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In Morocco |
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 Edith Warthon
Tauris Parke Paperbacks
This is a classic travel book written about 1920 by this american writer who lived great part of her life in France. She was the first woman awarded the Legion of Honor in recognition of her achievements as a writer and her humanitarian work during the First World War. There are intimate descriptions of their environments, in those early decades of the twentieth century, in the flagship cities of Fez, Marrakech, Rabat and in places so laden with history as the ancient ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis and the holy city, "white and conical” of Moulay Idriss and Meknes, built by Sultan Moulay Ismail in the same time that Louis XIV created Versailles.
We face a description of Morocco during the French proctectorate. Indeed the book is dedicated to Edith Wharton, who, in those years, was a resident of France, the famous general Lyautey and his wife. By the way, she spent more than a commentary to scarce achievements of Spain in Morocco under its protectorate achieved by comparison with France. She cannot deny her predilection for our neighbours that were not always to the level that suggests the American authorities.
This is a good travel book with a very personal perspective, different in some way to the classics of genre.
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Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir |
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 Marina Nemat
Ed. Free Press
Marina was born in Tehran in 1966. In her time as a student criticized the Khomeini regime in the school newspaper. Arrested when she was about sixteen years old, was imprisoned in one of the most sinister prisons of the time of Khomeini, in Evin and was sentenced to death. Catholic, she saved his life in exchange for converting to Islam and marry with one of his gaolers under threats of reprisals against his family. As a result of the infighting at the time, her husband was murdered and she was released from her commitment to the family of her late husband. Then she married with her boyfriend of a student, getting to emigrate to Canada, where they were welcomed as political refugees. Today she lives in Toronto with her husband and her two children.
For years her history kept secret for fear of reprisals that her family would suffer in Iran. At the death of her mother, began to write her memories that made public in this book. This work is a book that is possible to quickly read and has had a high impact literary.
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"Gaza: a prison without a roof" |
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 Agustín Remesal
Ed. Los libros de la catarata. Madrid 2008
Gaza is one of the ecpicenters of the general conflict that has shaken the countries of the Middle East for nearly a century. Agustin Remesal is yet another voice offering an expectional vision of the day-in-day-out of a news correspondent for TVE in the Middle East, one who has witnessed the daily battles between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza. From this setting he recounts the death of Arafat, the disappearance of Ariel Sharon, the retreat from Gaza of the Jewish colonists and the ascent to power of the Islamists. Details of events that are too lengthy for a television
report. As a passionate witness overcome by feelings, yet maintaining the distance required by the ethics of journalism, he is moved by the hatred and the deaths.
According to the author, Gaza is a cage, a prison without a roof. It suffers from the "Cage Syndrome", given that the one and a half million "prisoners" that live there can see the sky, but are enclosed within fences bordering the sea.
Throughout the 240 pages of this book, Remesal narrates in first person events such as the retreat of the Jewish colonists from the Gaza Strip, or the recent "assault on the south gate", in reference to the crossings of the border fence between Rafah and Egypt in January of this year.
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"Voices from the Centre of the World" |
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 Henrique Cymerman
Fundación Tres Culturas
This book describes the conflict between Arabs and Israelies recounted by its protagonistas and offers a collection of the best interviews made by reporter Henrique Cymerman, undoubtedly the most experienced specialist in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Cymerman provides a context for the testimonies that he has collected in his book, providing a global view of one of the most dramatic conflicts of the 20th century, and whose outcome will define, for better or for worse, the future of the relationships between East and West, and consequently the political stability of the 21st centry.
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"Man in the Shadows: Inside the Middle East Crisis with a Director of Israel's Mossad" |
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 Efraim Halevy
St. Martin's Griffin
After years of working in the Mossad and serving as director of the world renowned Israeli intelligence service from 1996 to 2002, Efraim Halevy opens up his personal archives and provides a fascinating, deeply informed look at the at the events that have significantly changed world history. From the 1998 Iran-Iraq war to the Al-Quada attack on the Twin Towers in 2001, 13 years have elapsed in which Israel's role and international relationships have been determinant in current global politics.
In his passionate memoirs, Halevy recounts not only specific events of the past, outlining the profiles of important figures such as Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Bill Clinton, George Bush father and George Bush son, but also more recent events such as the Madrid and London bombings.
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