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A confessional novel that begins on an unbearably hot August afternoon in downtown Cairo, where the Nubian narrator has just decided, once and for all, to end his life. He seeks to expunge his failed life in the Nile: the river that had been the lifeblood of his country for millennia, and that - with Egypt's new dam - now drowns Nubia.

Winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature Ranked by The Arab Writers Union as 8th in its list of the 100 best Arabic novels

Important contributions to the archaeology and history of Christianity inEgypt's largest oasis

Few works about the Middle East have exerted such wide and long-lasting influence as Edward William Lane's An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. First published in 1836, this classic book has never gone out of print, continuously providing material and inspiration for generations of scholars, writers, and travelers, who have praised its comprehensiveness, detail, and perception. Yet the editions in print during most of the twentieth century would not have met Lane's approval. Lacking parts of Lane's text and many of his original illustrations (while adding many that were not his), they were based on what should have been ephemeral editions, published long after the author's death. Meanwhile, the definitive fifth edition of 1860, the result of a quarter century of Lane's corrections, reconsiderations, and additions, long ago disappeared from bookstore shelves. Now the 1860 edition of Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians is available again, with a useful general introduction by Jason Thompson. Lane's greatest work enters the twenty-first century in precisely the form that he wanted.

Trying to evade intelligence agencies out to assassinate him, the Cerebellum, an Egyptian scientist with a past association with the Iraqi nuclear program, rents a room on the roof of a brothel in a Cairo slum. His interaction with the other residents is limited; instead he spends most of his time in the virtual world, where he has a love affair with candygirl, a gorgeous avatar.

This volume presents a pioneering collection of analyses focused on the ideologies and activities of formal women's organizations and informal women's groups across a range of Arab countries. With contributions on Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and the Arab diaspora in the United States, Mapping Arab Women's Movements delineates similarities and differences between historical and contemporary efforts towards greater gender justice. The authors explore the origins of women's movements, trace their development during the past century, and address the impact of counter-movements, alliances, and international collaborations within the region and beyond.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Egyptian women gained the unique right to divorce their husbands unilaterally through a procedure called khul'. Notwithstanding attempts to present the law as being grounded in Islamic law, opponents claim that khul' is a rich-women's law and a Western conspiracy aimed at destroying Egyptian family life and Egyptian society, by extension. Nadia Sonneveld explores the nature of the public debates - including films and cartoons -- and examines the application of khul' in the courts and everyday life, comparing the debate to the actual implementation of khul' in everyday life.

This sequel to the well-known kullu tamam!, on Egyptian Arabic, by the same authors, focuses on the modern written language used in real life by providing short texts taken from Egyptian newspapers, official statements, and the internet, and introduces personal and business letters, some of them in handwritten form (ruq'a). For those who have studied kullu tamam!, the first lessons give contrastive word lists and exercises to make the link with Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Extensive pattern drills, translation exercises in both directions, and writing exercises aid understanding and encourage active use of the language. The key to the exercises, the Arabic -English / English -Arabic glossary, and the audio CD containing the texts allow for classroom use as well as for self-study.

Waqfs (pious endowments) long held a crucial place in the political, economic, and social life of the Islamic world. Waqfs were major sources of education, health care, and employment; they shaped the city and contributed to the upkeep of religious edifices. They constituted a major resource, and their status was at stake in repeated struggles to impose competing definitions of legitimacy and community. Closer examination of the diverse legal, institutional, and practical aspects of waqfs in different regions and communities is necessary to a deeper understanding of their dynamism and resilience. This volume, which evolved from papers delivered at the 2005 American University in Cairo Annual History Seminar, offers a meticulous set of studies that fills a gap in our knowledge of waqf and its uses.

Using the life and writings of Cyril III Ibn Laqlaq, 75th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with a variety of Christian and Muslim chroniclers, this study explores the identity and context of the Christian community of Egypt and its relations with the leadership of the Ayyubid dynasty in the early thirteenth century. Kurt Werthmuller introduces new scholarship that illuminates the varied relationships between medieval Christians of Egypt and their Muslim neighbors. Demonstrating that the Coptic community was neither passive nor static, the author discusses the active role played by the Copts in the formation and evolution of their own identity within the wider political and societal context of this period. In particular, he examines the boundaries between Copts and the wider Egyptian society in the Ayyubid period in three "e;in-between spaces"e;: patriarchal authority, religious conversion, and monasticism.

A Field Guide to the Mammals of Egypt is the first comprehensive field guide to every mammal species recorded in contemporary Egypt, from gazelle to gerbil, from hyena to hyrax. Each mammal species is described in detail, with reference to identification features, status, habitat, and habits, and with comparisons to similar species. A map is also provided for each species, clearly showing its current, and in some cases historical, range. Every species is meticulously illustrated-the bats and sea mammals in detailed black-and-white illustrations, all other species in scientifically accurate color plates. Additional vignettes emphasize aspects of mammal behavior, cover the minutiae of such features as the nose-leafs and ear structure of the various bat species, and illustrate the tracks and trails of the more commonly encountered mammals. This is an indispensable reference work for anyone interested in the wildlife of Egypt, from professional biologists to desert travelers and interested amateurs. Furthermore, as it describes and illustrates every whale and dolphin species recorded in Egyptian waters, including the Red Sea, it will be of special significance to anyone diving in the region. The book is compact, easy to slip into a daypack, and well up to the rigors of desert travel.

Key selections of Egyptian authors by the world renowned, award-winning translator of Arabic fiction. Ideal introduction to the Arabic short story for anyone studying Arabic.

Directed to learners of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic who have previously studied Modern Standard Arabic, this is the first textbook to handle the different levels and the variety of contexts of Egyptian Colloquial: both the everyday and the educated forms. It is also the first to introduce the language through multimedia, addressing recent and compelling topics of interest to learners of both language and culture, and focusing on pronunciation as a skill.Each of the ten lessons is structured around a video series, Abdalla's Journey, which covers a range of topics in the everyday language, and video interviews with scholars discussing the same topics in the educated variety. Vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation in both language levels are the focus of drills and exercises, and the phonetic and syntactic differences between the two forms are highlighted.

Galal Amin once again turns his attention to the shaping of Egyptian society and the Egyptian state in the half-century and more that has elapsed since the Nasserite revolution, this time focusing on the era of President Mubarak. He looks at corruption, poverty, the plight of the middle class, and of course, the economy, and directs his penetrating gaze toward the Mubarak regime's uneasy relationship with the relatively free press it encouraged, the vexing issue of presidential succession, and Egypt's relations with the Arab world and the United States. Addressing such themes from the perspective of an active participant in Egyptian intellectual life throughout the era, Galal Amin portrays the Mubarak regime's stance in the domestic and international arenas as very much a product of history, which, while not exonerating the regime, certainly helps to explain it.

Riyadh is a city of masks, a city "e;like a pressure cooker that's about to explode,"e; a city that sleeps on a pile of words that no one dares utter. Saudi society has split into two camps, one adopting the slogan that God is strict in punishment, the other that God is merciful and forgiving. In the background the media trumpets that everything is perfect. Saudi writer Fahd al-Atiq explores this world through the character of Khaled, whose dysfunctional life, humdrum but rich in memories and introspection, bridges the gap between the old impoverished world of Najd and the consumerism of the years after the various oil booms, symbolized in this novel by the family's move from the lively back streets of the old city to an isolated dream villa in the new suburbs, where their dreams are never quite fulfilled and their lives remain permanently 'on hold.'

Yusuf Idris was undoubtedly one of Egypt's most talented and versatile writers in the second half of the twentieth century. The first two novellas in this volume, Madam Vienna and The Secret of His Power, come from the peak period in his career, the late 1950s and early 1960s, while New York 80 belongs to his late period, the 1980s.

In this special new and expanded edition of the bestselling book first published in 1999, photographer Britta Le Va guides us through the back streets and alleys of Naguib Mahfouz, to produce a collection of outstanding visual images of the historic city, while novelist Gamal al-Ghitani describes a walking tour with the great man around the streets of Gamaliya.

Despite the prominence of ancient temples in the landscape of Egypt, books about them are surprisingly rare; this new publication from a prominent Czech scholar answers the need for a study that goes beyond temple architecture to examine the spiritual, economic and political aspects of these specific institutions and the dominant roles they played.

Introducing the Uktub al-'arabiya series with the Advanced level volume, the authors of this new textbook aim to develop the writing skills of students learning Modern Standard Arabic, enabling them to move from forming correct words, phrases, sentences, and simple texts, to writing simple paragraphs and ultimately producing texts with the competency of a native speaker. These books, with the beginner and intermediate level volumes forthcoming, can accompany any other Arabic textbooks. The Advanced level volume introduces students to authentic Arabic written texts; strengthens and enhances their grammar; includes more sophisticated key words, collocations, expressions, and idioms; reinforces linguistic accuracy; and trains them to use handwriting script. Practical skills such as how to write letters are included.Developed and piloted in the classrooms of the Arabic Language Institute at the American University in Cairo, this series has benefited from the expertise and knowledge of leading teachers of Arabic.

Irregular or illegal housing constitutes the ordinary condition of popular urban housing in the Middle East. Considering the conditions of daily practices related to land and tenure mobilization and of housing, neighborhood shaping, transactions, and conflict resolution, this book offers a new reading of government action in the cities of Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Istanbul, and Cairo, focussing on the participation of ordinary citizens and their interactions with state apparatus specifically located within the urban space. The book adopts a praxeological approach to law that describes how inhabitants define and exercise their legality in practice and daily routines. The ambition of the volume is to restore the continuum in the consolidation, building after building, of the popular neighborhoods of the cities under study, while demonstrating the closely-knit social relationships and other forms of community bonding.

This unique interdisciplinary collective project is the culmination of research and translation work conducted by AUC students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds who continue to witness Egypt's ongoing revolution. This historic event has produced an unprecedented proliferation of political and cultural documents and materials, whether written, oral, or visual. Given their range, different linguistic registers, and referential worlds, these documents present a great challenge to any translator.The contributors to this volume have selectively translated chants, banners, jokes, poems, interviews, as well as presidential speeches and military communiqués. Their practical translation work is informed by the cultural turn in translation studies and the nuanced role of the translator as negotiator between texts and cultures. The chapters focus on the relationship between translation and semiotics, issues of fidelity and equivalence, creative transformation and rewriting, and the issue of target readership. This mature collective project is in many ways a reenactment of the new infectious revolutionary spirit in Egypt today.