International relations    5. Jordan    6. Middle East    7. North Africa   

Subjects:  1. Charities    2. Egypt    3. General    4. History    5. History: World    6. Jordan    7. Middle East - General    8. Social institutions    9. Sociology    10. Sociology - General    11. Yemen   

Subjects:  1. Ancient - General    2. Bible Commentary    3. History    4. Inscriptions, Semitic    5. Israel    6. Jews    7. Jordan    8. Middle East - Israel    9. Ostraka    10. Religion    11. Religion - Commentaries / Reference    12. Ancient Near East    13. Other prose: classical, early & medieval    14. Religion: general   

Reviews (4)

A light on the cultural logic in a hotly contested place
I read this book for an introductory cultural anthropology course I took for personal enrichment.Although it does not at all explore the conflict between Israelis & Palestinians, it did give me some astounding insights into why conflicts in that region of the world seem so intractable to Westerners.It reveals how personal and political identities are created in societies and cultures that are tribal and oral.It challenges easy assumptions that writing things down is simple and desirable, and that talking produces political peace.
New View of History
Andrew Shryock captures the fragmented nature of oral histories among the Bedouin tribes of a Jordanian region known as the Balga. This text, which is actually an ethnography, brings into relief greater concepts of history that are often not obvious.The histories that Andrew collects have never been written, except a few segments in travelogues. This brings to mind questions about the unsubstantiated faith in written historical texts. Andrew illustrates that it is possible to interrogate the oral histories in the same way other historians interrogate archival data. Questions of the source of the document, the identity of the author, the comparison of data with other sources creates a "complete reality" of history. While Andrew flirts with this definition of history in chapter one when he compares the data he retrieves from oral histories to data found in archives, he also opens several other issues entirely. The oral histories of the Balga tribes are by their very nature fragmentary and disjointed. They do not lend themselves to a uniform, linear universal whole history. Instead, they provide only highlights. This brings to mind a question of validity for so-called modern history. How much is filled in like the archeologist filling in the gaps in crumbled structures? Is it possible that the Balga tribes' oral histories, untouched by the pressure of conformity, be closer to historical truth than the modern version whose rough edges have been hewn squarely into a proper line? Andrew also illustrates the uses that are not directly historical. Oral histories contribute a part to building political clout and are propagated because of political clout. Moreover, the oral histories play a part in identity forming for young members of the tribes. They relate to their place in the universe, not only in the tribe, but also in relation to other tribes, Jordanian politics and the world at large, based on how they see themselves in relation to the oral histories. For these two purposes, the non-textual aspect of the oral histories is part of their significance, part of their social power.It brings into question classic historical texts all over the world. Exactly how historically accurate is everything we call history? An excellent piece of work, it's easy to see why it won scholastic awards.

Fantastic--Very Insightful, Informational
The author does an excellent job of skirting the volatile plausibility of transcribing oral histories to the written word.For anyone wanting to understand both the intricacies and basic histories of the Jordanian BalgaBedouin, it is a fascinating read.Having a Jordanian father and aPalestinian mother, I especially enjoyed Shryock's investigation into theirage-old rivalries.Tribalism is alive and well, as Shryock adeptly shows,and he brings it to us in clear and cunning detail. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Bedouins    3. Genealogy    4. Historiography    5. Jordan    6. Middle East - General    7. Oral tradition    8. Sociology    9. Ethnography    10. Oral history    11. Social Science / Anthropology / General   

Reviews (3)

I've never seen more beautiful photos of this region.
The quality and composition of these photographs is utterly stunning.I cannot part with this book even 10 years after buying it.It is a huge book, but it is such a masterpiece of photography that it is worth having.

A nice pictorial account of the beauty of the desert
There are a very few books about the natural heritage of the desert lands of Egypt, Jordan and Israel. This book attempts to capture visuals of the desert areas in the three countries with basic emphasis on Sinai. The book is split into chapters according to geographical locations of the areas photographed, and Sinai is given a chapter alone (it should be noted that Sinai is part of Egypt). The photos were an effort done in the seventies-eighties and therefore remain unspoiled by the modern resort developments popping up in and around the coasts of the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula. A photographer myself, and having been in many of the areas displayed in the book, the pictures taken for Mount Moses and Saint Catherine monetary in Sinai are some of the best I have seen published. The book is largely a personal experience, and is provided in a narrative fashion. The one thing I found annoying about this was that the photos are provided without captions, if you want to know where each photo was taken you have to look at the photo index at the end of each chapter. After a while this becomes a tiring task especially if you want to peruse the photos without reading the text. This however doesn't stop the book from being nice in look and design.Get this book if you have been to these desert areas or plan to go there, it is nice pictorial account of the beauty of the desert. However, if you are scientifically interested in a descriptive account of their natural features and characteristics this book will be of little help, it is also of little aid as a travel companion. For me, it was worth the buy for the nice photos. If you are looking for some hardcore scientific information about the natural heritage of Sinai with beautiful professionally taken photos you are better off with another highly pictorial book, "the Natural Heritage of Egypt", published by the Tourism Development Authority in Egypt and authored by a professional photographer Rafik Khalil. The photos are extraordinarily and rare with good solid scientific explanations.

Next best thing to being there!
This is a rich diet of unusually beautiful pictures; a collection ofvivid scenes. You feel like you're there... You'll wish that you were there! Ah, but Folberg's eye is even better than yours or mine. Open up(pun intended) and let him teach you how to see. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions    2. Egypt    3. History    4. Israel    5. Jordan    6. Middle East - General    7. Palestine in art    8. Photo Essays    9. Photoessays & Documentaries    10. Photography    11. Pictorial works    12. Scenic Photo Collections    13. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Middle East    14. Middle East    15. Photographs: collections    16. Places & peoples: general interest   

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Reviews (4)

King Abdulla was a Real Politician
King Abdullah, the founder of Jordan, and son of Sherif Hussein, and grandfather of King Hussein, was a real Arab politician, that I believe Avi has given mostly the best of judgment.
Excellent account of Jordan's formation, Abdullah & 1948
While much maligned, Avi Shlaim writes an honest and cogent history of Abdullah, Jordan, British involvement in the Middle East and the conflict between Palestinians and Jews leading to 1948.His viewpoint, which many in the dwindling "Peace Now" movement share, needs to be understood.The history he writes is like nothing you will get reading mainstream writers like Bernard Lewis. Don't be scared away by those who say Shlaim's writings are "radical left-wing propaganda."It is nothing of the sort...simply an opinion based on what we should know any ethnic group is capable of doing to "others."

One of the best books on early Zionist-Jordanian relations
I read the unabridged version of the Politics of Partition (called "Collusion Across the Jordan") and found it to be an excellent history.My only regret is that Shlaim didn't keep his original title.In reaction to an earlier review, Efraim Karsh's book "FabricatingIsraeli History" DOES NOT disprove Shlaim's assertions at all. Karsh's problem is that he can't tolerate the facts that have beenuncovered since Israel's thirty-year law made thousands (perhaps millions)of pertinent documents available.Anyone who reads both books will seethat Karsh does not even begin to disprove the well-documented historieswritten by the revisionist Israeli historians (Benny Morris, Avi Shlaim,Ilan Pappe, Uri Milstein, or Avner Cohen, to name some of the mostprominent).I highly suggest Shlaim's book along with Benny Morris's book"The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem" and"TheRoad Not Taken" by Itamar Rabinovich.These were some of the firstbooks to reveal how Zionist leaders dealt pragmatically and forcefully withtheir Arab neighbors to create the new Jewish state. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1882-1951    2. Abdullah,    3. Foreign Relations    4. International Relations - General    5. Israel    6. Jordan    7. King of Jordan,    8. Middle East - General    9. Political History    10. Political Process - Political Parties    11. Political Science    12. Politics / Current Events    13. Politics/International Relations    14. Abdullah    15. Asian / Middle Eastern history: from c 1900 -    16. Biography: royalty    17. Diplomacy    18. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    19. Middle East    20. Palestine    21. Political Science / History & Theory    22. Politics | Comparative Politics | Middle East    23. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    24. Second World War, 1939-1945    25. Warfare & Defence   

Reviews (5)

The only history source on Jordan
The Modern History of Jordan is perhaps the one and only source about the history of this country ever since it was formed under the leadership of Hashemite King Abdullah I.
Big fish, small pond
This is THE book on the history of Jordan. I mean that literally: you won't find any other general works in English. Salibi is a respected historian who has written interesting works about Lebanon, so this tepid history of Jordan is something of a disappointment. It's not an awful book, but nor is it a very good one. A Modern History of Jordan
Jordan-that country conjured out of sand and hills by Winston Churchill at the Cairo conference in March 1921--has always had a question mark over its existence. For the first thirty years, King 'Abdullah tried to trade Amman, his backwater capital, for Damascus or Jerusalem. King Husayn struggled during four decades to fend off many predators, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and the PLO. As recently as July 1994, he stated that Jordan "is susceptible to fragmentation." Salibi, professor of history at the American University of Beirut, provides an excellent basis for grappling with these fundamental questions about the Jordanian polity. In two of the book's most important chapters, he chronicles the Hashemite dynasty which produced the kings of Jordan and tells the history of the territory that Churchill would eventually make into Jordan. Particularly important for today's Jordan-is-Palestine advocates to note, Salibi shows that the British did not control Transjordan during the eight critical months between the French conquest of Damascus in July 1920 and the Cairo Conference. The sections dealing with more recent history provide a competent and useful account of political developments, but they do not provide new perspectives; more surprisingly, they have nothing to say about the culture and economy of modern Jordan, a major lapse.Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History: World    4. Middle East - General    5. Asian / Middle Eastern history: from c 1900 -    6. International relations    7. Jordan    8. Political Science / International Relations   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Intifada, 1987-    3. Middle East - General    4. Political Discontent And Violence    5. Politics / Current Events    6. Politics/International Relations    7. Asian / Middle Eastern history    8. History / General    9. Jordan   

Subjects:  1. Bedouins    2. Customs & Traditions    3. Ethnic Studies - General    4. Ethnic identity    5. Ethnohistory    6. History - General History    7. Jordan    8. Middle East - General    9. Middle East - History    10. Social life and customs    11. Sociology    12. Cultural studies    13. Indigenous peoples    14. Social groups & communities