It has often been assumed that the subjects of the Ottoman sultans were unable to travel beyond their localities—since peasants needed the permission of their local administrators before they could le
Dominico Caracciolo was an important figure on the eighteenth-century European stage, holding high office as a diplomat in London, Turin and Paris, and as viceroy and prime minister in the Two Sicilie
The protests unleashed by Iran's disputed presidential election in June 2010 brought the Islamic Republic's vigorous cyber culture to the world's attention. Iran has an estimated 700,000 bloggers, and
There is ‘luxury and inconvenience on the one hand, liberty, hard living and filth on the other’. So Edward Lear described the mysterious and often misunderstood country of Albania. Edward Lear’s trav
What is it about UFOs that speaks to people with an apparently religious intensity? In this uncanny and frequently eerie assessment of the world of UFO-logy, Gregory L. Reece travels deep into this a
Since its inception in 1977, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has recognised almost 100 projects that have set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning, conservation and landscape desi
With new talks in the Middle East Peace Process about to begin, the shadows of previous negotiations fall heavily across all involved. In this powerful and absorbing testimony, one of leading figures
In this lavishly illustrated work, Zeina Maasri tells the tumultuous story of the struggle for Lebanon through the poster wars which raged on its streets.From 1975 to 1990, different factions i
For more than a hundred years, Central Asia was the heartland of the mightiest military power on the planet. But after the fragmentation of the all-conquering Mongol polity, the region began a steep d
More than forty years after his death, the spectral image of General Francisco Franco, the "Caudillo" or "Generalissimo" still haunts modern Spain, an uncomfortable reminder of a regrettable recent pa
During World War II, three distinct forces opposed the Allies: Germany, Italy, and Japan. Few areas of the world experienced domination by more than a single one of these, but southeastern France – th
At the height of World War II, while the Germans were setting their sights on Moscow, Free French, British and Australian forces launched an assault on the Vichy French army in the Middle East on 8th
The extraordinary life of Gertrude Bell was marked by myriad achievements. Although best known for her intrepid desert travels and her part in the creation of the modern state of Iraq, she also made a
Much of modernist architecture was inspired by the emergence of internationalism: the ethics and politics of world peace, justice and unity through global collaboration. Mark Crinson here shows how th
Science fiction is perhaps the most effective genre to explore the concerns of the present whilst reflecting on the possibilities of the future. But what precisely can it tell us about present and fut
In the next decade China’s actions on the world stage will affect us all. A new superpower, with the largest population and GDP on the globe, there are now fears that China is becoming more assertive.
A few years before he died, James MacGibbon confessed to his closest family members that he had spied for the Soviet Union during World War II. At the end of the war MI5 suspected him of espionage and
In Islamic law the world was made up of the House of Islam and the House of War with the Ottoman Sultan--the perceived successor to the Caliphs--supreme ruler of the Islamic world. However, Suraiya Fa
Gods, Demigods and Demons is a concise, yet wide-ranging encyclopedia of Greek mythology that promises a vivid introduction to the great myths of ancient Greece. Here are the gods of the Olympian pan
