Bouthaina Shaaban worked closely with Syria's president Hafez al-Assad from 1990 until the time of his death, serving as both official interpreter and adviser. Her new book, part memoir and part historical account, takes the reader behind the closed doors of the Syrian Presidential Palace to provide uniquely Syrian perceptions of the failed Arab-Israel peace talks. Sharing firsthand stories    More >

What happens when a prison inmate gets out on parole? What factors determine who stays out of prison—and whose paroles get revoked? In this classic participant-observer study of the parole bureaucracy, Richard McCleary focuses on the interactions between parole officers and parolees; between parole officers and parolees; between parole officers and their colleagues (and superiors); and on    More >

National Jewish Book Awards Finalist! The editors have gathered a treasure trove of excerpts (some translated into English for the first time) from a variety of genres—novels, short stories, letters, plays, poetry, autobiographies—to showcase the work of both well-known and less familiar French Jewish women writers from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The collection    More >

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 >

Set against the background of post-1967 Lebanon, this novel caused a sensation in the Arab world because of its frank and realistic descriptions of Lebanon's—and particularly Lebanese women's—problems. Tragedy awaits Tamina, who is drawn by the lure of the city to leave her Shia Muslim village for the university in Beirut. Injured in a student demonstration, she is rescued by    More >

Although global development and the alleviation of poverty are universal goals, experts frequently disagree heatedly about how to achieve them. The debates go on: Is liberalization the best way to stimulate economic growth, or should the state take a more active role? Is foreign aid effective in strengthening low-income countries? How should we deal with the challenges associated with poverty,    More >

Even as human rights provide the most widely shared moral language of our time, they also spark highly contested debates among scholars and policymakers. When should states protect human rights? Does the global war on terror necessitate the violation of some rights? Are food, housing, and health care valid human rights? Debating Human Rights introduces the theory and practice of international    More >

In recent decades, laws passed by African governments to transfer power and resources to local and other subnational governments (SNGs) have been greeted by many in the policy community with enthusiasm. But how far has decentralization really gone in Africa? How well does it work? And what have been its consequences? The authors of Decentralization in Africa work within a common conceptual    More >

Why do some African local governments perform well, while others fail to deliver even the most basic services to their constituents? Gina Lambright finds answers to this question in her investigation of the factors that contribute to good—and those that result in ineffective—institutional performance at the district level in Uganda. Examining the conditions under which local    More >

Reviewing, comparing, and contrasting major models of foreign policy decisionmaking, contributors to this volume make a substantial contribution to the debate between cognitive and rational theories of decisionmaking. The authors describe the leading cognitive and rational models and introduce alternative models of foreign policy choice (prospect theory, poliheuristic theory, theory of moves, and    More >