New Books in Middle Eastern Studies

Sean Mathews, a Greek-American journalist with deep roots in Middle Eastern affairs, explores Greece's complex identity and historical ties to the Near East. He argues that Greece's true belonging extends beyond the Western narrative, influenced by Ottoman legacies and geopolitical shifts. Mathews discusses the impacts of demographics, Gulf investments, and highlights the significance of Greek communities in Egypt and Jerusalem. He also delves into Greece's evolving rivalry with Turkey and how alliances are reshaping regional dynamics.

Sheiba Kian Kaufman, an expert in Shakespeare and early modern English drama, dives into her new book exploring Persian influences in the genre. She discusses how English playwrights portrayed Persian monarchs as symbols of intercultural hospitality and cosmopolitan ideals. Kaufman highlights the concept of 'adab'—refinement and ethics—in shaping cultural representations and examines Persian characters in Shakespeare's works. She also reflects on how these themes foster discussions of tolerance and identity in early modern society.

Nile Green, a historian specializing in Islam and the Indian Ocean world, discusses his new work that compiles diverse Muslim voices from Sri Lanka's rich history. He explores the complexities of translating multilingual texts and the editorial challenges he faced to make these stories accessible. Green highlights the significance of unraveling the experiences of Muslim communities, particularly the Moors and Malays, while advocating for deeper research into Islamic Tamil sources. He also shares intriguing anecdotes from historical narratives and offers insights into his writing process.

On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo (Duke University Press, 2025) by Julia Elyachar is a sweeping analysis of the coloniality that shaped—and blocked—sovereign futures for those dubbed barbarian and semicivilized in the former Ottoman Empire. Drawing on thirty years of ethnographic research in Cairo, family archives from Palestine and Egypt, and research on Ottoman debt and finance to rethink catastrophe and potentiality in Cairo and the world today, Elyachar theorizes a global condition of the “semicivilized” marked by nonsovereign futures, crippling debts, and the constant specter of violence exercised by those who call themselves civilized. Originally used to describe the Ottoman Empire, whose perceived “civilizational differences” rendered it incompatible with a Western-dominated global order, semicivilized came to denote lands where unitary territorial sovereignty was stymied at the end of WWI. Elyachar’s theorizing offers a new analytic vocabulary for thinking beyond territoriality, postcolonialism, and the “civilized"/"primitive” divide. Looking at the world from the perspective of the semicivilized, Elyachar argues, allows us to shift attention to embodied infrastructures, collective lives, and practices of moving and acting in common that bypass lingering assumptions of territorialism and unitary sovereign rule.Julia Elyachar is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Suraj Milind Yengde, Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, explores the global implications of caste in his latest book. He delves into the connections between caste and race, highlighting how Dalit activists found inspiration in African-American literature. Yengde shares fascinating insights from his fieldwork in Trinidad, where migration affected Dalit identities. He also discusses the rise of anti-caste organizing in North America and the challenges faced amidst current caste debates in the U.S. and Middle East.

Samuel Helfont, an associate professor and historian specializing in Iraq, dives into the complexities of the Iraq Wars in this discussion. He emphasizes the interconnectedness of the Gulf War, the 2003 invasion, and the rise of ISIS. Helfont reveals Saddam's multifaceted motives for invading Kuwait and critiques the US's messy handling of the conflicts. He argues that the Iraq Wars should be viewed as a continuous chain of events. Ultimately, he addresses whether the conflicts have truly ended and shares insights about his future research plans.

While humanitarian organizations and media outlets often reduce Syrian refugees to statistics or brief anecdotes, the real story of displacement unfolds in the intimate spaces of family life. Through the interwoven narratives of five middle-aged sisters from Damascus, Lines of Flight, Assemblages of Home reveals how Syrian women navigate war, exile, and the profound transformation of their families and identities. Drawing on extensive interviews conducted between 2015 and 2017, this book follows an extended Sunni Muslim family as they flee their homes in Damascus’s Eastern Ghouta suburbs and scatter across Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and eventually Europe. As these women move through an increasingly hostile landscape of border controls, refugee camps, and human trafficking networks, they must reinvent themselves—from stable middle-class mothers to resourceful survivors, from guardians of tradition to architects of change. Their journeys challenge conventional assumptions about refugee experiences, revealing how displacement reconfigures family networks, religious practices, and gender roles. Leila Hudson’s intimate portrait of Syrian displacement offers vital insights for researchers and practitioners working in humanitarian assistance, refugee resettlement, and forced migration. It provides essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how ordinary families navigate extraordinary circumstances, and how women in particular bear both the burdens and opportunities of displacement. Roberto Mazza is currently a visiting scholar at the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University. He is the host of the Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast and to discuss and propose a book for interview can be reached at robbymazza@gmail.com. Blusky and IG: @robbyref Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Prayer in the Ancient World is the resource on prayer in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. With over 350 entries it showcases a robust selection of the range of different types of prayers attested from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, the Levant, early Judaism and Christianity, Greece, Rome, Arabia, and Iran, enhanced by critical commentary.The Prayer in the Ancient World will also be available online.Preview of the 'Prayer in the Ancient World’ Daniel K. Falk is Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Chaiken Family Chair in Jewish Studies at Penn State University. Caleb Zakarin is editor of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

John Tolan, Professor emeritus of history at the University of Nantes, dives into the rich tapestry of Islam in his latest work. He explores the religion's dynamic history from its roots in Mecca to the complexities of modernity, emphasizing the coexistence of diverse interpretations within Islam. Tolan highlights crucial dialogues between Muslims and Christians, the significance of historical figures like Rabia al-Adaweya, and critiques of simplistic narratives around Arab nationalism and Islamist movements. His insights reveal the profound cultural exchanges that have shaped the Muslim world over centuries.

When they gazed at the moon, medieval people around the globe saw an object that was at once powerful and fragile, distant and intimate—and sometimes all this at once. The moon could convey love, beauty, and gentleness; but it could also be about pain, hatred, and violence. In its circularity the moon was associated with fullness and fertility. Yet in its crescent and other shifting forms, the moon could seem broken, even wounded.  In this beautifully illustrated history The Medieval Moon: A History of Haunting and Blessing (Yale UP, 2025), Ayoush Lazikani reveals the many ways medieval people felt and wrote about the moon. Ranging across the world, from China to South America, Korea to Wales, Lazikani explores how different cultures interacted with the moon. From the idea that the Black Death was caused by a lunar eclipse to the wealth of Persian love poetry inspired by the moon’s beauty, this is a truly global account of our closest celestial neighbour. Ayoush Lazikani is a lecturer at the University of Oxford. A specialist in medieval literature, she is the author of Cultivating the Heart and Emotion in Christian and Islamic Contemplative Texts, 1100–1250, and an associate editor for the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies