Karen Ballentine and Heiko Nitzschke, editors

Providing both a means and a motive for armed conflict, the continued access of combatants in contemporary civil wars to lucrative natural resources has often served to counter the incentives for peace. Profiting from Peace offers the first comprehensive assessment of the practical strategies and tools that might be used effectively, by both international and state actors, to help reduce the  More >

Karen Ballentine and Jake Sherman, editors

Globalization, suggest the authors of this collection, is creating new opportunities—some legal, some illicit—for armed factions to pursue their agendas in civil war. Within this context, they analyze the key dynamics of war economies and the challenges posed for conflict resolution and sustainable peace. Thematic chapters consider key issues in the political economy of internal wars,  More >

Daniel F. Baltrusaitis

Why do states join ad hoc military coalitions? What motivated South Korea to contribute significantly to the Iraq War "coalition of the willing," while such steadfast allies as Turkey and Germany resisted US pressure to become burden-sharing partners? Drawing on his extensive examination of South Korean, German, and Turkish politics in the approach to and during the Iraq War, Daniel  More >

Kathleen Balutansky

In this fresh look at the troubled, passionate work of an important South African writer and social critic, Balutansky explores Alex La Guma’s five novels in all their dimensions. Balutansky notes La Guma’s belief that, in order to lead a fulfilling existence, an individual must go beyond introspection and adopt a life that is organized around unity, caring, and sharing. She is  More >

Ahmed Sheikh Bangura

Ahmed Bangura argues that a deeply ingrained pattern of prejudice toward Islam in European-language writing on Africa has led to serious misreadings of many West African novels. Extending Edward Said's study of the orientalist tradition in Western scholarship, Bangura traces the origins of contemporary misunderstandings of African Islam to the discourse of colonial literature. Western critics  More >

Leslie J Bank, Dorrit Posel, and Francis Wilson, eds.

A large portion of South Africa's population remains double rooted—many South Africans live in an urban area, but also have access to a rural homestead to which they periodically return and often retire. The authors of Migrant Labour After Apartheid explore this rural-urban reality, showing that internal migrancy continues to have profound impacts on social cohesion, family life, gender  More >

Halim Barakat, translated by Bassam Frangieh and Scott McGehee

Prophetically named for a real war yet to come, Six Days depicts the struggle of a fictional city under siege. Barakat tells the story of shy lovers, friends, increasing fear and anger, and finally the terror of war. The people of Dayr Albahr are confronted with an ultimatum: surrender or be destroyed. They choose to resist, knowing that they face inevitable defeat, but sustained by a  More >

Halim Barakat, translated by Trevor Le Gassickwith an introduction by Edward Said

Focusing on the interaction of finely portrayed characters from all elements of society, Days of Dust depicts the existential drama of the Six Days War as it was experienced on a personal level. The novel provides a remarkable perspective for comprehending Palestinian uprootedness and a people’s unceasing struggle for a homeland. First published in Arabic in 1969. This edition includes  More >

Mwesiga Baregu and Christopher Landsberg, editors

From the ongoing war in Angola, to sporadic instability in Zimbabwe and Lesotho, to the conflict in Congo, to issues of land reform and the ravages of AIDS, southern Africa faces varied and complex threats to its peace and security. The authors of From Cape to Congo assess the region's major security challenges, as well as the roles of local, regional, and external actors in managing them.  More >

Avraham Barkai

Choice Outstanding Academic Book! Branching Out vividly tells the story of the migration of many thousands of German Jews—mostly poor, enterprising young people—to the US during the nineteenth century. Avraham Barkai draws on rare letters, diaries, memoirs, newspapers, journals, and other firsthand accounts as he chronicles the immigrants’ experiences in towns and cities  More >