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Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone

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A perfect pairing
Where we went wrong in Iraq
Intriguing and Informative
necessary for understanding the US in Iraq
Beware: May Cause Torrets

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III
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The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina

ASIN: 1400044871
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Book Description

An unprecedented account of life in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a walled-off enclave of towering plants, posh villas, and sparkling swimming pools that was the headquarters for the American occupation of Iraq.

The Washington Post’s former Baghdad bureau chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran takes us with him into the Zone: into a bubble, cut off from wartime realities, where the task of reconstructing a devastated nation competed with the distractions of a Little America—a half-dozen bars stocked with cold beer, a disco where women showed up in hot pants, a movie theater that screened shoot-’em-up films, an all-you-could-eat buffet piled high with pork, a shopping mall that sold pornographic movies, a parking lot filled with shiny new SUVs, and a snappy dry-cleaning service—much of it run by Halliburton. Most Iraqis were barred from entering the Emerald City for fear they would blow it up.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews and internal documents, Chandrasekaran tells the story of the people and ideas that inhabited the Green Zone during the occupation, from the imperial viceroy L. Paul Bremer III to the fleet of twentysomethings hired to implement the idea that Americans could build a Jeffersonian democracy in an embattled Middle Eastern country.

In the vacuum of postwar planning, Bremer ignores what Iraqis tell him they want or need and instead pursues irrelevant neoconservative solutions—a flat tax, a sell-off of Iraqi government assets, and an end to food rationing. His underlings spend their days drawing up pie-in-the-sky policies, among them a new traffic code and a law protecting microchip designs, instead of rebuilding looted buildings and restoring electricity production. His almost comic initiatives anger the locals and help fuel the insurgency.

Chandrasekaran details Bernard Kerik’s ludicrous attempt to train the Iraqi police and brings to light lesser known but typical travesties: the case of the twenty-four-year-old who had never worked in finance put in charge of reestablishing Baghdad’s stock exchange; a contractor with no previous experience paid millions to guard a closed airport; a State Department employee forced to bribe Americans to enlist their help in preventing Iraqi weapons scientists from defecting to Iran; Americans willing to serve in Iraq screened by White House officials for their views on Roe v. Wade; people with prior expertise in the Middle East excluded in favor of lesser-qualified Republican Party loyalists. Finally, he describes Bremer’s ignominious departure in 2004, fleeing secretly in a helicopter two days ahead of schedule.

This is a startling portrait of an Oz-like place where a vital aspect of our government’s folly in Iraq played out. It is a book certain to be talked about for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

A perfect pairing.......2007-06-28

I notice that Amazon is selling this with "Fiasco" as a cut-price pair. This is an inspired pairing, as both tell the US catastrophe in Iraq from entirely different angles. Like Mr. Ricks's book, this is no polemic. Mr. Chandrasekaran is scrupulously fair - he appreciates that many of the players acted from the best of motives, but that they were heavily blinkered by their ignorance of the country and its culture (sometimes deliberately so, the way modern business consultants regard it as a disadvantage to know anything about the business on which they're advising, so that their thinking may be "free and unencumbered"), and by political considerations, with young kids being given ministries to run purely because they were, as Alberto Gonzales would say, "loyal Bushies". The questions they answered to qualify? - What did they think of Roe v. Wade? Who was their favourite President? The most astonishing case to me was that of Fred Burkle, recognised universally as the "single most talented and experienced post-conflict health specialist working for the United States government", who was replaced by an inexperienced "loyal Bushie". It seems that all voices of wise counsel were simply ignored in the typical Bush fashion of seeing only what they wanted to see - the "faith-based" approach par excellence.

The modern concept of democracy evolved over a long time in the Western World - to expect to plant it in a country that had never known it and expect it to flourish overnight, even without this level of incompetence, was idiotic. As a result, the US and Iraq have paid a terrible price, and one I sadly believe that they'll continue to pay for years to come.

Where we went wrong in Iraq.......2007-06-08

This is a great book and an easy read. It shows what
happens when political ideology is more important than
compentence. The "Bushies" won the war then lost the peace
with arrogance and incompetence. The book shows why Iraq
became a quagmire and who was responsible.

Intriguing and Informative.......2007-06-05

This book was recommended by Amazon when I bought "Hubris" (which I have yet to read) and I thought, well, why not. My dad had already read this and urged me to read it since we've been talking about Iraq and the war. I picked it up last week and was unable to put it down. It wasn't like anything I thought it would be ~~ it wasn't dry and badly reported. It was very informative and I got the feeling that it was a rather unbiased viewpoint ~~ more like a reporting from a reporter who tried to report what he saw and heard, not what he feels or thinks. (No matter how hard a reporter tries, sometimes, you can still get a sense of what he's thinking as he's writing.)

Chandrasekaran is a good story-teller ~~ not as a fictional writer, but as a writer who observed the going-ons in the Green Zone and who interviewed hundreds of people who lived in the Green Zone. He showed the ambitions and hopes of those who came to Iraq to rebuild it. He showed the disappointments, the downfalls of those who worked there. Even more dangerously, he showed the incompetence of the Americans who worked in the Green Zone as they lived in a bubble removed from the realities of what the Iraq people were facing every single day. He provided the history of the Iraq people under the Sadam regime. Chandrasekaran is an excellent reporter who interviewed just about everyone from Bremer himself to the taxi cab driver. His book is chock full of information written in such a way that everything flows from one page to another that I just couldn't put the book down.

The spotlight reviewer Robert D. Steele sums up the book so well that really, I cannot write a review like his. All I know is that when I picked up this book, I was still clueless about what went on in Iraq. Now I am intrigued and saddened by the mess that is still on-going there. I am also even more disillusioned with the current administration than I was before. And I am following up this book with reading Gwynn Dyer's book "Future Tense" which explains even more the dire situation in Iraq.

If you are looking to be informed on the situation in Iraq, I highly recommend reading Chandrasekaran's book as he is a writer to read. I never knew half of what was going on and now, it's too dangerous to be ignorant of what is going on in the world.

6-5-07

necessary for understanding the US in Iraq.......2007-06-05

This book is a corrective response to those who see the US troubles in Iraq as due to a lack of American resolve or to the so-called "liberal media's" portrayal of the real story in Iraq. Those tempted to see the US occupation of Iraq as analogous to the past occupations of Germany and Japan would do well to read this and see how bad the premises underlying the US occupation in Iraq are.

Many are tempted to think of US troubles as being due to bad execution. As Chandrasekaran points out from first-hand stories, the decisions made during the occupation to favor zealousness and political ideology over pragmatism and cooperation, and to eschew a sophisticated view of Iraqi society and the Arab world, are part and parcel of US policy in Iraq. Long after the merits and demerits of more political books like State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III and Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War have become outdated and superseded by later works, Imperial Life will stand as a terrific first-hand account and valuable addition to libraries.

Chandrasekaran writes with a spare sense of irony that is utterly gripping. The stories speak for themselves in superb journalistic style.

Beware: May Cause Torrets.......2007-06-03

I found that my swearing on the commuter rail as I read this frightened the other passengers, so try to keep your rage on the inside. This is a great book and well worth reading. The view is fair and the writing flows nicely, it'd be a pleasure to read if it were only fiction.

Bush and company haven't built a shinning city on a hill and this book explains some of the reasons behind this fact. The level of incompetence and number of squandered opportunities are unimaginable and this book does an excellent job of stepping the reader through this nightmare.

I recommend reading this with a cell phone by your side and your representatives numbers on speed dial.

The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City

Average customer rating:

excellent analysis of issues about Jerusalem
Propaganda passing for scholarly research
The fight for Jerusalem and the clash of civilizations
A fascinating book worth reading or hearing the audio version
Enlightening

The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City
Dore Gold
Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 159698029X

Book Description

Radical Islam has long desired to seize Jerusalem and cut it off to Christian and Jewish believers. In his revealing new book, The Fight for Jerusalem, bestselling author and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold explains why the battle for Jerusalem is intensifying today. Gold shows why only Israel can preserve its holy places for Christians, Jews, and even Muslims, and why uncovering Jerusalem's past-and the truth of biblical history-can be the key to saving its future.

Customer Reviews:

excellent analysis of issues about Jerusalem.......2007-06-27

Dore Gold writes with typical clarity concerning the issues concerning Jerusalem, including the battles going back through the ages. If you want to get a readable, informative history, then get this book.

Propaganda passing for scholarly research.......2007-06-05

Dore Gold is one of the hardline political opeatives who worked for Ariel Sharon and found Sharon's moderating politics towards the end of his political careeer not to his liking. Gold's view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is quite close to the ultra-nationalist politics of Likud. For him, any compromise with the Palestinians enourages more terror. Hamas are no better than the Taliban. If Israel gives them an inch of Jerusalem they will take a mile and turn Jerusalem into the capital of the new world-wide Muslim caliphate.

Despite miles of footntoes, Gold relies for evidence on surprisingly flimsy reeds: podcasts, websites, sermons and books are the proof he uses to claim that there is a worldwide Muslim conspiracy to take over Jerusalem and the rest of the western world.

If you're a neocon or a hardline supporter of the Israeli right, you'll love this book. It will confirm all yr worst fears of Arabs. But if you try to keep an open mind about this conflict and find both fault and favor with both sides, then steer clear. This is a propaganda tract that passes itself off as a thoroughly researched scholarly tome.

The fight for Jerusalem and the clash of civilizations .......2007-05-16

This book is divided into three sections. In the first the religious dimension of Jerusalem is considered. The meaning of Jerusalem for Ancient Israel, for Christianity , and for Classical Islam are accurately and fairly outlined. In the second part of the book which considers the diplomatic struggle over Jerusalem, there is chapter devoted to the Birth of 'Modern Israel', one to 'Jerusalem, the Palestinian Arabs and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan', and one to the 'Arab- Israel Peace Process.' The third and most important section of the book is devoted to Radical Islam and Jerusalem. There is a chapter on 'Destruction of the Holy Sites', one on 'Jerusalem as Apocalyptic Trigger for Radical Islam, one 'The West and the Freedom of Jerusalem'.
In this third section of the book Gold gives a short history of the development of Radical Islam. He tells of the Islamic destruction of the religious sites of other faiths, from the largest Buddhist statues in the world in Afghanistan to sites in the heart of the Arab world. He shows how Western diplomatic concessions have not led to moderation but rather an intensification of fanaticism by radical Islamists. He tells the story of the Muslim destruction of important archaeological remains in Jerusalem. He shows how radical Islam's obsession with Jerusalem is another manifestation of the clash of civilizations between radical Islam and other religious faiths and civilizations.
The demonstrating of Islamic disrespect and destruction for the Holy Places of others is at the heart of his argument that Jerusalem must remain undivided under Israeli rule. Additional evidence for this claim is given by the Palestinian reaction to Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the Shiite Hizbollah's reaction to Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Both of these withdrawals did not lead to moderation and peace, but rather to more violence against Israel. Gold shows how the Islamist Palestinians have when given civilian control over a city or area persecuted and led to the exile of its Christians .The most blatant example is Bethlehem which has not simply lost its Christian majority but seen the greatest share of its Christian population leave the City. Gold says that had Israel in September 2000 relinquished control over the Old City of Jerusalem to the Palestinians the result would have been the destruction of a a good share of it. Gold also considers the possibility of internationalization of the Holy City , and provides convincing evidence that the U.N. could not handle this job effectively any more than it handled the job in Rwanda or Bosnia. Gold also points to the inherent prejudice of the U.N. against Israel, and says it could never be a fair and efficient manager of the Holy Sites.
This book makes a very strong case for Israel's maintaining exclusive control of the city.
But the arguments it presents focus more on the negatives of Islamic control than the positives of Israeli control. I would have liked to see more expansive treatment of how Israel has enhanced the city since taking over the Old City in 1967.
Nonetheless this is a must read for those for whom Jerusalem, and its future, is dear.

A fascinating book worth reading or hearing the audio version.......2007-04-26

If anyone complains about bias in this book, it hardly seems warranted seeing that all journalists and writers summarize events from their own standpoint or passion, as it were. Why would Dr. Gold be any different, if indeed he is? Besides, it is a known fact that about 95% of world opinion is sympathetic to the more militant Palistinian/Islamic view which attempts to wrest Jerusalem away from Israel, if not erase Israel off the map altogether. If certain powers that be don't outrightly say that they promote erasing Israel off the map, the intent to favor the Arab/Palistinian view is heavily weighed in upon constantly in newspapers and media both in the U.S., in Europe, and in the Middle East.

Dr. Gold's book gives the reader a thorough account of the history concerning Jerusalem and the Jewish people, the Muslims and the Christian interests and involvement with this ancient city. As he delves into the history from David and Solomon's time, clear up to 1948 when Israel became a state, I was fascinated and better understood just what had transpired with regard to Jerusalem for the last 3000 years or so. The unfolding of the convoluted events with regard to the Arabs, the Israelis, militant Islam, Europe and the U.S. is detailed all the way up to the present time (late 2006).

I have to commend Dr. Gold for his boldness in so thoroughly making his case concerning Jerusalem weighing in with excellent documentation to back up his perspective - you will know as you read that he is not just out there flinging around some populist opinion to stoke up the masses.

I am almost finished listening to the audio (in MP3 format), as I drive or do daily chores around the house. I have ordered the hardbound version of the book just as of today. Nadia May narrates the audio beautifully in her British accent and excellent diction.

I would highly recommend anyone to read this book or hear the audio for a thorough review of the complex Middle East situation. Whatever your viewpoint on the Middle East, you will find this to be a very informative book.

Enlightening.......2007-04-05

Fantastic book. Dr. Gold gives an accurate and enlightening history of HaIr KaKodesh, the Holy City. He shows the development of the culture, as well as the conquests and attitudes that have changed the world's perceptions. This book is not only for Jewish readers, but would also be an excellent resource for Muslims and Christians who wish to learn the facts, and not just the emotions of the situation facing the City.

Average customer rating:

This explains The Black Book
lost in melancholy
wonderful and evocative
Orhan and the City
A dreamy account of the past and growing up in Istanbul...

Istanbul: Memories and the City
Orhan Pamuk
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400033888
Release Date: 2006-07-11

Book Description

A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy–or hüzün– that all Istanbullus share: the sadness that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost empire.

With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappy parents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to the writers and painters–both Turkish and foreign–who would shape his consciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ Buenos Aires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.

Customer Reviews:

This explains The Black Book.......2007-06-13

Pamuk has lived in the city all his life: Istanbul, one of the most fascinating cities in the world, with a heavy and rich history as a city, capital of an empire, the spiritual heart of the new country Turkey. Having been to Istanbul I love the city and was fascinated by Pamuk's stories and photos (there are many black and white photos in the book). His main topic is, those who are of Istanbul have an inherent right to a special Turkish-Istanbul melancholy. He is very open about his family and feelings and growing up, his fears and loves.
This book explains a lot of Pamuk's The Black Book. If you read one, you should read the other.

lost in melancholy.......2007-06-12

A very melancholic memoir that at times seems to get lost in a not there not here, not east not west time and space ! somewhat interesting but not very compelling

wonderful and evocative.......2007-04-13

I found this truly wonderful and evocative in many ways--a place I had never been and always wondered about, history I knew only dimly, a way of life I hadn't imagined, how they changed from long before the author was born until he reached 50, and the feelings of a bright and sensitive child growing up there. The pictures are a great addition and would be truly miraculous if they could be larger and clearer than they are in the paperback. I could not find out whether they are better in the hard-back.

Orhan and the City.......2007-04-04

In his characteristic child-like voice of open-eyed wonder, Orhan Pamuk gives you not a tourist's or even a cultural tour of Istanbul, where he has lived all his life, but rather a key to the metaphors of place that link each of the author's books to each other.

A dreamy account of the past and growing up in Istanbul..........2007-04-02

In all Pamuk's novels, I like the digressions, descriptions and ambience most; I don't think the plot construction is his strength. That is why "Istanbul. Memories of the City" might be his best book - it is not a novel and there is no plot.

There are three planes present in "Istanbul". The first one is made of Pamuk's memories of the city, its specific kind of melancholy, which affects all Istanbullis ("huzun", which the author describes in comparison to the feeling studied by Robert Burton in "The Anatomy of Melancholy" and other melancholic European writers, finding examples also in the works of the writers who visited Istanbul and on whom the city left its unique mark, as well as bringing to mind the typical Sufi attitude), its dying, disappearing old neighborhoods with decrepit wooden houses and mansions, and the atmosphere of a former capital, which days of splendor passed long ago. Pamuk, born and raised in Istanbul, has never really left the city and still lives there, having come back to the apartment building, belonging to his family, where he spent most of his childhood. He reflects on Istanbul's influence on its denizens, including himself, and passionately describes his own ambiguous attitude to his city, his love mixed with hatred and boredom, his desire for change combined with his need to preserve the old charm...

The second level is the history of Turkey, from Byzantium, according to Pamuk, neglected and deemed unimportant by the Turks as a period which has left only the Greek minority and not much else behind, through the Middle Ages, times of Ottoman Empire and Ataturk, to the end of the twentieth century. Each period is described with nostalgia, but not without sharp criticism. Pamuk demonstrates his distance both towards the urge for westernization, the copying of European standards, and towards nationalism, chauvinism, feeling of superiority and dislike for Greek, Armenian and other minorities. He expresses his views firmly yet gently, without offense but leaving no doubt what is his opinion.

Interestingly, the third level, the most personal one, which is the memoir of the author's childhood and youth, shows his own doubts, prejudices and mistakes and his search for his own identity as a modern Turk as well as a creative artist. While the chronology of the Istanbul and Turkish history is not very precise, Pamuk's life proceeds from his birth to the student times more or less in order. He describes his life with the extended family, full of quarrels and hypocrisy, and his closest relatives - his mother, who seemed full of longing for something better, his father, failing in his business enterprises and living a second, separate life, his older brother, meticulous and teasing, and his grandmother, the queen of the household, who observed everything from her bed. Then, he proceeds to the account of his earliest, most personal, intimate feelings, then his school years, his artistic ventures, first, romantic love, unfortunate choice of architecture as the course of studies and, finally his arrival to the decision to become a writer.

All the planes combine in a unique way, wandering the streets of Istanbul evokes the historical memories, and the city undoubtedly had its giant share in shaping Pamuk's personality. The narrative flows in a characteristic, dreamy manner, with numerous references to literature and art, analyzing famous European works and introducing the Western readers to the Turkish poets, writers, journalists, painters and photographers. Pamuk's (Turkish?) obsession with the West is very visible, more than in his novels, the echoes of which sound in every passage in "Istanbul". Snow, always present in Pamuk's writings, appears here with double intensity, together with familiar themes of journal columnists, eloping couples, and family intrigues.

The book is full of carefully chosen, black and white photographs, some from Pamuk's family archives, some found at the old photo shops (the sources are listed at the end of the book), placed carefully between paragraphs. The pictures of cobblestone covered streets lined with wooden mansions, of streetcars and taxis, of laundry hanged to dry in the tiny cul-de-sacs, of the Bosphorus coast, enhance the text, add to the dreamy, magical quality and make excellent illustrations.

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An excellent book about a tough subject
Highly polished anti-Israeli propaganda
Highly informative, yet entertaining!
Many misconceptions
A history and a meditation

Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths
Karen Armstrong
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679435964
Release Date: 1996-05-07

Amazon.com

Jerusalem is the most famous city on the planet, a place vibrantly imagined even by people who have never been there. Karen Armstrong, author of the best-selling A History of God, shows why it might also be the most interesting, a sacred ground for rival Christians, Jews and Muslims. Much of her book is devoted to 5,000 years of history, but all of it addresses a longstanding and contemporary fascination unmatched by any other urban center.

Book Description

With 8 pages of color photographs and 82 illustrations in text.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent book about a tough subject.......2007-06-16

An excellent book about a tough subject. I learned a lot about this history of the city that me and my people aspire to become the capital of the Palestinian State.

One conclusion that struck me at the end of this spiritual quest, because this is more than a history of a city, Karen rightly concludes that a religion based on hatred of others is a self destructive. This is what the history of this tells us. That's why Jews and Christians have lost this city before to others. That doesn't mean Muslims automatically deserves this city. It means that only when this city is open to all, then this city and its rulers will live in peace.

I highly recommend this book for all.

Highly polished anti-Israeli propaganda.......2006-02-20

Much of the material tracing the earlier history of Jerusalem is well written and quite interesting. However, when the author approaches the re-emergence of a strong Jewish presence in Jerusalem all of her previous objectivity goes out the window as she argues that the Jews brutalize the Arabs and that things would be so much better if only the Jewish majority were ruled by the Arab minority.

Her portrait of Jerusalem as a divided and armed camp on p. 419, "Repeatedly ...." is simply false. It is true that the area of Jaffa Road and King George is no longer mixed, but the commercial interaction between Arabs and Jews has simply moved to Talpiot. You also see many clearly identifiable Arabs at the three campuses of the Hebrew University and both Hadassah hospitals. The remaining area of commercial activity in Jerusalem is the food industry where in restaurants, hotels and grocery stores you see Arabs running the kitchens in most restaurants and running a large part of the operations of many of the grocery stores. I see this every day living here in Jerusalem.

The idea that Jews buying properties and moving into Arab neighborhoods constitutes an act of war has its parallels in the history of black people in the old south. It is a view of someone who rejects the idea that Jewish people are equal with any other people. How sad that the author has wasted her talents to present such a view.

Highly informative, yet entertaining!.......2005-11-10

This book provides a very balanced view of the factors leading to the present day situation in Jerusalem. Although somewhat heavy on the religious influences, not inappropriately so, since this is what made Jerusalem what it is today. I would have liked to have learned more about the situation with the Armenians in that quarter of the city throughout the turmoil of the last few hundred years. The many maps of the changing city were outstanding. Excellent!

Many misconceptions.......2005-05-30

One must begin where it started, why is Jerusalem holy? The answer, not found in this book, it is not. Jerusalem was claimed by the Jews to be a place where Isaac was not sacrificed by Abraham. However this was pure revisionism from the beginning, since by the time David founded his city in Jerusalem, no one knew. David did build Jerusalem, and two temples did rest above his city. Herod did built the monstrous temple mount that exists today. Jesus was crucified in or near Jerusalem. Mohammed never saw Jerusalem, he referenced 'the holy' which was not Jerusalem but became Jerusalem when it was conquered. On the temple mount the Muslims found a rock, and claimed Mohammed's footprint was in it. As illogical as the same rock being where Isaac and Abraham were, this shows how a once faked holy site is then doubly faked. Pagans faked its holiness to. They built a temple atop the mount. The city is holy, no doubt, but the historical facts attributed to it are bogus. Persecution followed, of Jews by Christians and then of Christians by Muslims. In 1948 the city divided, Christian students in the city were forced to learn Koran half the day and Jews were forbidden to enter. 1967 liberated the city, for all faiths, despite the authors opinion that it would be better for intolerance to have triumphed and only one religion be allowed sovereignty.

This is a sad disingenuous tale, which does not remark on the idiocy of the very idea of a city being 'holy' to three faiths. Maybe it is holy to the world? Maybe the Buddha was in Jerusalem.

Seth J. Frantzman

A history and a meditation.......2005-01-17

While this is a superb, fair-minded and empathetic history of the city which will be enlightening to all except very knowledgeable specialists, it is at the same time Karen Armstrong's meditation on the "sacred geography" conceived by the three faiths in its spiritual and its material form. She is very sympathetic to and receptive of the spiritual ideals of all three faiths, and is dismayed by how so often they have all been debased by bitter rivalries (between as well as within religions), by demands for exclusivity and domination, as well as by the "idolatry to see a shrine or a city as the ultimate goal of religion". This is something the wisest theologians - few, alas, in number - have taught. At the same time, however, a material shrine is one expression of one's spiritual identity, so that the perceived threat or the destruction of a shrine - let alone expulsions and exile - are experienced as violations of one's spiritual identity. She shows that the potency of religious symbolism is such that even secular nationalism (to which she perhaps does not pay quite enough attention) has recourse to it. She shows how the best periods in the history of the city have been those few when the rulers of one faith or ethnicity have respected the faith, ethnicity and buildings of another. She is not optimistic that such wisdom is available in Jerusalem in the near future.

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Photobook Angkor
Outstanding Photos and history
Awesome Angkor
A Must-Have Book on Angkor Temples
The Ultimate Angkor Book

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Sacred Angkor: The Carved Reliefs of Angkor Wat
Angkor: Cambodia's Wondrous Khmer Temples, Fifth Edition (Odyssey Illustrated Guide)

ASIN: 0789207184

Book Description

An exquisitely illustrated history and exploration of Angkor, the world's most astonishing architectural treasure.

Built between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries by a succession of twelve Khmer kings, Angkor spreads over 120 square miles in Southeast Asia and includes scores of major architectural sites. In 802, when construction began on Angkor Wat, with wealth from rice and trade, Jayavarman ll took the throne, initiating an unparalleled period of artistic and architectural achievement, exemplified in the fabled ruins of Angkor, center of the ancient empire. Among the amazing pyramid and mandala shaped shrines preserved in the jungles of Cambodia, is Angkor Wat, the world's largest temple, an extraordinarily complex structure filled with iconographic detail and religious symbolism. Perhaps because of the decline of agricultural productivity and the expansion of the Thai Empire, Angkor was abandoned in the fifteenth century and left to the ravages of time. Today, many countries continue efforts to conserve and restore the temples, which have been inaccessible until recently. Now that the civil war has ended, Angkor is being reborn and is an increasingly popular tourist destination.

Undaunted by the difficulties of traveling through Cambodia and eastern Thailand, Jon Ortner, accompanied by his wife Martha, has photographed fifty of the most important and unique monuments of the Khmer Empire. His images include spectacular views from the rooftops of its temples, glorious landscapes, and details of inscriptions and art that few have ever seen.

The text by a team of distinguished experts provides historical, architectural, and religious analyses of Angkor and the Khmer civilization. The Appendix offers a glossary, a chronology of construction, and a chart of the kings and their accomplishments. Black-and-white floor plans and historic watercolors complete this breathtaking tribute.

Other details: 240 illustrations, 225 in full color

Customer Reviews:

Photobook Angkor.......2007-06-07

Angkor, Celestial temples of the Khmer Empire is a photobook limited to the Angkor Site and some outlining temples. Although the quality of the photo's is excellent, the book itself with regards to the informative value is disappointing. An exception to this is the chronology of sites. Angkor: Temples et monumentsThe Treasures of Angkor: Cultural Travel Guide (Rizzoli Art Guide)Angkor: Cambodia's Wondrous Khmer Temples, Fifth Edition (Odyssey Illustrated Guide)Ancient Angkor (River Book Guides)Angkor Cities and Temples

Outstanding Photos and history.......2006-03-09

I purchased three books on Angkor Wat after my week visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia and this book was by far the best I have seen. The photos are excellent and the narration in very informative. It is expensive but worth it.

Awesome Angkor.......2005-04-09

Wow, what a spectacular book, truly amazing. I was blown away by the quality of the photography, the reader actually feels like they are in the jungle amid the ruins of Angkor. I have never visited Angkor Wat and probably never will, but after experiencing this book, I feel somehow that I have been there. The quality of the book is superior and the book even comes in a wonderful case. The publisher should be congradulated, it's a luxurious book. Some books are extremely expensive and you wonder why, I can assure you, you will not ask that about this one. If you have any interest in this subject or just like to own beautiful things I urge you to purchase this book, it will be a jewel in your book collection

A Must-Have Book on Angkor Temples.......2004-02-02

Through his magical photographic eye, Jon Ortner has created a wondrous collection of striking images and scholarly prose. His perfectly lit photographs and well-documented historic descriptions allow one to easily understand this complicated ancient subject. Each temple is clearly organized into relevant sections from the central Angkor area to the rare and never-before-seen temples in the outer lying areas. If you have visited Angkor - Ortner's book is the perfect addition to your library. Or, if you have not visited, this book provides the perfect impetus.

The Ultimate Angkor Book.......2004-01-31

The magnificent photography, the amazing text and the great printing make this THE book for anyone interested in the amazing history and culture of the Khmer.

Ortner's use of light, his incredible attention to detail and the great writing make this a must view and a must read.

Even if you never had an interest or knowledge of Angkor, this book will light a fire inside you.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly. It will look great in your home and you will not regret this purchase.

When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise And Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty

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Needed a few more details to make it perfect
An Era I Knew Little About
Fabulous history
Rivetting narrative
Enthusiastic Overview Of An Overlooked Era In History

When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise And Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty
Hugh Kennedy
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0306814803

Book Description

"A beautifully written and definitive history of Baghdad...opening the doors to the old city and letting its secrets spill out." (Library Journal)

The "golden age of Islam" in the eighth and ninth centuries was as significant to world history as the Roman Empire was in the first and second centuries. The rule of Baghdad's Abbasid Dynasty stretched from Tunisia to India, and its legacy influenced politics and society for years to come. In this deftly woven narrative, Hugh Kennedy introduces us to the rich history and flourishing culture of the period, and the men and women of the palaces at Baghdad and Samarra-the caliphs, viziers, eunuchs, and women of the harem that produced the glorious days of the Arabian Nights.

"Superb...this is compelling reading for anyone concerned with the perils of power, the medieval Islamic legacy and the images that Baghdad continues to conjure in the modern imagination." (Publishers Weekly starred review)

Customer Reviews:

Needed a few more details to make it perfect.......2006-08-08

Hugh Kennedy has done a wonderful job here of writing about one of the greatest dynasties in history. The history is comprehensive providing details about the caliphs, the battles for successions, their harems, the names of important men in each reign, and court intrigues etc., The book is very easy to read and at no point does the reader lose interest. In spite of breaking up the narration, of successive reigns and interspersing it with descriptions of court culture and palaces built by the rulers, the author has maintained a wonderful flow in the book.
My only disappointment was that the author did not provide more indepth information on 1. the famous libraries of Baghdad and 2. the economic and financial system prevalent at the time. I looked in vain for details of trading markets and goods brought in to Baghdad at the time and for any mention of the modus operandi of monetary transactions.
However, the book is still one of the most comprehensive English Language histories of the dynasty that I have come accross.

An Era I Knew Little About.......2006-06-07

So much of the study of history is concerned with dates. I can remember in college with cram sheets of when things happened. Mr. Kennedy doesn't write much of dates. He writes of people, people living more than a thousand years ago when our own western history was in a period we call the dark ages when learning was forgotten and the Roman Catholic church ruled all.

This was the time when the Shia and the Sunni were falling apart and beginning the conflict that rages to this day (In the morning paper a group of terrorists in Iraq stopped a bus or two, let the Sunni people go and murdered the Shia.)

This was the time that Osama bin Laden seeks to re-establish. An old glory such as Mussolini felt about Roman times.

For a couple of centuries a family ruled most of the Islamic world from Baghdad. For those of us more familiar with the antics of the kings of England there is a striking resemblance, palace intrigue, key supporters changing sides, murder, imprisonment, struggles over succession.

This book brings to life an aspect of history that few of us have heard before but which is increasing in importance in our time.

Fabulous history.......2006-02-15

I studied the medieval Islamic world a little in college, and fell in love. It's a fascinating age in which Central Asian Buddhists, North African nomads, Ethiopian slaves, Greek cave-dwellers, Persian aristocrats, Arab bureaucrats and a host of different cultures came together, mixed, wrote wonderful literature, and lived the kind of drama that makes history fun. But it's hard to find anything written about the time that isn't arcane professor babble or Islam 101. (You know, "There are five pillars of Islam..." Snore.)

Here Hugh Kennedy has written the book I always wanted. He wisely concentrates on medieval Islam's golden age, the early Abbasid dynasty, when Baghdad ruled a large portion of the world-and, even more astutely, on the dramatic stories and personalities of the court. Let's face it, you read about the Abbasids because you want to know how the slave girl Khayzuran not only managed to marry the caliph but to quell a military revolt, why her son Harun al-Rashid was immortalized in The Arabian Nights, and why the all-powerful Barmakid family suddenly fell from grace to prison and execution. Kennedy brings the caliphs and their families to life. He's up front about the fact that the book is about aristocrats, but the common people of Baghdad, the "pickpockets and sellers of cheap sweets" who fought back when their city was besieged, and the middle class who developed Islamic tradition dance around the edge of the narrative.

Kennedy doesn't believe everything he reads, and doesn't think you will either. He repeats stories-like the "harem intrigue" tales, in which devious women are blamed for various deaths-that are almost certainly not true, but tell us something about the people who believed them, and are still enormously entertaining. He also is frank about the same-sex relationships, male and female, that were a part of the era's culture, without the awkwardness of many modern historians. And he's smart enough to explain the geography-why southern Iraq could support such a fabulously wealthy monarchy, and why the Afghanistan/NE Iran region was so critical to the faraway Middle East-in a way an American can understand. Very rare for books on Islamic history, the book boasts an excellent map, naming both cities and regions-invaluable for a hapless Westerner who doesn't know where the major cities of Iran are today, never mind where long-gone kingdoms like Yamama and Ushrusana used to be. There's also a surprisingly good index (another rarity).

The book isn't flawless. Kennedy twice awkwardly interrupts his straightforward account of political events with fascinating chapters on aspects of court culture-palaces, poetry, science, and (my favorite) women's lives. Unfortunately, this structure means the reader learns about the palace Mutawakkil built before she knows enough about him to care, and doesn't hear anything about Ma'mun patronage of scientific research until long after he's dead in the main narrative. The last chapter goes into far too much detail about the depressing downfall of the dynasty, short-changing a more interesting discussion about its legacy. But all in all Kennedy does a great job, and I for one plan down to hunt down his earlier books.

If you know nothing about Islamic history and want an accessible introduction to an fascinating period, or like me know a little and want to learn more, I highly recommend this book.

Rivetting narrative.......2006-01-14

This purely popular tale of the Baghdad Abbasid Caliphate is a wonderful book, full of splendor and tales of the times of the Caliphs, the Harem, early Islam, the founding of modern Baghdad, luxury, corruption, bad governance, murder, passion, rape, affluence gone wild, gluttony, exorbitance, decadence and political failure.

The Abbasids were the first dynasty following the first four `righteous' caliphs(Bakr, Omar, Uthman, Ali) who followed the death of Mohammed. The movement of the capital of Islam to Baghdad symbolized the secular transference of temporal power from its religious foundations into a colonial capital of imperial Islam, after-all the region around Baghdad, modern day Iraq, then Mesopotamia, was a country full of Jews, Zoroastrians, Pagans, Assyrian Christians, Nestorians, Jacobites, Gnosts and others. Muslims were a minority in this land. Baghdad was a new city created to rule a colonial empire that was recently created. The empire that the Abbasids ruled was wealthy beyond belief, corrupt, licentious, full of slander, moral turpitude and court scandals. This excellent tale of this period doesn't really shed light on the modern `conflict' as claimed but it is an excellent fascinating tale, unfortunately it doesn't follow the narrative of Baghdad through to its destruction by the Mongols, but only to the replacement of the Abbasids by the Fatamids who rode to power on the backs of Turkic immigrant warriors from the east, see the book `black banners from the east' for a narrative of the rise of the Fatamids. If this sheds light on anything to do with Islam and modern times it shows that fundamentalist Islam's accusations of Western power, wealth and immorality, are mirrored in the actions of early Islam, which resembled the modern day west far more than modern day Islam, an irony. Islam in the 8th century was far from the fundamentalist form we see today, however there is nothing admirable in its use of Harems and slavery.

Seth J. Frantzman

Enthusiastic Overview Of An Overlooked Era In History.......2005-12-13

There was a time when Baghdad was the shining city of planet earth. Eclipsing in importance any population center in China, Europe, Africa, or Mesoamerica, Baghdad was a place of might and grandeur that headed the Muslim civilization and drew notice from every corner of the globe. What is today a war zone (that holds potential to rise again from its present turmoil) was once a glorious center of art, culture, learning and political power. From the 700's CE to its fall several centuries later, a great dynasty ruled much of the world from this city, and in Kennedy's book, we are given a concentrated lesson in the goings on of this often forgotten imperial capital. While there is much to interest a serious scholar here, I would caution anyone with merely a casual interest in this subject to expect an at times leaden reading experience. Kennedy spares little in the way of detail and while that is a virtue, it is also a bit heavy. I think I would gladly have rated this volume an extra star had it been, well, frankly written with more awareness that the average person might not be quite up to the tone the author imposed here. Trimming even an eighth of the length of this work and aiming for a broader audience via amore readable content would have been beneficial. However, this is the product of sound scholarly labor and if Hugh Kennedy was aiming for an informed readership that went into this book prepared with a background on the topic, then I'd say he succeeded in his intent and good for him.

The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre

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The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre
Prudence Oliver Harper , and Joan Aruz
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810964228

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities 1500-1730

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The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities 1500-1730
Willem Floor
Manufacturer: Mage Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1933823127

Book Description

The Persian Gulf: The Economic and Political History of Five Port Cities, 1500-1730 provides the most comprehensive overview to date of the Persian Gulf at a time of major political change, including the successive arrival of the European `trading empires'. The study emphasizes the role of the local elites and how its members manipulated and used the administrative structures for their own gain. It also delves into various aspects of the governance of the ports. Based on a large variety of sources, including the unpublished information from Dutch and Portuguese archives, it makes clear that the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman were an integrated part of the Indian Ocean network in terms of trade, culture, migration and politics. Despite that interconnectedness there were significant differences between the various competing Persian Gulf ports. These differences (as well as the similarities) in the political economy of each of the five major ports of the period (Hormuz, Bandar `Abbas, Masqat, Bandar-e Kong and Basra) are highlighted. The pattern of the local administration, the socio-economic and political structure, the morphology of each port as well as what that meant for the development and nature of trade that was carried on in each of the ports are discussed in detail. The controlling influence of the hinterland on each of these ports is stressed, while many prevailing wrong notions about the role and importance of Europeans, the nature of trade and what drove political developments in the Persian Gulf are corrected.

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Excellent in showing the current cultural life of Tel Aviv

City Guide Tel Aviv
Dalit Nemirovsky
Manufacturer: Crossfields International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 9659099703

Product Description

City Guide Tel Aviv is an insider's guide to Tel Aviv for businesspeople and visitors who want to know where stylish and knowledgeable locals shop, eat and socialize. In designing the format, we have chosen locations that make Tel Aviv unique and meet international service levels. City Guide Tel Aviv is organized according to neighborhoods and categories e.g., restaurants, nightlife, cafes, hotels and boutiques. The Guide also features insider tips for the sophisticated traveler, information about the different areas of the city, locations and maps. Our goal is to make City Guide user-friendly, entertaining, cutting edge and unique. The result is an elegant, stylish book that will appeal to the sophisticated traveler who wishes to experience the best of Tel Aviv.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent in showing the current cultural life of Tel Aviv.......2007-02-08

I by myself live in Tel Aviv, and you hardly can know all of the trendy things going on here, and this book shows them all, and in a very concise form, both visually as well as textually. I personally would have preferred to get even more pictures of the places than being printed in the book (usually a few pictures of one place), but overall every guest of this city will get with this book a clear view, and will know what to visit and where to hang out. Excellent book, highly recommended.

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