Amazon.com: Afghanistan, Turkey, Central Asia and Middle East:

Afghanistan, Turkey, Central Asia and Middle East:
A Listmania! list by C. Williams
The list author says: "This part of the world has complex trade, tribal and linguistic history hard to deduce from mainstream fiction, popular history, textbooks or even travel books. Here is what little I have found so far as preparation for my own travels begins. Suggestions welcome. Space is limited so many books have been read - and excluded."

1. Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600 by David J. Roxburgh

The list author says:
	"Central Asia's peoples, art, trade, religion and politics are closely connected with the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey. Stunning color plates of artworks are the best part."

Used & New from: $149.90
(2 customer reviews)

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2. Birds Without Wings by Louis De Bernieres

The list author says:
	"End of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of Mutafa Ataturk is told from the perspective of a single Lycian village."

$10.66 Used & New from: $0.17
(106 customer reviews)

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3. The Places In Between by Rory Stewart

The list author says:
	"A professor of history from Scotland walks from Herat to Kabul tracing the route of a Mongol emperor. He is beholden to the kindness of strangers."

$10.17 Used & New from: $0.01
(219 customer reviews)

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4. The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra

The list author says:
	"A brilliant, lyric novel by an Algerian military officer who used a feminine pseudonym, this story follows the lives of four people whose relationships are sorely tested by the war-torn Kabul during the time of the Taliban. A parable more than a story, beautifully analytical."

$10.91 Used & New from: $0.01
(62 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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5. The Janissary Tree: A Novel by Jason Goodwin

The list author says:
	"Detective Yashim is the rare eunuch who lives in Istanbul at the end of the Ottoman Empire. Amazing story woven into Byzantine history, Ottoman geography and Roman architecture."

$10.20 Used & New from: $0.01
(67 customer reviews)

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6. The Blood of Flowers: A Novel by Anita Amirrezvani

The list author says:
	"The tale of a young rugmaker at the height of Shah Abbas' age of fine arts in Persia provides a history or perhaps an ethnography of rural and urban, wealthy and poor."

$5.60 Used & New from: $2.02
(112 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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7. Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire by Jason Goodwin

The list author says:
	"The legacy of the Ottoman Empire is still with us. Its borders were vast, its rule incomplete yet it functioned as the rule of law. A political analysis contrasts its initial three centuries with its decline over its last three hundred years. A compelling read, esp. for nonfiction. A must for those who read the Detective Yashim stories."

$11.56 Used & New from: $3.99
(32 customer reviews)

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8. My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk

The list author says:
	""A modern explanation of Turkey's internal struggle" and indeed, it is. Fear prevails in the world of artists and illustrators during the Ottoman Empire. Graceful prose, wit and brevity - even a bit of humor - bring this cautionary tale into sharp focus for the modern student of Middle East geopolitics. I found Roixburgh's book (above) helpful."

$10.85 Used & New from: $0.01
(155 customer reviews)

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9. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

The list author says:
	"An Iranian professor of English literature teaches in Tehran where she refuses to take the veil. Instead she teaches her young female students in her home, providing a rare glimpse of how life has changed beneath the veil."

$12.24 Used & New from: $0.01
(420 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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10. The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

The list author says:
	"A fictional story of two families gives new insights about the history of strife between Armenians and Turkish peoples."

$10.20 Used & New from: $0.46
(47 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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11. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

The list author says:
	"Central Asia has a layered history of immigration, great empires and difficult terrain but this book serves as a useful foundation."

$10.20 Used & New from: $3.01
(210 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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12. Damascus Nights by Rafik Schami

The list author says:
	"Enchanting, spellbinding example of the ancient storytelling form long used in Syria, Turkey, and Asia. Every word is perfectly placed before its surprise ending."

Used & New from: $0.01
(9 customer reviews)

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13. Snow by Orhan Pamuk

The list author says:
	"To understand this finely drawn novel is to gain insights into modern Turkey. The plot parallels the coming of age for Ataturk's legacy complete with intrigue, unattainable beauty, turmoil..Amazing work that could be read along with "Birds Without Wings""

$10.85 Used & New from: $0.01
(175 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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14. Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples by V. S. Naipaul

The list author says:
	"Exquisite writing, this is nonfiction that engages from start to finish. Four Islamic countries, none of which are Arabic are the subject of this writer's travels back to places visited two decades before."

$15.82 Used & New from: $0.01
(87 customer reviews)

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15. The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia (Kodansha Globe) by Peter Hopkirk

The list author says:
	"Classic volume about war over control of 19th century Central Asia."

$12.24 Used & New from: $1.99
(120 customer reviews)

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16. The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga

The list author says:
	"This prize-winning book is offbase in the geographical sense but it does provide a stark contrast to Central Asia: here we have India's own Horatio Alger story which could only happen with globalized trade."

$10.20 Used & New from: $0.01
(407 customer reviews) | 2 customer discussions

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17. The Flea Palace by Elif Shafak

The list author says:
	"I enjoy this unusual book because it is a good example of the "nested fable" so often found in Middle East literature. Each of the story's elements are drawn finely and separately then their orbits gradually converge until the whole story snaps into unexpected focus. An artful and strange tale, this one."

$11.21 Used & New from: $1.02
(7 customer reviews)

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18. The Black Sea: A History by Charles King

The list author says:
	"Excellent history of this enigmatic region and one of the best features is the maps across centuries showing how the geographic boundaries of the countries around the Black Sea have changed."

$24.99 Used & New from: $13.98
(7 customer reviews)

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19. Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet by Yo-Yo Ma

The list author says:
	"Lovely, timeless and enduring. Especially memorable for me is the Mongolian Long Song. I've worn through two CDs and given many others for gifts. A favorite."

$13.10 Used & New from: $1.35
(33 customer reviews)

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20. The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer

The list author says:
	"So subtle, the plot starts with the unlikely pairing of a South African investment banker's only child and an illegal immigrant from a North African country. Cultural assumptions are finely drawn for Western-Arab relations."

$10.24 Used & New from: $0.01
(37 customer reviews)

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21. The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor (Modern Library Classics) by W. M. Thackston

The list author says:
	"The companion volume, or historical parallel, to Rory Stewart's modern walkabout as described in "Places In Between""

$11.71 Used & New from: $5.49
(8 customer reviews)

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22. Rooftops of Tehran: A Novel by Mahbod Seraji

The list author says:
	"A painful coming-of-age story told during Iran's days under the rule of the Shah. Offers glimpses of humor, cultural tradition, food and gestures that richly describe the families of Iran's urban professionals through 1967."

$10.95 Used & New from: $0.01
(72 customer reviews)

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23. The Calligrapher's Secret by Rafik Schami

The list author says:
	"Delightful gift of a story. Borders on an ethnography, adding hundreds of cultural insights about Arabic language, Islam society and how this both bear on family life."

$15.60 Used & New from: $9.99
(2 customer reviews)

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24. Queen of the Oil Club: The Intrepid Wanda Jablonski and the Power of Information by Anna Rubino

The list author says:
	"Oddly, this fast-paced biography offer an occasional parallel to "Rooftops of Tehran" and thus deserves a place on this eclectic list. This read to be insightful for oil barons, professional American women as well as those who came of age during the 20th century's rise of Middle Eastern nationalism, OPEC and Big Oil."

$29.95 Used & New from: $3.25
(8 customer reviews)

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25. The Glass Collector. Anna Perera by Anna Perera

The list author says:
	"A must-read ethnography for adults, young and old. Its focus is on a child who lives at a Cairo dump."

Used & New from: $4.94
(8 customer reviews)

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26. The Bellini Card (Investigator Yashim) by Jason Goodwin

The list author says:
	"Venice! Its decay is beautifully described as the plot moves through its tangled political intrigues with the Ottoman empire and the Hapsburgs while providing a glimpse at the socioeconomic strata within the former principality."

$14.49 Used & New from: $0.01
(23 customer reviews)

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27. Deus Lo Volt!: A Chronicle of the Crusades by Evan S. Connell

The list author says:
	"Good description of Saladin. Engaging read, this book is reminder of the Crusades' long shadow cast from England, Italy and the Baltic Sea to the Levant, Acre, Jerussalem and beyond."

Used & New from: $0.01
(36 customer reviews)

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28. Jamilia by Chingiz A?tmatov

The list author says:
	"A translation, this book has awkward English laden with adjectives. Even so, this little book sketches out family and cultural norms for Kazakh people once upon a time. Big Love on the steppes..."

$9.58 Used & New from: $5.03
(6 customer reviews)

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29. Ottoman Centuries by Lord Kinross

The list author says:
	"Authoritative treatise on the Ottoman Empire but Jason Goodwin's book on the same subject is more engaging."

$12.78 Used & New from: $1.00
(46 customer reviews)

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30. House of Sand and Fog (Oprah's Book Club) (Vintage Contemporaries) by Andre Dubus III

The list author says:
	"First kin to "The Pickup" this novel explores the interface between a displaced immigrant who has lost his dignity and more and the previous American owner of a house he buys."

Used & New from: $0.01
(781 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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31. The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi by Elif Shafak

The list author says:
	"Disliked the blousy fat American caricature whose "gourmet" 4000-calorie menu is vile mockery. Book's other half is sublime poetry. Too bad the modern part is beneath the standards set in Elif Shafak's other books. I would not read this one for free."

Used & New from: $9.93
(40 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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32. Ali and Nino: A Love Story by Kurban Said

The list author says:
	"Anyone know this book?"

$11.16 Used & New from: $0.01
(54 customer reviews)

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33. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar

The list author says:
	"A child's view of Libyan society during the reign of Qaddafi. Visceral, it fills the senses. Not for the light-hearted romantic, it describes a child's view of a tortured parent at close range."

$10.20 Used & New from: $2.39
(43 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion

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34. A Hand Full of Stars by Rafik Schami

The list author says:
	"Marvelous reading for young-at-heart idealist, a glimpse at censorship and political prisoners held for free journalism in Damascus."

Used & New from: $0.01
(4 customer reviews)

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35. The Museum of Innocence (Vintage International) by Orhan Pamuk

The list author says:
	"This is a book about a romantic throwaway that sticks forever. Chatty and inane (sometimes insane!) my take is that this book probes the schizophrenic disconnect between love and marriage in modern Turkey and modern Islam culture as a whole. Gossipy but engaging, even witty, this book is thoroughly worthwhile."

$10.85 Used & New from: $1.29
(64 customer reviews)

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36. Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turkey and Iran by Dilip Hiro

The list author says:
	"Reading.."

Used & New from: $25.40
(5 customer reviews)

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37. Earth and Ashes by Erda? M. G�knar

The list author says:
	"On the reading stack"

$13.50 Used & New from: $2.61
(10 customer reviews)

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38. A Mind at Peace by Erda? M. G�knar

The list author says:
	"Reading..."

$13.53 Used & New from: $4.76
(4 customer reviews)

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The following 8 items are not able to be added to your cart through this feature. See their product page to buy or learn more.

Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600

Damascus Nights

The Glass Collector. Anna Perera

Deus Lo Volt!: A Chronicle of the Crusades

House of Sand and Fog (Oprah's Book Club) (Vintage Contemporaries)

The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi

A Hand Full of Stars

Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turkey and Iran

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Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
The White Tiger forum Poetry	4	Apr 16, 2012
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World forum ancient military leaders book series	1	Mar 28, 2011
The Blood of Flowers: A Novel forum Did you like the ending?	0	Aug 24, 2010
Snow forum A Shame Pamuk Won the Nobel	6	Aug 8, 2010
The White Tiger forum Discussion Questions	0	Mar 9, 2009
The Bastard of Istanbul forum Was Mustafa browsing the internet in the early 80s?	0	Feb 9, 2009
The Swallows of Kabul forum Looking for another good book?	0	Jul 28, 2007
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books forum Welcome to the Reading Lolita in Tehran forum	0	Nov 3, 2005