On every page, the glint of hope for dignity and a better life is heartbreakingly alive.’ Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite RunnerMost novels are written by professional writers using second hand material. Not this one. Peirene commissioned nine refugees to tell their ‘Shatila Stories’. The result is a piece of collaborative fiction unlike any other. If you want to understand the chaos of the Middle East – or you just want to follow the course of a beautiful love story – start here.Adam and his family flee Syria and arrive at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. Conditions in this overcrowded Palestinian camp are tough, and violence defines many of the relationships: a father fights to save his daughter, a gang leader plots to expand his influence, and drugs break up a family. Adam struggles to make sense of his refugee experience, but then he meets Shatha and starts to view the camp through her eyes.Why Peirene chose to commission this book:‘I want to hear their stories and see if their imaginations can open up a new path of understanding between us. Collaborative works of literature can achieve what no other literature can do. By pooling our imaginations we are able to access something totally different and new that goes beyond boundaries – that of the individual, of nations, of cultures. It connects us to our common human essence: our creativity. Let’s make stories, not more war.’ Meike Ziervogel

    In recent years it has suffered blow after blow, from Rafiq Hariri’s assassination in 2005, to the 2006 July War, to the current Syrian conflict, which has brought a million refugees streaming into the country.This is an account not just of Lebanon’s high politics, with its endless rows, walk-outs, machinations and foreign alliances, but also of the politics of everyday life: all the stresses and strains the country’s inhabitants face, from electricity black-outs and uncollected rubbish to stagnating wages and property bubbles. Andrew Arsan moves between parliament and the public squares where protesters gather, between luxury high-rises and refugee camps, and between expensive nightclubs and seafront promenades, providing a comprehensive view of Lebanon in the twenty-first century.Where others have treated Lebanon’s woes as exceptional, a by-product of its sectarianism and particular vulnerability to regional crises, Arsan argues that there is nothing particular about Lebanon’s predicament. Rather, it is a country of the age―one of neoliberal economics, populist fervour, forced displacement, rising xenophobia, and public disillusion. Lebanon, in short, offers us a lens through which to look on our times.

    Freshly-baked bread, hot from the oven, sweet homemade jam dribbling down our chins, or the burst of flavor in each dried grape—these memories bring a smile to our faces even as they call to mind the people who made them possible. Do you remember working alongside your grandmother as she lovingly preserved garden-fresh foods to set back for the winter? You watched Jiddo (grandfather) patiently prepare his arak, but could you reproduce his efforts from memory? Are you lucky enough that they kept written records of recipes gleaned from family history and years of experience? If so, count yourself among the very fortunate minority. The reality for many of us is that we no longer enjoy such a strong connection to our culinary roots. As much as we might wish the contrary, the beauty and simplicity of home-preserved pantry items, the mouneh, taken for granted during our childhood, often seems a lifetime away. In Barbara Abdeni Massaad’s book, Mouneh: Preserving Foods for the Lebanese Pantry, we’ve been thrown a lifeline to a piece of our cultural and culinary identity. So many things we would love to recreate for our own families become possible within these pages, thanks to the author’s diligent research, stunning photography, simply presented instructions and delightful stories.

    Following the Green Line of the civil war, dividing the Christian east and the Muslim west, today hundreds of such lines dissect the city. For the residents of Beirut, urban planning could hold promise: a new spatial order could bring a peaceful future. But with unclear state structures and outsourced public processes, urban planning has instead become a contest between religious-political organizations and profit-seeking developers. Neighborhoods reproduce poverty, displacement, and urban violence.For the War Yet to Come examines urban planning in three neighborhoods of Beirut's southeastern peripheries, revealing how these areas have been developed into frontiers of a continuing sectarian order. Hiba Bou Akar argues these neighborhoods are arranged, not in the expectation of a bright future, but according to the logic of "the war yet to come": urban planning plays on fears and differences, rumors of war, and paramilitary strategies to organize everyday life. As she shows, war in times of peace is not fought with tanks, artillery, and rifles, but involves a more mundane territorial contest for land and apartment sales, zoning and planning regulations, and infrastructure projects.

    Instead of treating distinctions between and within Sunni and Shia Islam as primordial and immutable, it examines how political economy, geopolitics, domesticgovernance, social media, non- and sub-state groups, and clerical elites have affected the transformation and diffusion of sectarian identities.Particular attention is paid to how conflicts over distribution of political and economic power have taken on a sectarian quality, and how a variety of actors have instrumentalized sectarianism. The volume, covering Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, Iran, and Egypt, includescontributors from a broad array of disciplines including political science, history, sociology, and Islamic studies.Beyond Sunni and Shia draws on extensive fieldwork and primary sources to offer insights that are empirically rich and theoretically grounded, but also accessible for policy audiences and the informed public.

    Bonus: Free audio tracks available to download and stream from www.lingualism.com. Shwayy ‘An Haali presents the results of a survey given to 10 Levantine Arabic speakers, five from Lebanon and five from Syria. Each of the 30 sections in the book begins with a question from the survey followed by the 10 responses and a breakdown of the vocabulary. Each section concludes with a page where you are encouraged to give your own answer to the question using newly learned words and phrases. The book has been designed in such a way that it can be an effective learning tool for learners at all levels, with glossaries of even the most basic words for beginners, and unvoweled texts and Modern Standard Arabic translations for more advanced learners. Available separately: Anki audio flashcards of the questions and responses for in-depth study.

    These movements, she shows, have long existed in opposition to a number of different forces. And while that opposition has often been full of contradictions, the growing popularity of such movements has nonetheless led to increasing economic and political powers. Marusek shows here how resistance groups reconcile the acquisition of power with their larger anti-colonial aspirations.