{"title":"Columbia Hurst","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"sayyid-qutb-and-the-origins-of-radical-islamism-book-john-calvert-9780231701044","title":"Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism","description":"Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) was an influential Egyptian ideologue who established the theoretical basis for radical Islamism in the postcolonial Sunni Muslim world. Lacking a pure understanding of the leader's life and work, the popular media has conflated Qutb's moral purpose with the aims of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. He is often portrayed as a terrorist, Islamo-Fascist, and advocate of murder. An expert on social protest and political resistance, John Calvert rescues Qutb from misrepresentation and follows the evolution of his thought within the context of his time.  Calvert recounts Qutb's life from the small village in which he was raised to his execution at the behest of Abd al-Nasser's regime. His study remains sensitive to the cultural, political, social, and economic circumstances that shaped Qutb's thought, including major developments that composed one of the most eventful periods in Egyptian history. These years witnessed the full flush of Britain's tutelary regime, the advent of Egyptian nationalism, and the political hegemony of the Free Officers.  Qutb rubbed shoulders with Taha Husayn, Naguib Mahfouz, and Abd al-Nasser himself, though his Islamism originally had little to do with religion. Only in response to his harrowing experience in prison did Qutb come to regard Islam and kufr (infidelity) as oppositional, antithetical, and therefore mutually exclusive. Calvert shows how Qutb repackaged and reformulated the Islamic heritage to challenge authority, including those who claimed (falsely, Qutb believed) to be Muslim.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49522469830929,"sku":"CIN0231701047G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231701047.jpg?v=1751356575"},{"product_id":"life-and-death-in-the-balkans-book-bato-tomasevic-9780231700627","title":"Life and Death in the Balkans","description":"Beginning some fifty years before the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, Bato Toma evic's vivid memoir recounts, through his life story and the individual destinies of relatives and friends, Yugoslavia's numerous political upheavals and the harrowing experiences of the First and Second World Wars. Toma evic was born into a Montenegrin family in the politically charged region of Southern Yugoslavia. Beginning with his upbringing in Italian- and German-occupied Cetinje, Toma evic tells a story of hardships and daily executions, the heroism of underground workers, and the effects of occupation on an ordinary family. At the age of thirteen, Toma evic joined Tito's Partisans and experienced firsthand the horrors of the Second World War. He fought against the Chetniks and barely escaped death in Eastern Bosnia. After studying law at Belgrade University, Toma evic spent two years at Exeter. He became a Yugoslav diplomat and survived the Munich air crash of 1958. Following his diplomatic service, Toma evic returned to Belgrade to work as a journalist and publisher.  He describes the breakup of the Federation after Tito's death and the efforts by Serbian and Croatian nationalists to create a Greater Serbia and Greater Croatia through aggression and ethnic cleansing. Toma evic's saga ends with NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999 and the imprisonment of President Milo evic. Fascinating, tragic, and even comic,  Life and Death in the Balkans is the story of a young boy whose life, much like the history of Yugoslavia, has been characterized by inescapable violence and brutal conflict.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49660289122577,"sku":"GOR011440009","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50347134812433,"sku":"CIN0231700628A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51722051158289,"sku":"CIN0231700628G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231700628.jpg?v=1750780208"},{"product_id":"my-life-with-the-taliban-book-abdul-salam-zaeef-9780231701488","title":"My Life with the Taliban","description":"My Life with the Taliban is the autobiography of Abdul Salam Zaeef, a former senior member of Afghanistan's Taliban and a principal actor in its domestic and foreign affairs. Translated for the first time from the Pashto, Zaeef's words share more than a personal history of an unusual life. They supply a counternarrative to standard accounts of Afghanistan since 1979.  Zaeef shares his experiences as a poor youth in rural Kandahar. Both his parents died when he was young, and Russia's invasion in 1979 forced Zaeef to flee to Pakistan. In 1983, Zaeef joined the jihad against the Soviets, fighting alongside several major figures of the anti-Soviet resistance, including current Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. After the war, he returned to his quiet life in Helmand, but factional conflicts soon broke out, and Zaeef, disgusted by the ensuing lawlessness, joined with other former mujahidin to form the Taliban, which assumed power in 1994. Zaeef recounts his time with the organization, first as a civil servant and then as a minister who negotiated with foreign oil companies and Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Afghani resistance. Zaeef served as ambassador to Pakistan at the time of 9\/11, and his testimony sheds light on the \"phoney war\" that preceeded the U.S.-led intervention. In 2002, Zaeef was delivered to the American forces operating in Pakistan and spent four and a half years in prison, including several years in Guantanamo, before being released without trial or charge. His reflections offer a privileged look at the communities that form the bedrock of the Taliban and the forces that motivate men like Zaeef to fight. They also provide an illuminating perspective on life in Guantanamo.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49666138571025,"sku":"CIN0231701489G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231701489.jpg?v=1750973641"},{"product_id":"killing-civilians-book-hugo-slim-9780231700368","title":"Killing Civilians","description":"When civilians suffer in war, it is often a deliberate act. Massacres, rape, displacement, famine, and disease are the strategic decisions of political and military leaders who make civilians their targets in order to gain the upper hand in battle. Yet there still exists the precious and fragile belief-ingrained in modern international law-that unarmed and innocent people should be protected in war, even if, in practice, the principle of civil immunity is often ignored or rejected.  Hoping to rectify this injustice, Hugo Slim uses detailed historical and contemporary examples to reveal the many ways civilians suffer in war. A leading commentator on international humanitarian action and the protection of civilians in war, Slim analyzes the anti-civilian ideologies that encourage and perpetuate suffering and exposes the exploitation of moral ambiguity that is used to sanction extreme hostility. At what point does killing civilians become part of winning a war? Why are some methods of killing used while others are avoided? Bolstering his claims with hard fact, Slim argues that civilian casualties are not only morally reprehensible but also bad military science.  His book is a clarion call for action and a passionate defense of civil immunity, a concept that is more urgent and necessary today than ever before.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49724471116049,"sku":"CIN0231700369G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51322181976337,"sku":"CIN0231700369VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231700369.jpg?v=1750877108"},{"product_id":"china-or-japan-book-claude-meyer-9780231702867","title":"China or Japan","description":"By 2030, Asia will be home to three of the world's leading economies: Japan, China, and India. In the contest over who will lead this pack, Japan and China seem to be the likely winners. Claude Meyer assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each country----notorious rivals harboring a long history of tension and conflict----and the major challenges they will face in the battle for supremacy. Meyer lays out the most probable scenario for ascendancy, following the dialectical relationship between Japan and China's relative economic and strategic abilities. While he acknowledges China's strategic advantages, Meyer nevertheless prioritizes economic considerations, for he believes economics is the primary arena in which Asian integration will take place. This tends to put Japan in the more favorable position, as the surprisingly resilient nation is sure to maintain stable leadership through its positive tradition of productivity, competitiveness, and technological innovation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49810531025169,"sku":"CIN0231702868VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231702868.jpg?v=1751037054"},{"product_id":"transnational-shia-politics-book-laurence-louer-9780231700405","title":"Transnational Shia Politics","description":"Laurence Louer, author of the critically acclaimed  To Be an Arab in Israel, brings her extensive knowledge of the Middle East to an analysis of the historical origins and present situation of militant Shia transnational networks. She focuses on three key countries in the gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, whose Shia Islamic groups are the offspring of various Iraqi movements that have surfaced over recent decades. Louer explains how these groups first penetrated local societies by espousing the networks of Shiite clergymen. She then describes the role of factional quarrels and the Iranian revolution of 1979 in defining the present landscape of Shiite Islamic activism in the Gulf monarchies. The reshaping of geopolitics after the Gulf War and the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 had a profound impact on transnational Shiite networks. New political opportunities encouraged these groups to concentrate on national issues, such as becoming fierce opponents of the Saudi monarchy. Yet the question still remains: How deeply have these new beliefs taken root in Islamic society? Are Shiites Saudi or Bahraini patriots?Louer's book also considers the transformation of Shia movements in relation to central religious authority.  While they strive to formulate independent political agendas, Shia networks remain linked to religious authorities ( marja') who reside either in Iraq or Iran. This connection becomes all the more problematic should the  marja' also be the head of a state, as with Iran's Ali Khamenei. In conclusion, Louer argues that the Shia will one day achieve political autonomy, especially as the  marja', in order to retain transnational religious authority, begin to meddle less and less in the political affairs of other countries.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49908806484241,"sku":"CIN0231700407G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231700407.jpg?v=1751004995"},{"product_id":"from-mao-to-market-book-robin-porter-9780231701907","title":"From Mao to Market","description":"Drawing on decades of research and teaching on China, Robin Porter presents a nuanced view of the country's modern evolution and historical influences. Porter visited China during the Cultural Revolution and worked as an editor at the Xinhua News Agency during the 1970s. In this volume, he explicitly accounts for the factors that gave rise to the country's current trends and behaviours, providing a rich understanding of an unpredictable though formidable world power.  Porter begins with China's social and political development from its earliest times to the modern period and concludes with a look at the country today, reassessing the events that most determined its evolution. He concentrates on the role played by politics and culture in conditioning every aspect of Chinese life. His analysis considers the country's Confucian heritage, ideological and legal orthodoxy, political command structures, technological innovation, enterprise management, public policy, private goals, and prospects for democracy. Through his personal insight and informed perspective, Porter clarifies a number of mysteries about modern China and the implications of its expansion for the balance of world power. Most important, he provides crucial context for the \"China dimension\" that has become so central to discussions of western national and international policy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49911012000017,"sku":"CIN023170190XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/023170190X.jpg?v=1750694679"},{"product_id":"understanding-somalia-and-somaliland-book-a-s-c-a-p-9780231700856","title":"Understanding Somalia and Somaliland","description":"Ioan Lewis details the history and culture of the Somali people, providing a unique window into this little-known culture and its increasingly public predicaments. He provides insight into the complex social, historical, and cultural hinterland that is the Somali heritage and pays close attention to the pervasive influence of traditional nomadism, especially its decentralized nature.  Lewis also addresses developments in the Somali political region since the collapse of the Republic in 1991, including the formation and steady development of the democratic state of Somaliland. Though it has grown into a de facto personality, this self-governing outpost of democracy is still officially unrecognized internationally. Lewis concludes with a discussion of the Islamist movement that brought a brief but astonishing period of stability to much of Southern Somalia in late 2006.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49938515853585,"sku":"CIN0231700857G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231700857.jpg?v=1750738734"},{"product_id":"politics-and-power-in-the-maghreb-book-michael-willis-9780231703246","title":"Politics and Power in the Maghreb","description":"The world was stunned when the entrenched regime of Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown on January 14, 2011. This massive popular revolt shook the foundations of a small country, and its profound ramifications have echoed throughout the wider Arab world. Many wondered why they had failed to grasp the extent of Tunisia's unrest. They also recognized a general ignorance about the parts of the Arab world surrounding Tunisia, particularly the Maghreb region, which attracts only a fraction of the foreign interest largely directed toward Egypt, the Levant, and the Gulf. This book examines the politics of three important players in the central Maghreb -- Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco -- since they gained independence from European colonial rule in the 1950s and 1960s. Michael J. Willis maps the political dynamics of the region by focusing on the roles played by multiple actors, including the military, various political parties, and Islamist movements. He also examines cultural issues, such as the evolution and importance of Berber identity, and carefully weighs social and economic factors.  Finally, he explores the relationship among the three states of the Maghreb and delves into the motivations driving their behavior toward outside powers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49947442381073,"sku":"GOR013820985","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231703244.jpg?v=1750973642"},{"product_id":"dhow-cultures-and-the-indian-ocean-book-abdul-sherrif-9780231701396","title":"Dhow Cultures and the Indian Ocean","description":"For centuries the dhow, a traditional Arab sailing vessel, operated according to the principles of free trade, carrying sailors, traders, passengers, and cargo to ports within Africa, India, and the Persian Gulf. The dhow was a vibrant means of social interaction, and the goods it carried embodied a great deal of social and cultural meaning. One could say the dhow gave birth to a number of cosmopolitan peoples and cultures, establishing and maintaining a genuine dialogue between civilizations. By the fifteenth century, the global world of the Indian Ocean had matured, and Islam became the dominant religion. It spread not by sword but by peaceful commerce, and the heroes of this world were not continental empires but a string of small port city-states stretching from Kilwa to Melaka. Their influence penetrated deep into the economies, societies, and cultures of the continental hinterlands, yet two major incursions turned this world upside down: the Chinese expeditions launched at the beginning of the fifteenth century and the Portuguese explorations conducted at its close.  The contrast could not have been starker between the dhow's long-standing tradition of free trade and Vasco da Gama's epoch of armed trading, which ultimately led to colonial domination. Abdul Sheriff unravels this rich and populous history, recasting the roots of Islam as they grew within the region, along with the thrilling story of the dhow.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50003950567697,"sku":"CIN023170139XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/023170139X.jpg?v=1751101357"},{"product_id":"abu-dhabi-book-christopher-davidson-9780231701068","title":"Abu Dhabi","description":"A rising economic power, Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, is poised to become a major player in the fortunes of both Third and First World countries. Abu Dhabi owns more than 8 percent of the world's oil reserves, has close to one trillion dollars to invest in sovereign wealth funds, and is about to implement a masterful set of economic initiatives that will yield even greater returns.  Abu Dhabi has begun to eclipse its partner city, Dubai, in terms of sheer wealth and cultural and infrastructural development, opening the world's first Ferrari theme park and erecting satellite branches of the Guggenheim and the Louvre. Author of the best-selling  Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success and an expert on Gulf politics, Christopher M. Davidson tracks Abu Dhabi's remarkable growth from a modest, eighteenth-century sheikhdom to its present opulent state. He recounts the dramatic efforts made by the emirate's dynastic family to retain their power, detailing the system of tribal capitalism they created in order to reconcile old political allegiances with modern engines of growth.  Davidson concludes with potential challenges to Abu Dhabi's political and economic success, including a weakening of civil society, invasive media censorship, an ongoing labor crisis, increasing federal unrest, and persistent underperformance in the education sector.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50037608415505,"sku":"CIN0231701063G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51461130158353,"sku":"CIN0231701063VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231701063.jpg?v=1751037054"},{"product_id":"hamas-in-politics-book-jeroen-gunning-9780231700450","title":"Hamas in Politics","description":"A key player in the politics of the Middle East, Hamas is renowned for its contradictory positions. The group uses terror tactics against Israel's civilians and military, yet runs on a law and order ticket in Palestinian elections; it pursues an Islamic state, yet holds internal elections; it campaigns for shari'ah law, yet its leaders are predominantly secular professionals; and it calls for the destruction of Israel, yet has reluctantly agreed to honor previously established peace agreements. In  Hamas in Politics, Jeroen Gunning launches a probing study of the movement's success in the political arena, showing that religion, violence, and democracy are not necessarily incompatible. Many of Hamas's apparent contradictions flow from the relationship between the organization's ideology, local constituency, and the nature of politics in Israel and Palestine. Gunning conducts interviews with members of Hamas as well as the group's critics and draws on a decade of close observation of the organization. He illuminates Hamas's understanding of its ideology and explores the tension between its dual commitment to \"God\" and \"the people.\" Examining the group's political practice and what it says about the group's attitude towards democracy, religion, and violence, Gunning provides a unique window into Hamas's internal structure, revealing its process of choosing leaders and determining policy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50037691810065,"sku":"CIN0231700458G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52628309803281,"sku":"GOR014568600","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231700458.jpg?v=1751389128"},{"product_id":"politics-of-chaos-in-the-middle-east-book-olivier-roy-9780231700320","title":"The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East","description":"In this book, Olivier Roy, Europe's leading scholar of political Islam, argues that the consequences of the war on terror have artificially conflated conflicts in the Middle East in such a way that they appear to be the expression of a widespread Muslim anger against the West. But in reality, there are no  us and  them. Instead, the West faces an array of reverse alliances that operate according to their own logic and dynamics.  The West supports General Musharraf in Pakistan, yet his military intelligence services are in league with the Taliban; in Iraq, the United States shores up a government that is closely linked to its archenemy, Iran; Iraqi Kurds, allies of the Americans, give sanctuary to the PKK, an adversary of a fellow NATO member, Turkey; while the Saudis support the Iraqi Sunnis who are, in turn, fighting Coalition forces. As if these issues were not complicated enough, the ever-worsening Shia-Sunni divide now threatens to disrupt any future strategic planning the West might attempt in the Middle East.  Roy unravels the complexity of these conflicts in order to better understand the political discontent that sustains them.  He also emphasizes that the war on terror should not be regarded merely as a geopolitical blunder committed by a fringe group of neoconservatives. It is instead a problematic outgrowth of our deeply rooted Western perceptions of the Middle East, including the belief that Islam, rather than politics, is the overarching factor in these conflicts, thus explaining the West's support for either would-be secular democrats or (more or less) benign dictators. Roy's conclusion argues that the West has no alternative but to engage in a dialogue with the political forces that truly matter--namely the Islamo-nationalists of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50094011973905,"sku":"CIN0231700326VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231700326.jpg?v=1751070827"},{"product_id":"when-more-is-less-book-astri-suhrke-9780231702720","title":"When More is Less","description":"Western-led efforts to establish a post-Taliban order in Afghanistan are in serious jeopardy. Beginning with the dynamics of Western intervention and its parallel peacebuilding mission, Astri Suhrke examines the forces that have shaped this grand international project and the apparent systemic bias toward deeper and broader international involvement. Many reasons have been cited for the weak achievements and ever-growing complications of rebuilding Afghanistan, commonly pinpointing hostile regional, national, and international actors. Suhrke finds the policies themselves to be primarily at fault, and she condemns the extraordinary and unnecessary complexity of the multinational operation. Her main argument is that the international project to reconstruct Afghanistan contains serious tensions and contradictions that have significantly impeded progress. As a result, deepening Western involvement in the region has been dysfunctional rather than helpful, and massive international support has created an extensively weak, corrupt, and unaccountable state. U.S.-led military operations have only undermined the peacebuilding agenda, and increased international aid and monitoring have only led to Afghan resentment and evasion.  Suhrke instead proposes a less intrusive international presence and recommends a longer time-frame for carrying out reconstruction. She also encourages negotiations with militants to introduce a more Afghan-directed order.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50134971678993,"sku":"CIN0231702728G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231702728.jpg?v=1750780209"},{"product_id":"hamas-in-politics-book-jeroen-gunning-9780231700443","title":"Hamas in Politics","description":"A key player in the politics of the Middle East, Hamas is renowned for its contradictory positions. 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He illuminates Hamas's understanding of its ideology and explores the tension between its dual commitment to \"God\" and \"the people.\" Examining the group's political practice and what it says about the group's attitude towards democracy, religion, and violence, Gunning provides a unique window into Hamas's internal structure, revealing its process of choosing leaders and determining policy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50163325567249,"sku":"CIN023170044XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/023170044X.jpg?v=1751356573"},{"product_id":"will-to-survive-book-bryan-cartledge-9780231702249","title":"The Will to Survive","description":"Despite its relatively small size, Hungary has shown remarkable resilience in its long and difficult history, resisting hostile neighbors and the pressures of two massive neighboring empires. Subjected to invasion, occupation, and frequent historical tragedy, the country has nevertheless survived and even flourished, becoming a stable, sovereign democratic republic with a seat in the European Union. Drawing on his experiences as ambassador to Hungary during the declining years of Janos Kadar's communist regime, Bryan Cartledge recreates a rich portrait of the country's political, economic, and cultural development. Spanning eleven hundred years, his account begins with the arrival of the Magyars in the ninth century and concludes with the acceptance of Hungary into NATO and the EU. Cartledge recounts Hungary's medieval greatness and its defeats at the hands of the Mongols, Turks, and Nazis. He revisits the nation's unsuccessful struggle for independence and the massive deprivations it suffered after the First World War. He also investigates Hungary's disastrous alliance with the Nazis, motivated by a hope for political redress.  Cartledge provides startling insight into the experience of Soviet-imposed communism, which culminated in the brutally suppressed revolution of 1956. Exploiting his intimate knowledge of Hungary and its rich archival sources, he explains how a country can lose almost every war it has engaged in and still forge ahead stronger than before.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50192966156561,"sku":"CIN0231702248G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231702248.jpg?v=1751389129"},{"product_id":"global-salafism-book-roel-meijer-9780231154208","title":"Global Salafism","description":"\"Salafism\" and \"jihadi-Salafism\" have become significant doctrinal trends in contemporary Islamic thought, yet the West largely fails to offer a sophisticated and discerning definition of these movements. The contributors to  Global Salafism carefully outline both the differences among Salafist schools and the broader currents of Islamic thought constituting this trend. Essays examine the regional manifestations of the phenomenon and its shared essential doctrines. Their analyses highlight Salafism's inherent ambivalence and complexities, or the \"out-antiquing the antique\" that has brought Islamic thought into the modern age while simultaneously maintaining its relationship with an older, purer authenticity. Emphasizing the subtle, local and global aspirations within the \"Salafist method,\"  Global Salafism investigates the movement like no other study currently available.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346125951249,"sku":"CIN0231154208G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231154208.jpg?v=1750973573"},{"product_id":"history-of-namibia-book-marion-wallace-9780231701945","title":"A History of Namibia","description":"Namibia gained its independence in 1990 after decades of struggle against South African rule. Before its battles with South Africa, the country spent years within the grip of German colonialism. In this book, the first general history of Namibia to be published in more than two decades, a celebrated historian and a renowned archaeologist provide fresh perspective on these events, as well as a detailed account of the country's precolonial period.  The volume begins with an absorbing history of Namibia from earliest times to the arrival of German colonialism in the nineteenth century. Drawing on sources in English and German, the authors explore trajectories of migration, production, and power in the precolonial period, changes triggered by European expansion, and the dynamics of formal colonialism. They relate the full experience of German rule, including the genocide of 1904-1908, the wars of central and southern Namibia, and the fate of defeated Africans who were imprisoned in concentration camps. Final chapters discuss African nationalism, apartheid, and war between 1946 and 1990, and the development of Namibia in the two decades since independence.  An invaluable introduction and resource, this volume reasserts Namibia's crucial role in the history of southern Africa and, with its rich insight and extensive bibliography, furthers responsible research on the country and the continent.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346128310545,"sku":"CIN0231701942G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231701942.jpg?v=1750694680"},{"product_id":"history-of-finland-book-henrik-meinander-9780231701921","title":"A History of Finland","description":"Henrik Meinander captures the fascinating contours of Finnish history, culture, and society in this brisk and bold portrait. He begins with the country's early history as a member of the Swedish kingdom and follows through to its later years as an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian empire. 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