From the early days of steamship travel, artists stifled by the culture of their homelands fled to islands, jungles, and deserts in search of new creative and emotional frontiers. Their flight inspired a unique body of work that doesn't fit squarely within the Western canon, yet may be some of the most original statements we have about the range and depth of the artistic imagination. Focusing on six principal subjects, Jamie James locates "a lost national school" of artists who left their homes for the unknown. There is Walter Spies, the devastatingly handsome German painter who remade his life in Bali; Raden Saleh, the Javanese painter who found fame in Europe; Isabelle Eberhardt, a Russian-Swiss writer who roamed the Sahara dressed as an Arab man; the American experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, who went to Haiti and became a committed follower of voodoo. From France, Paul Gauguin left for Tahiti; and Victor Segalen, a naval doctor, poet, and novelist, immersed himself in classical Chinese civilization in imperial Peking. In The Glamour of Strangeness, James evokes these extraordinary lives in portraits that bring the transcultural artist into sharp relief. Drawing on his own career as a travel writer and years of archival research uncovering previously unpublished letters and journals, James creates a penetrating study of the powerful connection between art and the exotic.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a memoir of the soldier known as 'Lawrence of Arabia.’ Lawrence is a fascinating and controversial figure and his talent as a vivid and imaginative writer shines through on every page of his masterpiece. ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ written between 1919 and 1926, is an extraordinary tale of action, politics and adventure. The story describes heroism through instances of war by a man who not only shaped events but was molded by them. The genre of the book can be related to many broad subjects like political history, military strategy, pathology or travel story. Lawrence, known as the defender of the empire, had found war in the Arab world and a long-lasting sideline to the War to End All Wars. This war produced more war during the time, in which, along with many other eminent writers, Lawrence was also involved. Seven Pillars of Wisdom provides a unique portrait of this extraordinary man and an insight into the birth of the Arab nation.

In his fifth book, John Hailman recounts the adventures and misadventures he experienced during a lifetime of international travel. From Oman to Indonesia, from sandstorms and food poisoning to gangsters and at least one jealous husband, Hailman explores the cultures and court systems of faraway countries. The international story begins in Paris as a young Hailman, a student at La Sorbonne, experiences the romance and excitement one expects from the City of Lights. Years later Hailman returns to France, to Interpol Headquarters in Lyon where he received his international law certificate from the National School for Magistrates. Traveling the world as a representative for the US Justice Department, Hailman encountered criminals and conspiracies, including a plot in Ossetia, Georgia, to hijack his helicopter and kidnap him. From his time as a prosecutor are tales of three very different Islamic cultures in the colorful societies and legal systems of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Hailman also travels to the chaotic world of the former Soviet Union where, at the time of his visit, a new world of old countries was trying to rediscover independent pasts. He explores the tiny country of Moldova and the beautiful and picturesque Republic of Georgia, and visits Russia during the brief period democracy was flowering and the nation was experimenting with a new jury trial system. Viewing his adventures through the lens of laws and customs, Hailman is able to give unique insight to the countries he visits. With each new adventure in Foreign Missions of an American Prosecutor, John Hailman shares his passion for travel and his fascination with other cultures.

A chronicle of travels in the Middle East focuses on modern expatriates, displaced Westerners who have discovered their niches in and around the Persian Gulf amid a political climate of fear

Myths reflect, reinforce, and sometimes subvert gender ideologies and so have an influence in the 'real world'. This is true in the present no less than when the Greek and Roman myths were created. The struggles to redefine gender roles and identities in our own time are inevitably reflected in our interpretations and retellings of these classical myths. Using the new lenses provided by gender studies and diverse forms of feminism, Lillian Doherty re-examines some of the major approaches to myth interpretation in the twentieth century: psychological, ritualist, 'charter', structuralist and folklorist. She also explores 'popular' uses of classical mythology - from television and comic books to the evocation of goddesses in Jungian psychology.

From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Amy Judith Levy (10 November 1861 – 10 September 1889) was a British essayist, poet, and novelist best remembered for her literary gifts; her experience as the first Jewish woman at Cambridge University and as a pioneering woman student at Newnham College, Cambridge; her feminist positions; her friendships with others living what came later to be called a "New Woman" life, some of whom were lesbians; and her relationships with both women and men in literary and politically activist circles in London during the 1880s.

Bursting into Janet Sandison's life at the moment of her marriage to 'Twice' Alexander comes the mercurial, red-haired Monica who hits post-war Scotland like a tornado. Through Monica, Janet and Twice find the charming row of old cottages that becomes their home-and incidentally Monica's too, since she decides to move in with them. At a time when Janet most needs help, Monica is there. But why should she have set her cap at Twice?

Armies of Arabia is the first book to comprehensively analyze the armed forces of the Gulf monarchies. Zoltan Barany explains the conspicuous ineffectiveness of Gulf militaries with a combination of political-structural and sociocultural factors. Following a brief exposition on their historical evolution, he explores the region's six armies of the region comparatively, through the lenses of military politics, sociology, economics, and diplomacy. The book'sthemes come together in the last chapter that critically evaluates the Saudi and Emirati armed forces' record in the on-going war in Yemen.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British Army Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), of serving as a military advisor to Bedouin forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks of 1916 to 1918. Winston Churchill quoted in an advertisement for the 1935 edition said "It ranks with the greatest books ever written in the English language. As a narrative of war and adventure it is unsurpassable." The book was adapted into the film Lawrence of Arabia.