Middle East

  • Movie Mondays: Cinema from the Middle East

    ~posted by Frank If your knowledge of the Middle East is limited to what you see and hear on the news, consider these ten films from from the region that deal with everyday life – many grim, some humorous – as they shed some light on this tumultuous region. For films dealing directly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,… Continue reading

  • Maps for Your Reading Pleasure

    I was three chapters into reading Gertrude Bell, Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations, when I discovered the maps in the front of the book.  Gertrude Bell, “poet, scholar, historian, mountaineer, photographer, archaeologist, gardener, cartographer, linguist and distinguished servant of the state,” was instrumental in helping define the borders of modern day Iraq.  As I read… Continue reading