Teddy Roosevelt: More on His Racial Theories
I’ve been amazed in reading James Bradley’s Imperial Cruise to discover how pervasive racial theories dominated political thought and action …
Category Archives: Books
El Callejon de los Milagros
El Callejon de los Milagros is a Mexican movie, with the marvelous Salma Hayek in the lead role, based on …
Imperial Cruise by James Bradley — A Secret History of Empire and War
We have been recently treated to a bit of public discussion about those who re-write history in order to clean …
The Stoning of Soraya M — A Film of Iran
Of all the terrible means human beings have used to put others to death few exceed stoning for sheer cruelty; …
Adrift on the Nile — a Novel of Egypt by Naguib Mahfouz
I came to Naguib Mahfouz’s novel Adrift on the Nile after having seen the movie of the same name. As …
Adrift on The Nile – A Film from Egypt, Mahfouz
Adrift on the Nile is a 1971 film from Egypt, directed by Hussein Kamal, who has some 10 movies to his …
Middle East Literarary Landscapes
I gave, and received, this year a notable reminder that the cultures of the Middle-East — Iranian, Arabic, Turkish– have …
Wedding Song by Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt
Wedding Song, by Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel Prize winning Egyptian author, was written in 1981 well into his writing life which …
The Sand Fish – a Novel from Dubai
The Sand Fish, a novel by Maha Gargash of Dubai, apparently written in English, is another of the suggestions for …
The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt
I wrote last week about an Egyptian novel, Stealth, by Sonallah Ibrahim, which while I liked I felt presented certain …
Climate Change – Ravaging Adélie Penguins
In a book review of Fraser’s Penguins we get the bare, scary facts. As with spotted owls or the Abra …
Stealth a Novel by Sonallah Ibrahim, Egypt
Ignorance of Arabic writing in the West might only be exceeded by ignorance of that of any particular nationality in …