The Middle East Journal articles from January 2004

The Middle East Journal archives from January 2004

Editor's note.(Editorial)
January 1, 2004... There are turning points in modern Middle Eastern history which stand out, of course. The Arab-Israeli wars, obviously, are among the benchmarks. But few would hesitate to list the Iranian Revolution of 1979 among the most influential turning...

The Iranian Revolution: an oral history with Henry Precht, then State Department desk officer.(Interview)
January 1, 2004... Henry Precht, Country Director for Iran in the State Department, 1978-80, held a key position during the Iranian Revolution. Previously, he had served in Embassy Tehran, 1972-76, as political-military officer. Here follow relevant excerpts from...

Oman's diverse society: northern Oman.
January 1, 2004... Although the majority of Oman's population is Arab and either Ibadi or Sunni Muslim, the country exhibits a wealth of diversity in ethnic groups and native languages. While these other groups are often small in total size, they are represented...

Jordan and the Palestinian Authority: did better fences make better neighbors?
January 1, 2004... The following article explores whether the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 led to an improvement in relations between the Palestine Liberation Organization/Palestinian Authority (PLO/PA) and Jordan since 1994. The issue is...

The Palestinian-Transjordanian rift: economic might and political power in Jordan.
January 1, 2004... The political developments in Jordan since the events of 1970-71 shaped the Palestinian community and Transjordanian society (mostly tribal) into two conflicting ethnic groups. The Jordanian Palestinians are a political minority, while...

Jordan: the death of normalization with Israel.
January 1, 2004... Many would count Jordanian-Israeli normalization among the victims of the new intifada. Three factors, however, had brought about the death of normalization in Jordan well before October 2000: Israeli intransigence, a regime crackdown on the...

Chronology: July 16, 2003-October 15, 2003.(Calendar)
January 1, 2004... ABBREVIATIONS Al-Jazeera.com AN, www.ArabicNews.com AP, Associated Press DailyStar.com BBC, www.bbc.co.uk FT, Financial Times The Estimate The Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk Gulf-News.com JT, Jordan...

"The Islam industry" and scholarship.(reviews of nine books examining Islam)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Future of Political Islam, by Graham E. Fuller. New York: Palgrave, 2003. xix + 213 pages. Notes to p. 220. Index to p. 227. $29.95. Face to Face with Political Islam, by Francois Burgat. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2003. xvii + 185 pages....

Israelis and Palestinians: Why do They Fight?(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Bernard Wasserstein. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. x + 176 pages. Maps. Chron. to p. 192. Notes to p. 207. Sel. bibl. to p. 214. Index to p. 226. $25. Professor Bernard Wasserstein, newly of the University of Chicago, does...

The Quest for Modernity: Secular and Left-Wing Political Thought in Egypt, 1945-1958.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Role Meijer. London, UK and New York: Routledge Curzon, 2002. x + 254 pages. Bibl. to p. 268. Index to p. 278. $79.95. Why Egyptian intellectuals were willing to trade democratic aspirations for an authoritarian progressivism before and...

Religion and Folk Cosmology: scenarios of the visible and invisible in rural Egypt.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by El-Sayed el-Aswad. Westport, CT and London, UK: Praeger, 2003. xii + 177 pages. Maps. Tables. Bibl. to p. 195. Index to p. 206. $63.95. El-Aswad's book is an expedition into a world, or perhaps more precisely a world view. This is the...

Society, Politics and Economics in Mazandaran, Iran, 1848-1914.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Mohammad Ali Kazembeyki. London, UK and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. xix + 210 pages. Maps. Appends. to p. 227. Notes to p. 303. Index to p. 328. $85. In six chapters, Mohammad Ali Kazembeyki discusses the economic and political...

The Nation and Its "New" Women: the Palestinian Women's Movement 1920-1948.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Ellen L. Fleischmann. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2003. xv + 210 pages. Abbrevs. Appends. to p. 217. Notes to p. 306. Bibl. to p. 327. Index to p. 335. $65 cloth; $29.95 paper. The book under review...

Liberalization Against Democracy: the Local Politics of Economic Reform in Tunisia.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Stephen J. King. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003. xii + 140 pages. Bibl. to p. 154. Index to p. 161. $21.95 paper. Stephen King argues against the view that free markets and democracy go hand in hand in transitional...

Oteki Turkiye'de Din ve Modernlesme [Religion and Modernization in "Other" Turkey].(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Necdet Subasi. Ankara: Vadi Yayinlari, 2003. 184 pages. In his new book Oteki Turkiye'de Din ve Modernlesme, Necdet Subasi examines the sources and implications of religious modernization of "other Turkey." He first problematizes the...

Ittihat-Terakki ve Cihan Harbi.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... [The Committee of Union], by Zafer Toprak. Istanbul: Homer Kitabevi, 2003. 268 pages. Bibl. to p. 484. Index to p. 502. $16 paper. The Turkish Republic was a product of a society continuously at war between 1911 and 1923. Therefore, without...

Women of Jordan: Islam, Labor, and the Law.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Amira El-Azhary Sonbol. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2002. xi + 262 pages. Notes to p. 274. Gloss. to p. 280. Bibl. to p. 286. Index to p. 300. $45 cloth; $24.95 paper. It is a striking fact about the women of Jordan that...

Possessors and Possessed: Museums, Archaeology, and the Visualization of History in the Late Ottoman Empire.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Wendy M.K. Shaw. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA and London, UK: University of California Press, 2003. xi + 225 pages. Maps. Illustrations. Notes to p. 245. Bibl. to p. 260. Index to p. 269. $60. Informed by the novel critical insights...

Kazan and Moscow: Five Centuries of Crippling Coexistence under Russian Imperialism (1552-2002).(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Shafiga Daulet. Hudson, NH: Kase Press, 2003. xvi + 544. Notes to p. 577. Bibl. to p. 622. Appends. to p. 826. $55 paper. When the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, many of the former Union's non-Russian nationalities began the...

American Oil Diplomacy in the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Gawdat Bahgat. Gainesville, FL: xiii + 173 pages. Gloss. to p. 178. Notes to p. 192. Bibl. to p. 206. Index to p. 213. $39.95. American Oil Diplomacy by Professor Gawdat Bahgat of Indiana University of Pennsylvania is a thorough and...

Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Akbar S. Ahmed. Oxford, UK: Polity, 2003. ix + 172 pages. Notes to p. 184. Refs. to p. 196. Index to p. 213. BP 45 cloth; 12.95 paper. Akbar S. Ahmed's provocative new book, Islam Under Siege, features a blurb on the cover by Professor...

Progressive Muslims.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... ed. by Omid Safi. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications, 2003. xi + 332 pages. Further reading to p. 340. Index to p. 351. $25.95 paper. Will Islam's "silenced majority" (1) reclaim its voice or will the extremists continue to set the agenda?...

Voices from Iran: the Changing Lives of Iranian Women.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Mahnaz Kousha. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2002. 228 pages. Notes to p. 238. Bibl. to p. 244. $19.95 paper. The most appealing aspects of the book under review are the author's empathy with her subjects and her serious...

The Idea of Women under Fundamentalist Islam.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... by Lamia Rustum Shehadeh. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003. xiii + 249 pages. Notes to p. 275. Gloss. to p. 281. Sel. Bibl. to p. 314. Index to p. 321. $55. Lamia Rustum Shehadeh surveys writings and speeches of nine...

Women and Gender in Early Jewish and Palestinian Nationalism.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003. xvi + 179 pages. Notes to p. 196. Bibl. to p. 207. Index to p. 224. $55. Sheila Katz structures her study on the premise that early Jewish and Palestinian nationalisms were more similar...

Yasir Arafat: a Political Biography.(Biography)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography, by Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 272 pages. Map. Notes to p. 318. Gloss. to p. 321. Chron. to p. 327. Sel. bibl. to p. 344. Index to p. 354. $27.50. The authors...

Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict.(Arab-Israeli Conflict)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, by Norman G. Finkelstein. London, UK and New York: Verso, 2003. Second edition, xxxviii + 183 pages. Appendix to p. 198. Notes to p. 280. Index to p. 287. $20 paper. In the second edition of...

The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Oslo and the Lessons of Failure.(Arab-Israeli Conflict)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Oslo and the Lessons of Failure, ed. by Robert L. Rothstein, Moshe Ma'oz, and Khalil Shikaki. Brighton, UK and Portland, OR: Sussex Academic Press, 2002. xvii + 169 pages. Contribs. to p. 171. Index to p....

Politicide: Ariel Sharon's War Against the Palestinians.(Arab-Israeli Conflict)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Politicide: Ariel Sharon's War Against the Palestinians, by Baruch Kimmerling. London, UK and New York: Verso, 2003. 217 pages. Recommended reading to p. 220. Index to p. 234. $22. In this book, Baruch Kimmerling, an Israeli sociologist, aims...

Right to Exist: a Moral Defense of Israel's War.(Arab-Israeli Conflict)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's War, by Yaacov Lozowick. New York: Doubleday, 2003. ix + 307 pages. Timeline. Index to p. 326. $26. Noted Israeli peace activist and director of Israel's Holocaust Museum, Yaacov Lozowick presents a...

The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia, 1917-1919.(Iran)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia, 1917-1919, by Mohammad Gholi Majd. Lanham, MD, Boulder, CO, New York, and Oxford, UK: University Press of America, 2003. 146 pages. Index to p. 157. $31 paper. Majd brings the Persian famine, an issue...

Safavid Iran and Her Neighbors.(Iran)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Safavid Iran and Her Neighbors, ed. by Michel Mazzaoui. Salt Lake City, UT: The University of Utah Press, 2003. vii + 193 pages. Index to p. 209. $32.50. This collection of eight short articles seeks to describe the Safavid period of Iran...

Lebanon in Limbo: Postwar Society and State in an Uncertain Regional Environment.(Lebanon)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Lebanon in Limbo: Postwar Society and State in an Uncertain Regional Environment, ed. by Theodor Hanf and Nawaf Salam. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2003. 228 pages. $49. This book is a compilation of the works presented at the World...

Turkey in Germany: the Transnational Sphere of Deutschkei.(Turkey)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Turkey in Germany: The Transnational Sphere of Deutschkei, by Betigul Ercan Argun. London, UK and New York: Routledge, 2003. xix + 173 pages. Bibl. to p. 192. Index to p. 199. $70. This book is an examination of the Turkish diaspora in Germany...

Covering the Intifada: How the Media Reported the Palestinian Uprising.(Education And Media)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Covering the Intifada: How the Media Reported the Palestinian Uprising, by Joshua Muravchik. Washington, DC: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2003. 125 pages. $19.95. This book attempts to demonstrate the fallibility of certain US...

Embedded: Weapons of Mass Destruction (How the Media Failed to Cover the War on Iraq).(Education And Media)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Embedded: Weapons of Mass Destruction (How the Media Failed to Cover the War on Iraq), by Danny Schechter. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003. 281 pages. About the author. $26. Longtime journalist and media watcher, Danny Schecher brings his...

Framing Terrorism: the News Media, the Government, and the Public.(Education And Media)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Framing Terrorism: The News Media, the Government, and the Public, ed. by Pippa Norris, Montague Kern, and Marion Just. New York and London, UK: Routledge, 2003. viii + 302 pages. Sel. bibl. to p. 312. List of tables to p. 315. Contribs. to p....

Adama.(Language And Literature)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Adama, by Turki Al-Hamad. London, UK: Saqi Books, 2003. 300 pages. $25 cloth. On the surface this book appears to be about the coming of age of a young man named Hisham. However, this book connects the story of Hisham's coming of age in Saudi...

Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed--and How to Stop it.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed--and How to Stop It, by Rachel Ehrenfeld. Foreword by R. James Woolsey. Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA: Bonus Books, 2003. xviii + 192 pages. Maps. Appendices to p. 205. Notes to p. 250. Index to p. 267....

Nation-Building: a Middle East Recovery Program.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Nation-Building: A Middle East Recovery Program, by Jerry M. Rosenberg. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc. 207 pages. Refs. to p. 217. About the author. $65 cloth; $29.95 paper. This book provides a thorough examination of the...

Germany and the Middle East: Past, Present, and Future.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Germany and the Middle East: Past, Present, and Future, ed. by Haim Goren. Jerusalem, Israel: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2003. xvii + 330 pages. List of contribs, to p. 332. Indexes to p. 350. $32. The conference papers collected in...

Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks, by Loretta Napoleoni. London, UK and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2003. xxiii + 206 pages. Groups to p. 222. Gloss. to p. 234. Notes to p. 261. Bibl. to p. 273. Index to p. 295....

The Globalization of Terror: the Challenge of Al-Qaida and the Response of the International Community.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Globalization of Terror: The Challenge of Al-Qaida and the Response of the International Community, by Yoram Schweitzer and Shaul Shay. New Brunswick, NJ and London, UK: Transaction Publishers, 2003. xiv + 223 pages. Index to p. 228....

Crude Politics: How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Crude Politics: How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism, by Paul Sperry. Nashville, TN: WND Books, 2003. xvi + 204 pages. Map. Appends. to p. 218. Notes to p. 240. Acknowledgements to p. 243. About the author. Index to p. 251....

Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance and Despair in the Middle East.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance and Despair in the Middle East, by Joyce M. Davis. New York: Palgrve Macmillan, 2003. ix + 202 pages. Notes to p. 208. Index to p. 214. $24.95. The author of Between Jihad and Salaam analyses and dissects the...

The Battle for Hearts and Minds: Using Soft Power to Undermine Terrorist Networks.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Battle for Hearts and Minds: using Soft Power to Undermine Terrorist Networks, ed. by Alexander T.J. Lennon. Cambridge, MA and London, UK: The MIT Press, 2003. xii + 392 pages. $25 paper. "Soft power" refers to the use of non-military tools...

The Nation-State in Question.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Nation-State in Question, ed. by T.V Paul, G. John Ikenberry, John A. Hall. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003. x + 371 pages. Tables and figures. Contribs. To p. 376. Index to p. 384. The Nation-State in Question brings...

Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and other South Asian Flashpoints.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Other South Asian Flashpoints, by Anita Pratap. New York: Penguin Books, 2003. 276 pages. $14 paper. This book is not merely a compilation of individual reports about...

Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World.(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World, by Robert Jay Lifton. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press/Nation Books, 2003. xii + 200 pages. Notes to p. 210. Acknowledgements. $12.95 paper. Psychiatrist Robert Lifton...

September 11 in History: a Watershed Moment?(Modern History And Politics)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... September 11 in History: A Watershed Moment?, ed. by Mary L. Dudziak. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003. 215 pages. Photos. Further reading to p. 222. Contribs. to p. 224. Acknowledgments. Index to p. 240. $22.95 paper. This book brings...

Crossroads to Islam: the Origins of the Arab Religion and the Arab State.(Philosophy, Religion, And Science)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Crossroads to Islam: The Origins of the Arab Religion and the Arab State, by Yehuda D. Nevo and Judith Koren. Amhurst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003. viii + 354 pages. Appends. to p. 425. Bibl. to p. 450. Index to p. 462. n.p. Archaeologist Yehuda...

Forbidding Wrong in Islam.(Philosophy, Religion, And Science)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Forbidding Wrong in Islam, by Michael Cook. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xii + 171 pages. Map. Index to p 185. $55 cloth; $20 paper. Cook's previous work on Islamic ethics is shortened and condensed into this...

The Great Confrontation: Europe and Islam Through the Centuries.(Philosophy, Religion, And Science)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Great Confrontation: Europe and Islam Through the Centuries, by Ilya V. Gaiduk. Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee, 2003. xiii + 208 pages. Notes to p. 236. Index to p. 254. $26. In this study, the author explores the complex structure of relations...

Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions: the Nurbakhshiya Between Medieval and Modern Islam.(Philosophy, Religion, And Science)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions: The Nurbakhshiya Between Medieval and Modern Islam, by Shahzad Bashir. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2003. xxxvi + 287 pages. Map. Abbrevs. Bibl. to p. 316. Index to p. 328. $49.95....

Moral Teachings of Islam.(Philosophy, Religion, And Science)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Moral Teachings of Islam, by Abdul Ali Hamid. New York: AltaMira Press, 2003. 150 pages, n.p. This book is a selection of Hadith sayings from the al-Adab-al mufrad (good behavior singled out) that encompass the important teachings of Islam, as...

Shaping the Current Islamic Reformation.(Philosophy, Religion, And Science)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Shaping the Current Islamic Reformation, ed. By B.A. Roberson. London, UK and Portland, OR: Frank Cass and Co., 2003. xxv + 211 pages. Gloss. Bibl. to p. 245. Contribs. to p. 248. Index to p. 262. $67.50 cloth; $27.50 paper. This book attempts...

How Many Miles to Babylon? Travels and Adventures to Egypt and Beyond, from 1300 to 1640.(Pre-20th Century History)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... How Many Miles to Babylon? Travels and Adventures to Egypt and Beyond, from 1300 to 1640, by Anne Wolff. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 2003. xvi + 283 pages. Illust. Abbrevs. Gloss. Appends. to p. 296. Index to p. 311. $20 paper....

Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East.(Women)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East, by Jennifer Scarce. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. 183 pages. Diagrams and Illustrations. Notes to p. 188. Sel. bibl to p. 192. $29.95 paper. Drawing on years of research and experience, former...