Adel Guindy has produced a timely and authoritative account of the Copts' story. It deserves to be widely read... this timely and excellent book will act as a wakeup call.... It reminds us that historically, the Copts have been Egypt's beating heart and that Egypt's future, without them, would be bleak indeed. PROFESSOR LORD ALTON, MEMBER OF THE BRITISH HOUSE OF LORDS A Sword Over the Nile is a most welcome book and contribution to the existing literature. Here in one volume, we have the largely unknown historical experiences of Egypt's Coptic Christians under Islam--and from the most primary if previously inaccessible or untranslated sources. Not only is it a window to the past; it may be an ominous look to the future. RAYMOND IBRAHIM, AN EXPERT ON ISLAMIC DOCTRINE AND HISTORY, IS AUTHOR OF SWORD AND SCIMITAR: FOURTEEN CENTURIES OF WAR BETWEEN ISLAM AND THE WEST
Adel Guindy has produced a timely and authoritative account of the Copts' story. It deserves to be widely read... this timely and excellent book will act as a wakeup call.... It reminds us that historically, the Copts have been Egypt's beating heart and that Egypt's future, without them, would be bleak indeed. PROFESSOR LORD ALTON, MEMBER OF THE BRITISH HOUSE OF LORDS A Sword Over the Nile is a most welcome book and contribution to the existing literature. Here in one volume, we have the largely unknown historical experiences of Egypt's Coptic Christians under Islam--and from the most primary if previously inaccessible or untranslated sources. Not only is it a window to the past; it may be an ominous look to the future. RAYMOND IBRAHIM, AN EXPERT ON ISLAMIC DOCTRINE AND HISTORY, IS AUTHOR OF SWORD AND SCIMITAR: FOURTEEN CENTURIES OF WAR BETWEEN ISLAM AND THE WEST
The down-to-earth Olympic medalist tells the story of the pressures and mental health struggles behind his successful gymnastic career. Nile Wilson is known to many as the gymnast who won a bronze medal for Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and England’s most successful gymnast ever at a Commonwealth Games following his five medals in 2018. Yet, Nile is so much more than just an athlete. A YouTuber with over a million subscribers, a social media influencer, a successful businessman and entrepreneur, Nile is also an advocate for mental health awareness, and has been very open about his own personal struggles. In this book, Nile gives an unprecedented look into his true battle to be fit and ready for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics—throughout the Games and the aftermath. The public perception of Nile Wilson is focused on his humor, openness, and how down-to-earth he is. This book reveals the struggles behind the smiles, from the brutal reality of performing at an elite sporting level, to the mental health battles Nile has had to fight—and continues to fight—every day.
Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.
From about 2000 BCE onward, Egypt served as an important nexus for cultural exchange in the eastern Mediterranean, importing and exporting not just wares but also new artistic techniques and styles. Egyptian, Greek, and Roman craftsmen imitated one another’s work, creating cultural and artistic hybrids that transcended a single tradition. Yet in spite of the remarkable artistic production that resulted from these interchanges, the complex vicissitudes of exchange between Egypt and the Classical world over the course of nearly 2500 years have not been comprehensively explored in a major exhibition or publication in the United States. It is precisely this aspect of Egypt’s history, however, that Beyond the Nile uncovers. Renowned scholars have come together to provide compelling analyses of the constantly evolving dynamics of cultural exchange, first between Egyptians and Greeks—during the Bronze Age, then the Archaic and Classical periods of Greece, and finally Ptolemaic Egypt—and later, when Egypt passed to Roman rule with the defeat of Cleopatra. Beyond the Nile, a milestone publication issued on the occasion of a major international exhibition, will become an indispensable contribution to the field. With gorgeous photographs of more than two hundred rare objects, including frescoes, statues, obelisks, jewelry, papyri, pottery, and coins, this volume offers an essential and inter-disciplinary approach to the rich world of artistic cross-pollination during antiquity.
A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities The West and Islam -- the sword and scimitar -- have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Roman emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the decisive battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian land in 636, through the Muslim occupation of nearly three-quarters of Christendom which prompted the Crusades, followed by renewed Muslim conquests by Turks and Tatars, to the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat -- until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic and Greek, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains how these wars and the larger historical currents of the age reflect the cultural fault lines between Islam and the West. The majority of these landmark battles -- including the battles of Yarmuk, Tours, Manzikert, the sieges at Constantinople and Vienna, and the crusades in Syria and Spain--are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, Sword and Scimitar provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world -- and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The harrowing story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time and its complicated legacy—from the New York Times bestselling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE WASHINGTON POST • GOODREADS "A lean, fast-paced account of the almost absurdly dangerous quest by [Richard Burton and John Speke] to solve the geographic riddle of their era." —The New York Times Book Review For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires. Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton’s opposite in temperament and beliefs. From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke’s great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself. Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan’s army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived. In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.
