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      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        January 2016

        The Autumn of Innocence

        by Abbas Beydoun

        In his novel, The Autumn of Innocence, prominent Lebanese poet and novelist Abbas Beydoun artfully weaves a tragic story of a father-son relationship that ends disastrously with the son's violent death. This story unfolds along with the Arab Spring movement and explores the motivations behind religious extremism and questions cultural constructs of masculinity.   The novel opens with a letter from Ghassan to his cousin, describing how his father Massoud strangled his mother to death when Ghassan was just three years old. Afterward, Massoud flees the village in southern Lebanon. For 18 years, no one hears from him, and Ghassan grows up stigmatized by his father's violent crime.   In time, Ghassan's aunt Bushra-Massoud's sister-makes a confession: She encouraged Massoud to kill his wife, believing that his wife's low socioeconomic status would bring embarrassment to their wealthy family. Bushra also reveals that Massoud was driven to kill his wife because he feared that she would tell someone that he was impotent, undermining his sense of manhood and social status.   Meanwhile, Massoud has moved to southern Syria, where he remarried and had two more sons. During the Arab Spring, the militant groups fighting the Syrian regime transform him into a religious extremist.   In the second half of the novel, Massoud return to the village in southern Lebanon. He brings with him a group of men. Together they seize control of the village and terrorize its inhabitants. After killing the dogs, they begin murdering the villagers in the name of religion. One of Ghassan's friends is among the victims, and Massoud also threatens his family. Ghassan decides that he must kill his father, avenging the death of his friend and the deaths of the other villagers. In the end, he fails and is beheaded by Bushra's son, his cousin, who is has joined Massoud's thugs.   Beydoun captures the shifting points of view in a family shattered by the tyranny of normative masculinity and the resulting violence. The victims are women, of course, but also the men like Ghassan who reject these social and cultural expectations. The novel also portrays the rise of religious extremism and the terrorism it can inspire, which wreaks havoc on the lives of ordinary people. Beydoun's engaging language imbues the characters and the places they inhabit with a vibrancy and vitality that transcends the difficult subject matter.

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        2022

        Rejoice, My Heart

        by Alawiya Sobh

        Ghassan, a musician and Oud player, leaves for New York, fleeing the Lebanese civil war after his extremist bother, Afif, murdered his older and pacifist brother Jamal, who sought to open the door to Muslim-Christian dialogue. In New York, Ghassan struggles to erase all his memories but his thoughts would always bring him back to his hometown, Dar El Ezz, as it was long before the war. ///Soon, he falls in love with and marries Kristin, becomes more emotionally stable, and embraces American culture. But when he must return to Lebanon for his father’s funeral, nostalgia for his homeland and a series of events force Ghassan to face a convergence of two cultures. ///“Efrah Ya Qalbi” (Rejoice, My Heart!) is a novel about love, music, identity, one’s sense of belonging, brotherly conflicts, and the diaspora. It dives into the lives, troubles, and dilemmas of the characters. ///The stories intertwine amid a fascinating narrative, thus revealing the turmoil and troubles of the Lebanese community torn by wars and outbursts. The novel also addresses the relationship between the East and the West, where struggling and cracked identities are silenced and offers a new vision through analysis and narration.

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        June 2019

        China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation:

        Case Studies and Plans

        by Secretariat of the First China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo Organizing Committee

        China-Africa Economics and Trade Cooperation: Case Studies and Plans comes in 3 languages: Chinese(2 volumes), English(2 volumes), and French(2 volumes). This book series include 101 excellent case studies , which related to 21 Chinese provinces and cities and 31 countries in Africa, containing agriculture, manufacturing, commerce and trade, infrastructure, industrial parks, energy and mining, financing and other fields in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. This set of books is practical and useful for all readers. In addition, the book gives the vivid interpretation on the concept of common prosperity, win-win cooperation, mutual negotiation and construction, shared innovation and progression of Belt and Road Initiative.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2022

        Book of Beirut

        The voice and art of kids from Beirut

        by Roula Youssef

        The “Book of Beirut” was born, following the devastating explosion of 4 August 2020 at Beirut Port, to be a remedy to the intangible wounds of the children’s inner self, the traumatized children who lived through the ravages of the third-largest explosion in the world. It is a journey of healing through art. A collection of 128 paintings showing the amount of creativity, imagination and love these little warriors offered us over four artistic sessions, with the guidance of a team of experts. Watching them pour their fears and dreams for a better future onto an empty canvas made me want to give them a voice to share their stories. The “Book of Beirut” is a glimpse into the purity of childhood and its ability to heal the world – when empowered.

      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        January 2011

        The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air

        by Abdo Wazen

        In his first YA novel, cultural journalist and author Abdo Wazen writes about a blind teenager in Lebanon who finds strength and friendship among an unlikely group.   Growing up in a small Lebanese village, Bassim’s blindness limits his engagement with the materials taught in his schools. Despite his family’s love and support, his opportunities seem limited.   So at thirteen years old, Bassim leaves his village to join the Institute for the Blind in a Beirut suburb. There, he comes alive. He learns Braille and discovers talents he didn’t know he had. Bassim is empowered by his newfound abilities to read and write.   Thanks to his newly developed self-confidence, Bassim decides to take a risk and submit a short story to a competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. After winning the competition, he is hired to work at the Institute for the Blind.   At the Institute, Bassim, a Sunni Muslim, forms a strong friendship with George, a Christian. Cooperation and collective support are central to the success of each student at the Institute, a principle that overcomes religious differences. In the book, the Institute comes to symbolize the positive changes that tolerance can bring to the country and society at large.   The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is also a book about Lebanon and its treatment of people with disabilities. It offers insight into the vital role of strong family support in individual success, the internal functioning of institutions like the Institute, as well as the unique religious and cultural environment of Beirut.   Wazen’s lucid language and the linear structure he employs result in a coherent and easy-to-read narrative. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is an important contribution to a literature in which people with disabilities are underrepresented. In addition to offering a story of empowerment and friendship, this book also aims to educate readers about people with disabilities and shed light on the indispensable roles played by institutions like the Institute.

      • Trusted Partner
        General & world history
        May 2005

        ‘Ten Pound Poms’

        A life history of British postwar emigration to Australia

        by A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson

        More than a million Britons emigrated to Australia between the 1940s and 1970s. They were the famous 'ten pound Poms' and this is their story. Illuminated by the fascinating testimony of migrant life histories, this is the first substantial history of their experience and fills a gaping hole in the literature of emigration. The authors, both leading figures in the fields of oral history and migration studies, draw upon a rich life history archive of letters, diaries, personal photographs and hundreds of oral history interviews with former migrants, including those who settled in Australia and those who returned to Britain. They offer original interpretations of key historical themes, including: motivations for emigration; gender relations and the family dynamics of migration; the 'very familiar and awfully strange' confrontation with the new world; the anguish of homesickness and return; and the personal and national identities of both settlers and returnees, fifty years on. Accessible and appealing, this book will engage readers interested in British and Australian migration history and intrigued about the significance of migrant memories for individuals, families and nations.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2024

        Coup in Damascus

        Husni al-Za'im and the birth of Syrian military rule

        by Carl Rihan

        Coup in Damascus is a history of Syria's first military regime. It plots the the fall of Syria's democracy and the rise of its military rulers, particularly Husni al-Zaim, whose brief rule in 1949 represented a profoundly transformative moment for the Syrian nation. It is a history of the thoughts, intentions and motives of political actors underpinning the events that have marked Syria's history after the first Arab-Israeli war, and focuses mainly on the interaction between local, regional and international actors. Unlike most histories of the modern Middle East that tackle broad intervals and that focus on the sequences of events, this history seeks to reconstruct the thought processes behind the events, and anchor them within the epoch's existing political and socioeconomic conditions. It draws on several methodological influences, particularly R.G. Collingwood's 'history as re-enactment of the past'.

      • Trusted Partner
        Crime & mystery
        2017

        Echo of Someone Else’s War

        by Juan Miramar

        The works of Juan Miramar presented in this book, as always, are distinguished by refined language, subtle humor and a peculiar philosophical view of life, as well as a bright oriental flavor. The story "Echo of Someone Else’s War" impresses with its fascinating dynamic plot. A scientist and writer, a former translator of international peacekeeping forces, suddenly finds himself in the thick of events of a modern secret war. The distant past extends its tentacles into the present, not only forcing the main character to remember his military experience, but also prompting him to choose a side in Arab and non-Arab conflicts that are foreign to him.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2022

        Rebel populism

        by Philip Proudfoot

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        February 2023

        Love for Northeast China

        by Laoteng, whose real name is Teng Zhenfu, is a member of the Tenth Presidium of the China Writers Association and is currently the Party Secretary and Chairman of the Liaoning Writers Association. He has published ten novels, includingThe Northeast China, The Numerous Armed Conflicts,and The Forests of Beizhang;eight collections of novels, such as The Black Thrush and A City Without Crows; and three cultural essays, such as Confucian Notes. He has won the 15th and 16th Five-One Project Awards,respectively, and The Northeast China has been selected on the list of 2021 Chinese Good Books.

        "Never invest beyond theShanhai Pass", as the saying goes.The particular cultural environment and openness make the brain drain in Northeast China extremely serious. However, Miao Qing, a seemingly delicate doctoral student from a famous school, resolutely went northward because she had a personal plan thatwas related to both her father and herself, namely, to design a world-leading large aircraft. Her father once said that just as a poet without imagination must be a lousy poet, a country without advanced aircraft could never escape the fate of a backward country. For this reason, Miao Qing started her career atKunpeng Group, later went to Feiying Company to produce a leading small low-altitude aerial drone, and then sheplayed the leading role in the national G-31 project that designed a stealth supersonic aircraft and made a successful trial flight.

      • Trusted Partner
        August 2021

        Involução e outros contos para um mundo em crise

        Colectânea de contos traduzidos pelos vencedores do Concurso de Tradução Literária 2020

        by Sandra Tamele

        Neste terceiro volume da Colectânea de Contos Traduzidos pelos vencedores do Concurso de Tradução Literária, apresentamos seis contos publicados entre 2017 e 2019 no âmbito do Caine Prize for African Writing e da colectânea New Short Fiction from Africa: ‘Involução’ da autoria da sul-africana Stacy Hardy que aborda abertamente a sexualidade da mulher, também preocupações sociais e políticas, faz alusão a questões como a degradação ambiental, o colonialismo e direitos da mulher, ancorados numa teatralidade conceptual necessária para que o conto não se torne efémero e engaje o sentido de humor do leitor para o aproximar da mente aberta de Hardy. ‘A heroína misteriosa’ ou ‘Mavbanelo na mayi’ em Bitonga, é da autoria da Tanzaniana Lydia Kasese. Ela escreve sobre as expectativas e pressões sociais que levam as mulheres a desejarem concertar tudo. Neste conto Kasese traz destramente à luz questões sobre o abuso de menores e o seu impacto sobre as famílias na Tanzânia e, não só. Alinafe Malonje estreou-se nesta colectânea da Short Story Day com o conto ‘Manutenção de Rotina’, um registo metafísico de um hotel: parte alegoria, parte meditação com um subtil comentário sobre o que significa ser mulher no Malawi. Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda cria um fabuloso hotel de fantasia que contém realidades sinistras, construindo um persuasivo mundo alternativo. Tariro Ndoro em ‘A lenda das duas irmãs’, ou ‘Xihitana xa vamakwavu na makwavu’ em Changana, traz uma abordagem arrepiante dos perigos da saudade, onde a busca por uma irmã num hotel de luxo em Victoria Falls tem um fim fantasmagórico. Mampianina Randria nos apresenta em ‘O Gatilho’, ou ‘Niyódeké sê xidúvúlá’ em Changana, um conto com um ritmo cerrado e um desfecho totalmente inesperado onde uma mulher que lida com as frustrações de quem entra na vida adulta.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2021

        Ireland and the European Union

        Economic, political and social crises

        by Michael Holmes, Kathryn Simpson, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Kathryn Simpson, Paul Tobin

        This book examines how Ireland's relationship with the EU was affected by a succession of crises in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The financial crisis, the Brexit crisis and the migration crisis were not of equal significance on the island of Ireland. The financial crisis was a huge issue for the Republic but not Northern Ireland, Brexit had a major impact in both polities, the migration and populism issues were less controversial, while foreign policy challenges had a minimal impact. The book provides a summary of the main features of each of the crises to be considered, from both the EU and the Irish perspective. Ireland and the European Union is the first volume of its kind to provide a comprehensive analysis on British-Irish relations in the context of Brexit. It assesses the Withdrawal Agreement and Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, the devolution settlement and the 1998 Agreement, as well as the European dimension to Northern Ireland's peace process. The contributors explore a number of policy areas that are central to the understanding of each of the crises and the impact of each for Ireland. Chapters examine issues such as security, migration and taxation as well as protest politics, political parties, the media, public opinion and the economic impact of each of these crises on Ireland's relationship with the EU.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2022

        Germany's Russia problem

        The struggle for balance in Europe

        by John Lough

        The relationship between Germany and Russia is Europe's most important link with the largest country on the continent. But despite Germany's unparalleled knowledge and historical experience, its policymakers struggle to accept that Moscow's efforts to rebalance Europe at the cost of the cohesion of the EU and NATO are an attack on Germany's core interests. This book explains the scale of the challenge facing Germany in managing relations with a changing Russia. It analyses how successive German governments from 1991 to 2014 misread Russian intentions, until Angela Merkel sharply recalibrated German and EU policy towards Moscow. The book also examines what lies behind efforts to revise Merkel's bold policy shift, including attitudes inherited from the GDR and the role of Russian influence channels in Germany.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        December 2019 - December 2024

        Concise history of China

        by Yang Ningyi,Zhao Shiyu, etc

        According to the chronological order, the book introduces the history of China from ancient times to modern society. It is rich in content, concise in writing and exquisite in pictures. It is a good book to understand the history of China.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2017

        Britain in China

        by Robert Bickers

        This is a study of Britain's presence in China both at its peak, and during its inter-war dissolution in the face of assertive Chinese nationalism and declining British diplomatic support. Using archival materials from China and records in Britain and the United States, the author paints a portrait of the traders, missionaries, businessmen, diplomats and settlers who constituted "Britain-in-China", challenging our understanding of British imperialism there. Bickers argues that the British presence in China was dominated by urban settlers whose primary allegiance lay not with any grand imperial design, but with their own communities and precarious livelihoods. This brought them into conflict not only with the Chinese population, but with the British imperial government. The book also analyzes the formation and maintenance of settler identities, and then investigates how the British state and its allies brought an end to the reign of freelance, settler imperialism on the China coast. At the same time, other British sectors, missionary and business, renegotiated their own relationship with their Chinese markets and the Chinese state and distanced themselves from the settler British.

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        2021

        Eye on Egypt: Café Riche

        by Maisoon Saqer

        The book opens a unique door to the history of Cairo and its journey from a social and cultural perspective and aims to build a new and different narrative for this history—one that shows Cairo as a cosmopolitan, multicultural city. Cairo’s Cafe Riche has a deep cultural history and a broad creative and social heritage. Saqer describes it as “the site where endless friendships are established between the café and history.” Saqer’s narrative is not just about the small café, but rather constitutes observance and analysis of the presence of this café in the history of Egypt and how we can view many events surrounding it. Here there is no separation between the political and the cultural, between the historical, the social, and the artistic. The book combines history and narrative, which makes it a documented historical biography on the one hand and a creative work on the other. It also documents an important era in Egypt’s cultural history by examining the cultural and social transformations in modern Egyptian history and highlighting prominent intellectuals and creators associated with the cafe and the history of intellectual life in Egypt.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2018

        Karl Marx In China

        by Gu Hailiang

        The book illustrates the influence of Marxismin china, including the classic works of Kar Marx and its latest achievements in China.

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