The Middle East -- Context for Conflict
Iraq, Iran, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,
and the Persian Gulf States
Historical background and context for understanding today's news.
Copyright © 2003 Richard Seltzer
Skip the explanation and go straight to
the table of contents
This Web page shows the table of contents of our Middle East CD, with
240 books. Internal links will take you to the various sections, but you
cannot get to the books themselves here on the Web.
This CD was compiled by Richard Seltzer. The books themselves are in
the public domain. You can copy them onto your hard drive for convenience,
or make an archival copy of the CD, as backup in case of damage to the
original. But the collection and its indexes, created for your convenience,
are under copyright. Please contact us first if you are interested in making
copies of this CD for commercial purposes. seltzer@samizdat.com
This CD contains the full text of 11 "Country Studies" published as
printed books by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress
between 1987 and 1995 under a program sponsored by the U.S. Department
of Army.
Each country study is presented as a single document, plain text form
-- easy to read, to print, and to search (rather than as a collection of
over 100 separate documents for each book, that you could find on the Web).
The tables in the appendix of each book are presented as html documents.
With the exception of the Persian Gulf States (which covers Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates), each of the Country
Studies consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1 -- Historical Setting
Chapter 2 -- The Society and Its Environment
Chapter 3 -- The Economy
Chapter 4 -- Government and Politics
Chapter 5 -- National Security
In addition, we include:
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The 2008 edition of the CIA World Factbook, an interlinked
set of hundreds of HTML documents, with detailed up-to-date reference information
on every country in the world, with images of maps and flags.
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95 classic works of history, literature, and religion, including The Koran
and books on the traditions of Judaism, all in plain text form.
For details about our publishing service, check the readme
document on this CD, and please visit our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat
If you would like
to have your PC (with speakers) read these texts aloud to you, while they
are displayed in text on the screen, see below about the free ReadPlease
software that we have included on this CD.
Teachers' and Students'
Guide: Suggestions on how to get the most out of your books on CD ROM
Table of Contents
[NB -- on the Web version of the Table of Contents the links are not live.
On the CD itself, you would click on a title to open a book.]
Country Studies
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Cyprus
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Egypt
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Iran
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Iraq
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Israel
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Jordan
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Lebanon
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Persian Gulf States
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Saudi Arabia
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Syria
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Turkey
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tables (html)
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Table A. Chronology of Major Kemalist Reforms
2008 CIA World Factbook
with maps, flags, and up-to-date information on every country in the world).
This is an interlinked set of hundreds of HTML documents. You should open
it with your Web browser.
History -- Ancient and Medieval
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The History of Herodotus translated by G.C. Macaulay
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Ancient Egypt by George Rawlinson
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L'Archeologie Egyptienne by G. Maspero, in French
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L'Egyptologie by G. Maspero
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Lettres Ecrites d'Egypte et de Nubie en 1828 et 1829 by Champollion, 1868
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The Treasury of Ancient Egypt
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History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syra, Babylonia, and Assyria by G. Maspero,
volume 1
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How to Observe in Archaelogy, suggestions for Travellers in the Near and
Middle East by the British Museum
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Manual of Egyptian Archaeology by G. Maspero
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Lord's Lectures, Beacon Lights of History
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volume 2 Jewish Heroes and Prophets
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volume 4 Imperial Antiquity
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volume 5 The Middle Ages
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Assyrian Historiography, a Source Study by Albert Ten Eyck Olmstead
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Seven Great Monarchies by George Rawlinson
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Volume 1 Chaldaea
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Volume 2 Assyria
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Volume 3 Media
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Volume 4 Babylonia
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Volume 5 Persia Proper
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Volume 6 Parthia
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Volume 7 The Sassanian or New Persian Empire
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Chaldea from the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria by Zenaide a. Ragozin
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History of Phoenicia by George Rawlinson
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Anabasis by Xenophon, Translation by H. G. Dakyns
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The Ancient East by D.G. Hogarth
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Patriarchal Palestine by Rev. A. H. Sayce
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Cleopatra by Jacob Abbott
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The Oldest Code of Laws in the World, the Code of Laws Prmulgated by Hammurabi,
King of Babylon translated by C.H.W. Johns
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The Persian War by Herodotus
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Flavius Josephus
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Antiquities of the Jews
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Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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Part 5
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Part 6
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Part 7
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Life of Flavius Josephus
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Wars of the Jews
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Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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Part 5
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Part 6
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Part 7
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Prolegomena to the History of Israel by Julius Wellhausen
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Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations by Rev. A.H. Sayce
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Edward Gibbon
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Fall of the Roman Empire (includes history of the Byzantine Empire)
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Volume 1
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Volume 2
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Volume 3
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Volume 4
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Volume 5
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Volume 6
History -- Modern
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The Land of Midian by Richard Burton
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Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah by Richard
Burton
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The Life of Sir Richard Burton by Thomas Wright
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The Afghan Wars (1839-42 and 1878-80) by Archibald Forbes
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The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Viciious Horses by T. Gilbert,
1856
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A Dweller in Mesopotamia, being the adventures of an official artist in
the Garden of Eden by Donald Maxell
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Palestine or the Holy Land, from the earliest period to the present time
by Rev. Michael Russell
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Crescent and Iron Cross by E.F. Benson
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In Mesopotamia by Martin Swayne
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Letters from Mesopotamia, in 1915 and Jan. 1916
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Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago by Hannah Trager
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How Jerusalem was Won, being the record of Allenby's Campaign in Palestine
by W.T. Massey
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Martyred Armenia by Fa'iz El-Ghusein
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Modern Persia by Mooshie G. Daniel
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Through Palestine with the Twentieth Machine-Gun Squadron [World War I],
1920
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With the Turks in Palestine by Alexander Aaronsohn, 1916
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War in the Garden of Eden by Kermit Roosevelt
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Persia Revisited by General Sir Thomas Edward Gordon, 1896
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Turkey: a Past and a Future by A.J. Toynbee, 1907
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Voyage dans l'Aures: Notes d'un Medecin Envoye en Mission Chez les Femmes
Arabes by Dorothee Chellier, 1895
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With the British Army in the Holy Land by H.O. Lock, 1919
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With a Highland Regiment in Mesopotamia, 1918
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With Our Army in Palestine by antony Bluett, 1919
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The Women of the Arabs by Henry Harris Jessup
Travel
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Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
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The Itinerary of Benjamin Tudela (12th Century)
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Journeys Beyond Bagdad by Charles Brooks
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The Lands of the Saracen by Bayard Taylor, 1863
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Lady Duff Gordon's Letters from Egypt, 1902
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Oriental Encounters, Palestine and Syria (1894-1896) by Marmaduke Pickthall
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A Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistan by Harry de Windt
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A Peep into Toorkisthan by Captain Rollo Burslem, 1846
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Quinze Jours en Egypte by Fernand Neury, 1909, in French
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Southern Arabia by Theodore Dent
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Le Tour de Monde, Voyage de M. Guillaume Lejean dans l'Afrique Orientale,
1860, in French
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Travels in Arabia by John Lewis Burckhardt
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Travels in Morocco by James Richardson
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Travels in Syria and the Holy Land by John Lewis Burckhardt
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Visit to the Holy Land, Egypt, and Italy by Madame Ida Pfeiffer
Literature
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Arabic Authors, a Manual of Arabian History and Literature by F.F. Arbuthnot
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Babylonian and Assyrian Literature edited by Epiphanius Wilson
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The Arabian Nights
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Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Arabian Nights, complete, translated
by Richard Burton)
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Volume 1
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Volume 2
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Volume 3
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Volume 4
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Volume 5
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Volume 6
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Volume 7
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Volume 8
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Volume 9
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Volume 10
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Supplement Volume1
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Supplement Volume 2
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Supplement Volume 3
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Supplement Volume 4
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Supplement Volume 5
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Supplement Volume 6
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Arabian Nights Entertainments edited by Andrew Lang
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The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Windemere Series
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The Arabian Nights, Their Best-Known Tales edited by kate Douglas Wiggin
and Nora A. Smith
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Alladdin and the Enchanted Lamp translated by John Payne
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The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, translated by John Payne
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volume 1
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volume 2
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volume 3
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volume 4
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Tales from the Arabic translated by John Payne
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Arabian Nights translated by anonymous (1813), volume 1 of 2
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Arabian Nights translated by Jonathan Scott (1890)
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The Improvement of Human Reason, Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan
by Ibn Tufail, in English, 1708
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The Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature part 1 by M. Inostranzev
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The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi translated and Annotated by Richard Burton
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with accents
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without accents
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The Diwan of Abu'l-ala (Syrian 973 AD) by Henry Baerlin
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Flowers from a Persian Gardena nd other Papers by W.A. Clouston
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Halil the Pedlar, a Tale of Old Stambul by Maurus Jokai
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Leicestershires Beyond Baghdad by Edward J. Thompson
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The Madman: His Parables and Poems by Kahil Gibran (short)
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Moorish Literature, comprising romantic ballads, tales of the Berbers,
stories of the Kabyles, Folk Lore and National Traditions
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Oriental Literature: The Literature of Arabia edited by Epiphanius Wilson,
1900
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The Story of Hassan of Baghdad by James Flecker
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The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald
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Tales of the Caliph by H.N. Crellin
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The Turkish Jester by Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi, translated from Turkish
by George Borrow
Historical Novels
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The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan by James Morier, 1895
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Almoran and Hamet by John Hawkesworth
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Alroy or The Prinnce of the Captivity by Benjamin Disraeli
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The Amours of Zeokinizul, King of the Kofirans, translated from the Arabic
of the famous traveller Krinelbol, by Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon
(1707-1777), 1749
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Ben Hur by Lew Wallace
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A Boswell of Baghdad with Diversions by E.V. Lucas
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For Name and Fame or Through Afgahn Passes by G.A. Henty
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For the Temple by G.A. Henty
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Jerusalem Delivered by Tasso
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The Prince of India by Lew Wallace
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volume 1
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volume 2The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
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The Valley of the Kings by Marmaduke Pickthall
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Vergilius, a Tale of the Coming of Christ by Irving Bacheller
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Zenobia by William Ware
Religion and Philosophy
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Ancient
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Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life by E.A. Wallis Budge
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The Babylonian Story of the Deluge by E.A. Wallis Budge
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The Babylonian Legends of the Creation and the Fight Between Bel and the
Dragon, told by Assyrian Tablets from Nineveh
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The Epic of Gilgamesh by Stephen Langdon
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An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic by Morris Jastrow and Albert
Clay
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Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition by Leonard
W. King
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Legends of the Gods [Egyptian] by E.A. Wallis Budge
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Myths of Babylonia and Assyria by Donald Mackenzie
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The Egyptian Concept of Immortality by George Reisner, 1911
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The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Theophilus Pinches
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The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Morris Jastrow
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Moslem/Islam
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The Koran, translated by J.M. Rodwell
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The Koran in Three Translations, side-by-side
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The Qu'ran or Koran translated from the Arabic by E.H. Palmer (from the
Sacred Books of the East collection, Volumes 6 and 9. The original html
version is available on the Web at http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/palm/index.htm
)
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Christianity and Islam by C.H. Becker
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Correspondence Relating to Executions in Turkey for Apostacy from Islamism,
1844
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A Critical Exposition of the Popular Jiham, Showing that all the wars of
Mohammad were defensive by Moulavi Gheragh Ali, 1885
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The Faith of Islam by Edward Sell, 1880
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The Future of Islam by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, 1882
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Insights and Heresies Pertaining to the Evolution of the Soul by Ammyeetis
(Persian), 1916
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Mahomet: Founder of Islam by G.M. Draycott
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Mohammed by E.E. Hayes
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Mohammedism by C. Snouck Hurgronje
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Mystics and Saints of Islam by Claud Field
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Two Old Faiths, Essays on the Religions of the Hindus and the Mohammedans
by J. Murray Mitchell and Sir William Muir
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Judaism
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Chosen Peoples by Israel Zangwill
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Jewish History by S.M. Dubnow
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The Tanach, the Jewish Bible, 1917 Jewish Publication Societies' English
translation (the original html version is avilalbe on the Web at http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/jps/index.htm)
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The Babylonian Talmud translated by Michael L. Rodkinson
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all 20 volumes in a single file in html (Web) format, with links to all
the sections
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as separate plain text files
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Volume 1 -- Tract Sabbath, volume 1
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Volume 2 -- Tract Sabbath volume 2
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Section Moed (Festivals)
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Volume 3 -- Tract Erubin
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Volume 4 -- Tracts Shekalim and Rosh Hashana
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Volume 5 -- Tract Pesachim
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Volume 6 -- Tracts Yomah and Hagiga
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Volume 7 -- Tracts Betzah, Succah, an Moed Katan
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Volume 8 -- Tracts Taanith, Megill, and Ebel Rabbathi
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Section Jurisprudence (Damages)
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Volume 9 -- Tracts Aboth, Derch-Eretz, and Zeta
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Volume 10 -- Tract Baba Kama, Part 1
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Volume 11 -- Tract Baba Kama Part 2 and Baba Metzia Part 1
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Volume 12 -- Tract Baba Metzia Part 2
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Volume 13 -- Tract Baba Bathra Part 1
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Volume 14 -- Tract Baba Bathra Part 2
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Volume 15 -- Tract Sanhedrin Part 1
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Volume 16 -- Tract Sanhedrin Part 2
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Volume 17 -- Tracts Maccoth, Shebuoth, and Eduyoth
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Volume 18 -- Tracts Abuda Zara and Horioth
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Volume 19 -- History of the Talmud volume 1
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Volume 20 -- History of the Talmud volume 2
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The Guide for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides translated by M. Friedlander
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A Guide for the Religious Instruction of Jewish Youth, proposed to teachers
by Isaac Reggio, 1855
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Hebraic Literature: translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala
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Hebrew Life and Times by Harold B. Hunting, 1921
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Judaism by Israel Abraham
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Kabbala Denudat: The Kabbalah Unveiled, containing the following Books
of the Zohar: The Book of Concealed Mystery, The Greater Holy Assembly,
and The Lesser Holy Assembly, translated by S.L. MacGregor Mathers
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The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg
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Medieval Hebrew, featuring the Midrash and medieval collections of Jewish
Biblical lore and legend (the original html version is available on the
Web at http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/mhl/index.htm)
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Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth) translated by Charles Taylor
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Tales and Maxims from the Midrash by Rev. Samuel Rapaport
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Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria by Norman Bentwick
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Zoroastrianism (originally from Persia, now Iran)
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Zend-Avesta
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Part 1: Avesta: Vendidad (Sacred Books of the East Volume 4)
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Part 2 (Sacred Books of the East Volume 23):
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Khorda Avesta: Book of Common Prayer pt. 1
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Khorda Avesta: Book of Common Prayer pt. 2
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Part 3 (Sacred Books of the East Volume 31):
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Avesta: Yasna
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Avesta: Visperad (short)
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Avesta Fragments (short)
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Pahlavi Texts
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Part 1: The Bundahis-Bahman Yast and Shayast La-Shayast (Sacred Books of
the East Volume 5)
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Part 3 (Sacred Books of the East Volume 24)
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Dadestan-i Denig
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Menog-i Khrad
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Sad Dar
About the Country Studies Program
These Country Studies were previously published in hard copy by the Federal
Research Division of the Library of Congress between 1987 and 1995 under
a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army.
"The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the
historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security
systems and institutions of countries throughout the world and examines
the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by
cultural factors.
"The books represent the analysis of the authors and should not be construed
as an expression of an official United States Government position, policy,
or decision. The authors have sought to adhere to accepted standards of
scholarly objectivity. Corrections, additions, and suggestions for changes
from readers will be welcomed for use in future hard copy editions (E-mail
frds@loc.gov).
"Information contained in the Country Studies On-Line is not copyrighted
and thus is available for free and unrestricted use by researchers. As
a courtesy, however, appropriate credit should be given to the series."
The online version can be found at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
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2003 on this CD. You can use that file to install a trial copy of ReadPlease
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buy a license from ReadPlease for $49.95. As an alternative, you can use
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The easiest way to get started is to click on My Computer, then on your
CD drive, then on index.html. That should bring you to index.html, in Word
or your Web browser, or WordPad or Notepad, depending on your computer's
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From the index, click on an individual work to see the full text in
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with whatever changes you have made (including notes you made while reading).
We will continue to add new books to this CD as they become available.
If you buy a CD directly from us, you have the right to buy an upgraded
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For details on all our offerings see http://www.samizdat.com/readme.html
You can buy these CDs at our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat
This CD -- The Middle East: Context for Conflict -- is
available for $29 at our online
store.
This site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West
Roxbury, MA 02132. 617-469-2269 seltzer@samizdat.com
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