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MIDDLE EAST

Syria, Lebanon & Jordan

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Get the featured set of Essential Reading, our top picks of what to read, and get free shipping on anything else you order.

Item . Buy these 5 items as a set for $97 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Lonely Planet Syria & Lebanon

by Siona Jenkins | Ann Jousiffe

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2008
• PAPER
• 436 PAGES

This practical guide in the popular series includes a terrific overview of history, culture and attractions, as well as helpful travel information. (LBN03, $22.99)

Petra, The Rose-Red City

by Christian Auge | Jean-Marie Dentzer

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 2000
• PAPER
• 144 PAGES

Jam-packed with color illustrations, archival material, maps and site plans, this shirt-pocket encyclopedia is our best-selling book on Petra. (JRD13, $15.95)

Ancient Lebanon, Monuments Past and Present

by M. J. Strazzulla

• ARCHAEOLOGY
• 2006
• PAPER
• 72 PAGES

Ingenious overlay illustrations reveal 16 ancient monuments from the days of the Phoenicians, the Romans and the Christian crusaders. The sites are shown first as they look today and then, via an overlaid acetate illustration, as they looked in their heydays. (LBN05, $29.95)

The Bread of Angels

by Stephanie Saldana

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 2011
• PAPER
• 320 PAGES

Ostensibly in Syria on a Fulbright, the 26-year-old Stephanie Saldana seeks solace at a desert monastery, reads the Qur'an with a prominent woman scholar (a chic Sheikha), teaches at a madras -- and falls in love. Full of memorable characters, this illuminating memoir is also a delightful portrait of life in the old Christian district in Damascus. (SYR20, $15.00)

Syria & Lebanon Map

by Cartographia

• MAP

This clear travel map covers both Syria and Lebanon at a scale of 1:1,000,000. (SYR10, $12.00)

 

Also Recommended

Jordan Map

by Cartographia

• MAP

A folded, colorful map of Jordan at a scale of 1:700,000. (JRD18, $12.00)

Lonely Planet Middle East Phrasebook

by Lonely Planet Publications

• LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
• 2007
• PAPER
• 256 PAGES

A compact phrasebook in the Lonely Planet style. (MDE172, $10.99)

National Geographic Atlas of the Middle East

by

• REFERENCE
• 2008
• PAPER
• 128 PAGES

These maps graphically illustrate the history, politics, people and resources of the Middle East. With 40 photographs and 80 maps, including a two-page spread on each of the 16 nations. (MDE71, $21.95)

Syria, A Historical and Architectural Guide

by Warwick Ball

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2010
• PAPER
• 254 PAGES

With site plans, maps and a section of color photographs, Ball's compact handbook covers Syria's wealth of archaeological sites in authoritative detail. (SYR06, $19.95)

A History of Jordan

by Philip Robins

• HISTORY
• 2004
• PAPER
• 243 PAGES

An informative, brief history of Jordan and its monarchy from the 1920s to the present by a professor of politics at Oxford. Robins was previously a Jordan-based correspondent for the BBC and The Guardian. (JRD17, $32.99)

A History of the Arab Peoples

by Albert Hourani

• HISTORY
• 2010
• PAPER
• 624 PAGES

Called a landmark, masterpiece and essential to understanding the Middle East, Hourani's acclaimed chronicle of the political, spiritual, religious and cultural traditions of the Arab peoples is brought up to date with an afterword by noted Islamic scholar Malise Ruthven. (MDE11, $20.00)

A House of Many Mansions, The History of Lebanon Reconsidered

by Kamal Salibi

• HISTORY
• 1990
• PAPER
• 247 PAGES

A lucid history of Lebanon, balancing competing versions of the history of Lebanon's Christian and Muslim traditions. In the process, the Lebanese professor of history debunks some common myths and demonstrates how the persistent views of each of Lebanon's groups contribute to the current conflict. (LBN01, $28.95)

Dreams and Shadows, The Future of the Middle East

by Robin B. Wright

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2009
• PAPER
• 480 PAGES

Wright reports on the ideas, movements and obstacles to change in this incisive portrait. With chapters on the Palestinians, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Morocco. (MDE150, $18.00)

From Beirut to Jerusalem

by Thomas Friedman

• HISTORY
• 2012
• PAPER
• 530 PAGES

An illuminating and heartfelt exploration of the complex Middle East. Pulitzer Prize winner Friedman provides a personal and a scholarly perspective on the roots of the conflict. (MDE03, $17.00)

From the Holy Mountain, A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East

by William Dalrymple

• RELIGION
• 1999
• PAPER
• 496 PAGES

In this beautifully written hymn to Eastern Christianity, Dalrymple follows the journeys of ancient monks and scholars through Istanbul, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt. (MDE49, $20.00)

Islam, A Short History

by Karen Armstrong

• HISTORY
• 2002
• PAPER
• 230 PAGES

Armstrong brings authority and experience to this vivid, clear-headed survey of the history and impact of Islam from the birth of Muhammad to present-day challenges. The best short introduction to the subject. (ISL15, $15.95)

Lebanon, A House Divided

by Sandra MacKey

• HISTORY
• 2006
• PAPER
• 295 PAGES

First published in 1989, this portrait of a nation (with a new introduction by the author) illuminates the complex history of this tiny nation and the many factions that still tear it apart. (LBN04, $21.95)

Mirror of the Arab World, Lebanon in Conflict

by Sandra MacKey

• HISTORY
• 2009
• PAPER
• 309 PAGES

The tumultuous history of Lebanon illuminates not only the challenges that Arabs pose to themselves but also the fear and hostility that arise in response to perceived threats from the West. (LBN09, $17.95)

Nine Parts of Desire, The Hidden World of Islamic Women

by Geraldine Brooks

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 1996
• PAPER
• 256 PAGES

A highly readable overview of the role of women in Islamic society, drawn from the author's many interviews with women throughout the Arab World. (ARB06, $15.00)

Roman Arabia

by G.W. Bowersock

• HISTORY
• 1994
• PAPER
• 224 PAGES

A remarkable history of the Romans in the Arab world. For the traveler with scholarly inclinations, this lucid book provides essential background to the Roman archaeological sites in the Middle East. (MDE12, $29.00)

Petra, Splendors of the Nabataean Civilization

by Francesca Arianna Ossorio | Barbara A. Porter

• ARCHAEOLOGY
• 2009
• HARD COVER
• 303 PAGES

With color photographs of the temples, tombs and elaborate buildings, along with archival photographs and accompanying text. (JRD34, $60.00)

The Desert and the Sown

by Gertrude Bell | Rosemary O'Brien

• EXPLORATION
• 2008
• PAPER
• 368 PAGES

A fierce explorer and archaeologist, lyrical writer and cunning politician, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) spent much of her life traveling throughout present-day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan & Israel. (MDE59, $12.95)

Empress Zenobia, Palmyra's Rebel Queen

by Pat Southern

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 2009
• HARD COVER
• 216 PAGES

The subject of fantasy and fiction, Pat Southern's lively portrait of Empress Zenobia, the celebrated 3rd-century Queen of Palmyra (present-day Syria) hews carefully to what is known of her life and times. (SYR19, $39.95)

Leap of Faith, Memoirs of an Unexpected Life

by Queen Noor

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 2005
• PAPER
• 496 PAGES
• OUT OF PRINT

The absorbing, personal story of Jordan's American-born Queen Noor touches upon her husband's efforts at peacemaking, his death and contemporary Arab-Israeli relations. (JRD21, $15.99)

Married to a Bedouin

by Marguerite Van Geldermalsen

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 2010
• PAPER
• 279 PAGES

"Where you staying?" the Bedouin asked. "Why you not stay with me tonight -- in my cave?" Thus begins the fascinating odyssey of a young nurse from New Zealand who would marry and raise her family among the community of 100 Bedouin families living in the ancient city of Petra. (JRD35, $16.95)

Appointment with Death

by Agatha Christie

• MYSTERY
• 2011
• PAPER
• 256 PAGES

Hercule Poirot steps into the story when an American tourist on a grand tour of the Holy Land is found murdered in Petra. (JRD02, $12.99)

Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist

by Dorothy Gilman

• MYSTERY
• 1997
• PAPER
• 224 PAGES

Mrs. Pollifax must smuggle a manuscript out of Jordan, a document that encodes the shocking truth of Saddam Hussein's reign. (JRD32, $7.99)

White Masks

by Maia Tabet | Elias Khoury

• LITERATURE
• 2010
• HARD COVER
• 303 PAGES

Khoury (Gate of the Sun) infuses the spirit of Beirut into this beautifully written story of a journalist seeking the truth about the murder of a civil servant during the Lebanese Civil War. (LBN12, $22.00)

Birds of the Middle East

by Richard Porter | Simon Aspinall

• FIELD GUIDE
• 2010
• PAPER
• 384 PAGES

An outstanding guide to 700 species of the birds in the region from the Arabian peninsula to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Cyprus. Second edition. (MDE17, $39.95)

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