Selected by Fred Rhodes

WHEN I LIVED IN MODERN TIMES

Rewriting the History of 1948

By Linda Grant published by Granta Books

ISBN 1 86207 410 0 price ?9.99 paperback

lt is April 1946 and armies of men and women are on the move across Europe, intent on coming home if they have homes left to go to. Evelyn Sert, a young hairdresser from Soho, is soon to arrive in the glittering white Bauhaus city of Tel Aviv, where Jewish refugees and idealists from all over Europe are gathering to forge not only the new Jew but a modern consciousness on the edge of the Middle East.

Indigenous Palestinians are pushed over neighbouring borders as the new Jews arrive to stake their claim.

Together with her lover Johnny, Evelyn is drawn into the heart of the struggle. But like the fate of the modernist architecture of the city, all these dreams will turn out to be not quite what the pioneers and refugees had imagined.

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2000.

DYING IN THE LAND OF PROMISE

Palestine and Palestinian Christianity from Pentecost To 2000

By Donald E Wagner published by Melisende

ISBN 1 901764 50 8 price ?12.50

Dying in the Land of Promise presents the reader with two simultaneous narratives, the dominant of which is the story of Palestinian Christianity. The narrative is set within the context of Palestine’s changing political and religious history. Gradually the secondary narrative overtakes the Christian narrative, particularly during the last 125 years with the rise of nationalism, Zionism, the triumph of Israel, and the dramatic decline of Palestinian Christianity in the Holy Land.

Written for the non-specialist and geared towards a western audience, this volume challenges traditional assumptions articulated in the mainstream media concerning the Christians of Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The history of Palestinian Christianity is tragic and inspiring, as it calls for a profound and immediate response from western Christians and all concerned friends to a community that is truly an endangered species in the ?land of promise’, given the present rates of emigration, economic blight, and an all too delayed resolution to the political conflict in the Holy Land today.

REAPING THE WHIRLWIND

The Taliban movement in Afghanistan

By Michael Griffin published by Pluto Press

ISBN 0 7453 1274 8 price ?19.99 hardback

Reaping the Whirlwind provides the first comprehensive profile of the Taliban in the 21st century. Drawing on numerous interviews with key protagonists, conducted over a period of several years, Michael Griffin provides a fascinating eyewitness account of the Afghan conflict. He explains the origins and beliefs of the Taliban movement, its religious and political ethos, and the character of its particular brand of so-called Islamic fundamentalism. Crucially, he examines the controversial nature of the Taliban’s international links with the US, Saudi Arabia, and other vested interests. Griffin also explores the Taliban’s connections with Osama bin Laden, drug barons and drug dealers, and the CIA’s ambiguous relationship with what is often viewed as an international Islamist conspiracy.

Situated between Asia, the Middle East and the former Soviet states, Afghanistan has historically fulfilled the role of a ?buffer state’. Resource-rich and strategically important, it has been of particular interest since the end of the Cold War to Saudi Arabia, Russia, Pakistan and the United States, as well as to drug barons, arms dealers and oil corporations. Afghanistan’s unstable and problematic history has been further complicated in recent years by the emergence of the Taliban ? perhaps the most conservative and least understood Islamic movement in the world.

ISLAMIC LAW

Theory and Practice

By Robert Gleave and Eugenia Kermeli

Published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 86064 652 2 price ?14.95 paperback

The papers in this collection were originally presented at a conference held at Ashurne Hall, University of Manchester in June 1995. Available for the first time in paperback, this volume deals with the theory and practice of Islamic law in both the formative classic and modern periods and over a range of societies. It is divided into four sections dealing with legal theory, fatwas and muftis in classical Islamic law, the position of religious minorities under Islamic law and modern developments in Islamic law.

Islamic Law: Theory and Practice explores the concept of ijtihad, or juristic disgression ? the process through which a jurist apprehends God’s law and can turn it into a legal ruling ? and how this has influenced the formulations of law in both Sunni and Shi’i Islam. The subject is viewed from a historical as well as a theoretical angle.

Here is a classic study ? a compendium of the most sophisticated work on this very important, if highly complex, area ? that holds its own not just in its specific field, but works as a valuable tool for a more general understanding of Islamic studies. A rich and expansive view of an ancient, but still thriving, legal system.

Copyright © IC Publications Limited 2001. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means or used for any business purpose without the written consent of the publisher. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained herein is as accurate as possible, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any consequences arising from its use.

Back to the top
Contents