What We Are Reading Today: The Rohingya Crisis by Mohammed Abdul Bari

What We Are Reading Today: The Rohingya Crisis by Mohammed Abdul Bari
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Updated 18 November 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: The Rohingya Crisis by Mohammed Abdul Bari

What We Are Reading Today: The Rohingya Crisis by Mohammed Abdul Bari

Widely known as the world’s most persecuted minority group, the Rohingya in Myanmar are now facing extinction. 

Denied citizenship rights, denied their very ethnic identity, hundreds of thousands have fled Rakhine State in Myanmar over the border into Bangladesh, where they face squalid conditions. 

Many have witnessed death, mutilation and rape, as well as whole villages, what they called home, burning to ashes.  

Mohammed Abdul Bari, a leading British Muslim figure, has no doubt been saying that the Rohingya have been facing genocide. 

In this concise but powerfully argued book, he brings to light the scale and barbarity of their suffering and argues that the international community.


Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 

Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 
Updated 29 November 2023
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Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 

Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 

CHICAGO: In rural Upper Egypt, public prosecutor Nader Fayez Kamal arrives in the village of Tayea, where tension is high between Coptic and Muslim communities in award-winning novelist and legal scholar Ashraf El-Ashmawi’s novel, “The House of the Coptic Woman.” Beginning a new job as a deputy public prosecutor on the outskirts of town, Nader must navigate a tricky post with complicated relationships between people and the land they live on. Translated into English by Peter Daniel, Nader finds life away from Cairo more complex than he had hoped for, but faces it with a strong legal mind and a penchant for solving mysteries. 

On the night Nader arrives at the rest house to begin his new job, he meets a caretaker named Ramses who tells him that the lodge was originally built by a British irrigation engineer who was in charge of northern Upper Egypt before he was murdered in the 1940s. From that event, history changed the face of the village which by 1952, after the Egyptian revolution, changes its name to Tayea after the mayor. With a history of religious tension, Nader isn’t prepared for what’s about to happen. Coinciding with his arrival is the appearance of a young woman named Hoda who appears in the middle of the night with a secret that will change her life and that of those around her.  

With an atmosphere that is foreboding, El-Ashmawi’s incredible storytelling sets the mood as the novel shifts between Nader and Hoda. Between the divisive village life, arson attacks, murders that are never solved, and mysterious land acquisitions and sales, Nader and Hoda are thrown into a world where they are forced to tread carefully. Nader has a knack for stepping on toes but has to learn the hard way that the path to justice and peace can be messy.   

Setting a tone that is intelligent, complex, deceptive, and rich, El-Ashmawi’s novel encompasses sectarian strife and a debate about justice. There are laws that penalize for small offences and others in which the punishment is far less than the offense. In a place where justice is more concerned with politics, the protagonists will find themselves facing decisions that could alter their lives forever. 


What We Are Reading Today: How We Age

What We Are Reading Today: How We Age
Updated 29 November 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: How We Age

What We Are Reading Today: How We Age

Author: Coleen T. Murphy

All of us would like to live longer, or to slow the debilitating effects of age.

In “How We Age,” Coleen Murphy shows how recent research on longevity and aging may be bringing us closer to this goal.

Murphy, a leading scholar of aging, explains that the study of model systems, particularly simple invertebrate animals, combined with breakthroughs in genomic methods, have allowed scientists to probe the molecular mechanisms of longevity and aging.


What We Are Reading Today: Argentine Democracy

What We Are Reading Today: Argentine Democracy
Updated 27 November 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: Argentine Democracy

What We Are Reading Today: Argentine Democracy

Author: Steven Levitsky

During the 1990s Argentina was the only country in Latin America to combine radical economic reform and full democracy. 

In 2001, however, the country fell into a deep political and economic crisis and was widely seen as a basket case. 

This book explores both developments, examining the links between the real and apparent successes of the 1990s and the 2001 collapse. 

Beyond its empirical analysis, the book contributes to several theoretical debates in comparative politics. Contemporary studies of political institutions focus almost exclusively on institutional design, neglecting issues of enforcement and stability. 

 


What We Are Reading Today: Sierra Leone; A Political History

What We Are Reading Today: Sierra Leone; A Political History
Updated 27 November 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: Sierra Leone; A Political History

What We Are Reading Today: Sierra Leone; A Political History

Author: David Harris

Sierra Leone came to world attention in the 1990s when a catastrophic civil war linked to the diamond trade was reported globally. 

The book examines the history and independence of the African nation, placing state-society relations at the centre of an original and revealing investigation of those who have tried to rule or change the country and its inhabitants and the responses engendered. 

It interweaves the historical narrative with sketches of politicians, anecdotes, the landscape and environment and key turning points, alongside theoretical and other comparisons with the rest of Africa. 

It is a new contribution to the debate for those who already know Sierra Leone and a solid point of entry for those who wish to know.


What We Are Reading Today: Crisis In The Congo

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Updated 25 November 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: Crisis In The Congo

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Author: Alba Yurman

Captain Stairs was appointed to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition led by Henry Morton Stanley, at the time the most celebrated living explorer of Africa ... Stairs was appointed second-in-command after Captain Barttelot was shot on 19 July 1888.
This is the story of the Stairs Expedition, related by the group’s medical officer, Joseph Moloney.
First published in 1893, Moloney’s fascinating narrative will transport you to a world of cannibals, missionaries, and slave traders; of a provocative military invasion and its bloody climax; and of the mercenaries’ nightmarish return march — wracked by starvation and fever — back to the coast of East Africa, according to a review on goodreads.com.