Paul Tchir (Author of Beyond Time and Space)

Paul rated a book liked it Scientific Blunders: A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be... by Robert Youngson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The lighthearted title of Scientific Blunders is designed to attract an audience appropriate to the author’s intent, but does not reflect the book’s contents fully. The subtitle, “A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be” is more accu ...more
Apr 08, 2026 02:22PM · like · see review
Paul has read Embodying the Revolution: The Hebrew Experience and the Globalization of Modern Sports in Interwar Palestine by Ofer Idels	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 22, 2026 10:02PM · like
Paul rated a book liked it The Time and the Place and Other Stories by Naguib Mahfouz	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
It may seem a bit unfair to review The Time and the Place, since it is an international curated volume of short stories from Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, and thus does not reflect the author’s personal organization. In addition, these w ...more
Mar 22, 2026 09:54PM · like · see review
Paul rated a book liked it The Elusive Peace: The Middle East in the Twentieth Century by William R. Polk	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The Elusive Peace, published in 1979, presents a history of the Middle East that is very much a product of its time. Coming out just a year after Edward Said’s seminal work Orientalism, it represents the classic model of the Middle East as a problem ...more
Aug 10, 2025 04:24PM · like · see review
Paul rated a book liked it Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist, 1879-1924 by Huda Shaarawi	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Harem Years, translated and edited by Margot Badran, has a clear goal, but goes about achieving it in an arguably unorthodox way. Its principal objective is to translate the memoirs of Egyptian feminist Huda Shaarawi to give readers a rare glimpse in ...more
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Paul rated a book really liked it Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Politics, Controversy, Change by Paul Michael Brannagan	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup was published the same year as its eponymous event, but before the Cup was actually held. As such, it does not serve as a retrospective of the games, but as a summary of the discourse surrounding them before they wer ...more
Jul 08, 2025 07:29PM · 1 like · like · see review
Paul rated a book it was ok Sport in Egypt by James Wentworth Day	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sport in Egypt might seem to be an odd choice to review, since it is essentially a primary source about “sport” in Egypt during the interwar period and is unlikely to be of general reading interest today. In fact, the very title is a hint that the wo ...more
Jun 20, 2025 02:58PM · like · see review
Paul rated a book did not like it Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan: Photostory by Richard J. Anobile	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Would have been a cute little novelty had a good chunk of the pages in the middle not been out of order.
Jun 11, 2025 10:00AM · like · see review
Paul rated a book it was amazing The Decline of Arab Unity: The Rise and Fall of the United Arab Republic by Elie Podeh	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The Decline of Arab Unity by Elie Podeh is a somewhat older (by academic standards), but widely-cited work on the history of the United Arab Republic (UAR), a three-year political and economic union between Egypt and Syria. The UAR is often relegated ...more
May 27, 2025 10:42PM · 2 likes · like · see review
Paul rated a book really liked it García Márquez for Beginners by Mariana Solanet	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 19, 2025 11:03AM · like

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Scientific Blunders: A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be...
by Robert Youngson

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The lighthearted title of Scientific Blunders is designed to attract an audience appropriate to the author’s intent, but does not reflect the book’s contents fully. The subtitle, “A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be” is more accu The lighthearted title of Scientific Blunders is designed to attract an audience appropriate to the author’s intent, but does not reflect the book’s contents fully. The subtitle, “A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be” is more accurate, as this work is an account of how even some of the greatest scientists have erred in their quest for knowledge. As such, “blunder” is used nebulously and addresses a wide array of scientific faults during the process of experimentation. At many junctions, therefore, what is covered here is less lighthearted than simple mistakes, with some sections highlighting errors that had considerably deleterious impacts for many years. These were often not just one-time miscalculations or misunderstandings, but long-term and unrealized biases that spanned multiple thinkers, and even generations of scientific thought.

Youngson divides the book into 11 sections by broad scientific fields, each with several chapters about particular incidents within those fields. He also provides a brief preface that highlights his purpose of educating readers on the scientific method and the pitfalls of bias in this process. His audience is stated explicitly as non-scientists, and he reveals that his goal is to help them understand the value of good science by unearthing the bad version.

Reviewing this work story by story, or even section by section, would be of limited value, as the format is relatively consistent throughout and the enjoyment of the reader of any particular tale is going to be based on their personal interests. One aspect that does differ significantly, however, is the breadth of what each part covers. For example, the first section is “Cosmology and Earth Science” and begins with “Star Errors”, covering humans’ efforts to understand the universe around them. While a logical subject choice to begin with, this portion feels more like an account of the development of thought about the cosmos rather than an identification of particular blunders (even though the latter is present). This immediately sets the tone as somewhat patronizing, if unintentionally, since it feels as if the author is criticizing the intellect of early scientists rather than pointing out lighthearted mistakes.

This tone is present through most of the book, as the discussion of true “blunders” are sprinkled through pockets of heavy discussions. Additionally, many of the topics that follow are not as broad as the cosmos themselves. For example, in the second section, “Evolution”, the author discusses subjects such as the Piltdown Man hoax and dinosaur extinction, which are much more balanced in terms of analyzing errors in thinking in a lighthearted manner. In the latter case, he even concludes with the admission that “[t]he jury is still out on the cause of the death of the dinosaurs”, which does well in highlighting the ever-evolving nature of science.

The author continues with sections on physics, mathematics and computing, chemistry, biology, medical science, psychology, technology, science and religion, and the philosophy of science, with most following similar patterns to the first two parts. The penultimate section is critical of religion’s excesses as they reacted to the development of thought, but is not overly didactic about the nature or value of religion itself. The final section advocates for good science, while its last chapter takes a look at the relationship between science and religion again, focusing on the Christian Bible specifically, which does wander to some extent like a stream of thought. His sentiment is that religion has a place in the world for experiences that the rationality of science cannot engage, and thus scientists should be wary of attacking religion as a whole (although rejecting demonstrably unscientific notions is encouraged). There is no epilogue beyond this, which makes it a satisfactory ending to what is both a collection of scientific errors and a broader message about the virtue of good science.

Overall, Scientific Blunders manages to both succeed and fall short of reaching its target audience. It is definitely not a work for professional scientists and much of its organization serves to make the text more accessible. Its tone, however, will likely come off as pretentious, even patronizing, to its target reader, and thus may fail in convincing them about the fallibility of science, and the importance of distinguishing good and bad science, particularly as not all of the science has been boiled down to be sufficiently understandable to the layman. Youngson admits in his preface that what he is attempting to accomplish is a difficult task, and he certainly put in an admirable effort in drawing in his audience. Ultimately, at 30 years old, most readers will not have a reason to pick this up, as it is not a light read, although its most historical nature means that very little is formally out of date. ...more

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Embodying the Revolution: The Hebrew Experience and the Globalization of Modern Sports in Interwar Palestine
by Ofer Idels

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The Time and the Place and Other Stories
by Naguib Mahfouz

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It may seem a bit unfair to review The Time and the Place, since it is an international curated volume of short stories from Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, and thus does not reflect the author’s personal organization. In addition, these w It may seem a bit unfair to review The Time and the Place, since it is an international curated volume of short stories from Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, and thus does not reflect the author’s personal organization. In addition, these works have been translated into English, and thus some of the nuance and culture of the Arabic original is invariably lost, regardless of the quality. This, however, is the primary importance of this collection, as it contains translations of stories that might otherwise be ignored in favor of the author’s more well-known works. Thus, this review is not of the individual stories, which would require a more in-depth literary analysis and possibly a review of the Arabic originals, but instead of how they have been presented here.

In that regard, the introduction is the most important element, since it provides the context for all of the tales and why they were selected. It is typical of a volume produced in the early 1990s, but could have been expanded to provide more information, as it is only five soft cover pages. Most of this is a biography that covers the important turning points of his life, with some examples of the stories that came from this period sprinkled in. Since the original publication dates are only noted in small print in the front matter, however, one finds themselves constantly turning back to this introduction to see where the stories fit in to the author’s chronology.

Additionally, the organization of the introduction means that the examples that the editor raises are not presented in the same order as they are in the volume, and thus reviewing this text requires the reader to go back and scan the entire introduction until they locate the commentary on the story that they reading. Moreover, this commentary is sparse as a whole and generally only raises one tidbit about the story, which may not align with the reader’s interest in a particular tale, and thus may not aid the reader at all. More importantly, mention of some of the contents is absent entirely, forcing the reader to interpret them without sufficient context.

As for the stories themselves, many are enjoyable, although even as a historian of Egypt, some of the cultural context was lost on me. As such, a more casual reader would have to accept this volume as a “slice of life” presented in high literary fashion. Decoding meaning, and determining what the stories can tell someone about Egyptian life in that period, is certainly possible, but the sparse notes in the introduction will likely make such a process incomplete. This means that a reader might find some of the lighter tales more enjoyable, as they often touch upon concerns that transcend particular cultures. Some of the heavier, more Egypt-specific stories, however, will likely be difficult. The opening selection, “Zaabalawi” is good example: the quest-like structure and the religious undertones may seem familiar to most readers, but the specific context of Sufism, mentioned briefly in the introduction, will escape anyone not already familiar with that term.

Overall, The Time and the Place is valuable as a work that makes some of Mahfouz’s lesser-known writings more widely available. As noted in the introduction, only four of the 20 stories had previously been published in English. Unfortunately, a much more detailed and developed introduction, or contextual notes before each selection, would have been required to make this collection truly valuable. As such, this book would be of little interest to the casual reader and is more suited for readers already familiar with the cultural context. Given that most people in that category would likely be those able to read the works in Arabic, however, the audience for these translations is probably limited. It is best suited for someone with an academic interest in Egypt, but lacking the Arabic proficiency to engage literary material. Additionally, as this publication is over 35 years old now, I suspect that many of these stories have been republished in other collections, potentially with more context provided. Therefore, this volume may have been valuable at the time, but is now likely just a stepping stone to better works. ...more

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The Elusive Peace: The Middle East in the Twentieth Century
by William R. Polk

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The Elusive Peace, published in 1979, presents a history of the Middle East that is very much a product of its time. Coming out just a year after Edward Said’s seminal work Orientalism, it represents the classic model of the Middle East as a problem The Elusive Peace, published in 1979, presents a history of the Middle East that is very much a product of its time. Coming out just a year after Edward Said’s seminal work Orientalism, it represents the classic model of the Middle East as a problem needing to be solved and a product of political and economic factors, with only limited attention paid to social history. With that said, as a work published with a classroom audience in mind, its objective was to provide context for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the uninitiated. Keeping that in mind is an important part of understanding the book’s value, as is placing its author in the context of his role as a political consultant and civil servant who was personally involved in the diplomacy surrounding conflicts in the Middle East.

The book begins with a brief introduction that outlines foundations, including his goal of educating people about the conflict from the perspective of an involved party. The remainder is divided into three parts, albeit with only the first two being substantial and the third serving as more of an extended conclusion. Part One is directed towards providing an understanding of the Middle East as a whole, beginning with a chapter on the importance of “memory” until the age of nationalism. Here, he emphasizes the role of the Jewish and Muslim religions in the pre-modern Middle East. Despite approaching the subject from a more traditional perspective, he presents a relatively more positive and balanced perspective of Arabs and Muslims than many of his contemporaries.

Chapter two concerns the rise of nationalism, and tracks how memory and religion were negotiated with new conceptions of the nation. Here Polk focuses on Zionism and Arab nationalism, and how imperial machinations put the two at odds during World War I. They were on the opposite ends of chapter three’s subject, “The Struggle for Independence”, and not only contested for the same pieces of land, but had to maneuver around the hegemonic interests of the great powers. The fourth chapter, “The Growth of Capacity”, examines this struggle from an economic perspective to balance out the political focus of previous sections.

Part Two picks up with Israel and the Zionist movement having come out on top at the same time that new powers – the United States and the Soviet Union – came to dominate global politics after World War II. The Cold War brought new dynamics and interests that further complicated the situation, with the conflict over capitalism and socialism turning Israeli and Arab interests into tools that could be played against each other. In chapter six, the author acknowledges that the conflict was only “cold” in the United States and the USSR, and that the Middle East was a key physical battlefield for the conflict to play out. He places Israel, Palestine, and Egypt in particular into this context and shows how regional nationalisms became exploitable in the broader global conflict.

Chapter seven brings in Polk’s personal intervention as he explores the role of American democracy in resolving the conflict. Here his writing starts to become less historical and more pragmatic as his objective of using history as a tool to solve the contemporary conflict moves to the foreground. His eighth chapter takes a brief look at the role of Lebanon in the regional conflict, but is more hopeful about the Civil War’s resolution than the reality that came to be. Chapter nine looks at the relationship between Begin and Sadat, but is again more optimistic than the circumstances played out, as he could not predict Sadat’s assassination a few years later and the loss of Sadat’s potential in ending the conflict.

The final part, consisting of two chapters, looks forward from these historical ideas, beginning with “Potential for the Future”. Here, Polk takes a realistic survey of the economic resources of the Middle East and comments on how he feels they will impact political developments. The eleventh chapter, his official conclusion, does not summarize what was written previously, but attempts to answer three questions, one of which is about prospects for peace and two of which are about the role of the Middle East’s energy recourses in the global economy. His response to the first issue is that peace is possible, but that it will require shifts in mentalities from both sides and the acknowledgement that the alternative (i.e. violence) is less preferable. As to the second, particularity relevant given the oil crises of the 1970s, his argument is that the United States needs to find alternative sources of energy but, given the low likelihood of this happening in the near future, argues that this will give the Middle East more leverage in resolving regional conflicts.

Overall, The Elusive Peace accomplishes what it sets out to do: contextualize the contemporary regional conflict through a historical lens of politics and economics. Without delving too deeply into the social context, however, it is only able to paint a partial picture and, within a few years, developments, some predictable and some not, made his analysis and conclusions obsolete. Thus, while I would not say that there is anything particularly “wrong” about this work, as its scope was always limited, there is ultimately not much value in it for either scholars or casual readers, as the conflict has been covered much better (and with updated information) in the many decades since. ...more

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Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist, 1879-1924
by Huda Shaarawi

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Harem Years, translated and edited by Margot Badran, has a clear goal, but goes about achieving it in an arguably unorthodox way. Its principal objective is to translate the memoirs of Egyptian feminist Huda Shaarawi to give readers a rare glimpse in Harem Years, translated and edited by Margot Badran, has a clear goal, but goes about achieving it in an arguably unorthodox way. Its principal objective is to translate the memoirs of Egyptian feminist Huda Shaarawi to give readers a rare glimpse into the private world of upper-class Egyptian Muslim women’s lives at the turn of the twentieth century. What complicates the project is that Shaarawi did not write a cohesive, chronological narrative, but instead produced memoirs in the form of a collection of ideas and thoughts. As such, a direct translation would have left them difficult to follow, even with the proper context, and thus Badran takes the texts and exercises her editorial judgment by organizing the content and leaving out repetitive or confusing elements. The remainder of the material relates to Badran’s goal of showing what life was like in the private sphere of women such as Shaarawi, and how that might have influenced the subject’s later forays into feminism. This book, therefore, should be approached as a curated primary source with a defined objective, rather than a raw translation that leaves itself open to anyone’s interpretation.

The translator’s introduction provides the necessary context for the text and is accessible in a way that caters to scholars and casual readers alike. It provides sufficient detail for those unfamiliar with Egypt and its early feminist movement to understand Shaarawi’s memoirs, but does not go into excessive detail. Following this are four sections organized chronologically, but also by theme. The first, “Family,” is only 10 pages and introduces her closest relatives, who will play important roles in the rest of the narrative.

The second section, “Childhood in the Harem”, is where the recollections begin to reveal the hidden parts of the upper-class sphere and what life was like. As one might expect, it focuses heavily on her family life, including her childhood betrothal and marriage, but also highlights private cultural elements of the book’s eponymous “harem” life. Her relationship to her husband at this stage is not overly fleshed out, but there is enough to lead us to the third part, “A Separate Life”, which chronicles her years apart from her husband. Here, the narrative focuses less on the general cultural sphere and more on the influences and circumstances that led Sharaawi to become involved in feminism.

In the fourth section, Sharaawi returns to her husband and the reader is brought back to the private life of the “harem”. We do get some recollections about further influences to her feminism, but the translated portion concludes with the end of World War I, and thus most of her engagement with nationalism is left out. Instead, Badran provides an epilogue that offers snippets of Sharaawi’s fragmented memoirs about the period from 1919 through 1924. This chapter provides an account of Sharaawi’s involvement in the nationalist movement, peppered with just enough historical context to make the story cohesive.

One concern with this translation is, because it is curated, it is difficult to analyze the meaning behind what is omitted from the text, as it is not clear if parts are not present due to editorial oversight. For example, are some of the details about her marriage missing because she chose not to write about them, or because Badran decided that they should not be included? Some footnotes on omissions might have been useful. Thus, while Harem Years provides interesting insight into the culture of this era, particularly for more casual readers, it is could be limiting for academic study. It also does not contain much material about the main thrust of her feminist activities, which admittedly are well-covered in other sources and largely absent from the original memoirs. Regardless of any shortcomings, however, Shaarawi’s memoirs themselves would be difficult, if not impossible, to access in their unedited form, and thus Badran’s work allows the reader a better look into Shaarawi’s life than we might otherwise be privileged to experience. ...more

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Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup by Paul Michael Brannagan

Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Politics, Controversy, Change
by Paul Michael Brannagan

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Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup was published the same year as its eponymous event, but before the Cup was actually held. As such, it does not serve as a retrospective of the games, but as a summary of the discourse surrounding them before they wer Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup was published the same year as its eponymous event, but before the Cup was actually held. As such, it does not serve as a retrospective of the games, but as a summary of the discourse surrounding them before they were held, although it does also look forward to suggest directions that Qatar could go after its hosting. Thus this book was meant to be something for academics to read before the World Cup to help direct their analyses and contextualize what they were seeing. This does not mean that it contains no value for the reader three years on, as its collection of resources and ideas remain valuable, particularly its desire to place popular criticism of the venue into the context of scholarly analysis while still remaining more-or-less accessible to non-specialist readers. It is, however, important for potential readers to understand the limitations of what the text attempts to accomplish.

For a modern academic work, the book is relatively short, consisting of an introduction and four additional chapters. The introduction provides context on Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup and highlights how popular publications have identified several controversies with Qatar earning the rights, including its lack of a true football culture, accusations of bribery, and human rights complaints about working conditions. These problems contrast Qatar’s broader objectives, which is to use the hosting of the World Cup to enhance its international image. The introduction then sets out its theoretical framework, which is not overly dense by academic standards but might bog down a more casual reader, and then outlines the structure of the remainder of the book.

The authors’ second chapter focuses on the historical background and is fairly straightforward, giving the reader context on how the nation of Qatar emerged and what it is seeking from a global perspective. Essentially, Qatar’s goals are to establish a role for itself in international affairs to ensure its security against its neighbors and to have “an independent foreign policy” that does not always align with the rest of the Gulf region. Chapter three looks at how the nation attempts to accomplish this through sport, engaging the conception of “soft power”, or using cultural products to grow one’s influence rather than the “hard power” of military might. It then narrows to the case of Qatar and how its hosting of the 2022 World Cup fits into this scheme, and what benefits it might obtain from doing so.

Having explored the positive potential of soft power, the authors change direction in chapter four to examine its potential pitfalls. In the case of Qatar, they highlight the new global scrutiny it experienced following the hosting announcement. The authors highlight the three “controversies” from the introduction that were amplified by global media: human rights, corruption, and the nation’s unsuitability to host a major sporting event. While these concerns are not downplayed, the authors do note that this criticism has resulted in Qatar addressing some of the issues, most notably improving the human rights situation, and thus the backlash has had some positive outcomes for the country. Nonetheless, at least in the leadup to the World Cup, this has not changed the hegemonic media narrative.

The final chapter explores what the authors feel will happen with Qatar once it hosts the Games and, to avoid speculation, proposes three considerations for the nation that will help it benefit from hosting: running the event successfully, maintaining its historically independent foreign policy, and continuing domestic reforms. While the study cannot be predictive, it highlights these paths as lenses through which the event can be studied once it is held to gauge its efficacy as a soft power tool. Overall, this is the purpose of Qatar and the 2022 World Cup and where it is most successful: establishing foundations for academic engagement with its eponymous subject. As such, it remains a handy reference for those interested in the event in the aftermath. It does seems at times like it was rushing to be published, and this can make it feel as if there are oversights and oversimplifications, but scholars interested in related topics will likely find it accessible and useful, even if it has been surpassed by other publications as intended. ...more

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Sport in Egypt
by James Wentworth Day

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Sport in Egypt might seem to be an odd choice to review, since it is essentially a primary source about “sport” in Egypt during the interwar period and is unlikely to be of general reading interest today. In fact, the very title is a hint that the wo Sport in Egypt might seem to be an odd choice to review, since it is essentially a primary source about “sport” in Egypt during the interwar period and is unlikely to be of general reading interest today. In fact, the very title is a hint that the work was outdated at its publication, because it contextualizes “sport” primarily in the classic sense as hunting and horse racing, rather than the more organized athletic pursuits that the term refers to today. The final chapter does allude to the modern definition somewhat by looking at activities in Cairo, but refers to them, perhaps dismissively, as “Games”. When picking up this book, I was aware that it was referring to “sport” in this more traditional sense, but assumed that it was published 30 or more years earlier than its actual date (1938). As such, I believe that it is worth providing a quick review of its contents, in case any researcher might be interested in it as a historical reference, as outside of this, it holds little value to the modern reader.

Although Wentworth Day is credited as the compiler, he provides only three of the fifteen chapters of the volume. The first two are written by Mohammed Ali Tewfik of the Egyptian royal family, which gives the book some prestige, but also makes it feel slightly nationalist in tone. Nonetheless, Ali Tewfik was a recognized expert on his subject, the Arabian horse, and thus his knowledge is nicely summarized in these first twenty pages. A Miralai Henn Bey then narrates the experience of shooting birds on a lake, followed by a trip in the opposite environmental direction as the well-known police officer Russell Pasha covers shooting in the desert.

Next is the first chapter by Wentworth Day and, as such, is the longest by a small margin as he recounts a bird-shooting expedition to Lake Qarun. More bird shooting, this time reviewed by Russell Pasha, follows, and a transliterated English to Arabic guide for hunting is included. This section contains phrases that he felt that one could use, which cover the spectrum from “Have you anything to eat?” to “Shut up, you son of sixty donkeys.” A handful of these phrases seem out of place, as they would require responses that one would not understand if they needed this guide because they did not speak Arabic. The next four chapters, two each by Wentworth Day and Emanuel Maratos, once again share anecdotes and tips about bird hunting. Then come two chapters on fishing, one by C. S. Jarvis and the other by a Mrs. John Bowen, the latter providing a rare glimpse into Egyptian “sport” from the perspective of a woman. Paul Curling then provides a brief look at sailing on the Nile.

As mentioned in the first paragraph, the final chapter discusses entertainments in Cairo, some aligning with the modern definition of “sport” and others not sporty at all, under the rubric of “Games and Gaieties”. Overall, Sport in Egypt seems outdated even for its time period and on occasion feels to be more of a tourist brochure, hoping to lure out older Britons who remembered the Egypt of stricter British prewar control. As such, the writing is rife with Orientalist stereotypes, a sense of colonial superiority, and subtle (and not-so-subtle) racist commentary. Yet even as an example of this type of mentality, it is not particularly exceptional, and not representative of the nature of the British occupation at the time it was published. As a primary source, therefore, it will likely be of only limited use to even field specialists. ...more

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Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan: Photostory
by Richard J. Anobile

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Would have been a cute little novelty had a good chunk of the pages in the middle not been out of order.

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The Decline of Arab Unity: The Rise and Fall of the United Arab Republic
by Elie Podeh

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The Decline of Arab Unity by Elie Podeh is a somewhat older (by academic standards), but widely-cited work on the history of the United Arab Republic (UAR), a three-year political and economic union between Egypt and Syria. The UAR is often relegated The Decline of Arab Unity by Elie Podeh is a somewhat older (by academic standards), but widely-cited work on the history of the United Arab Republic (UAR), a three-year political and economic union between Egypt and Syria. The UAR is often relegated to a footnote in broader studies of the history of both regions, and waved off as a failed and doomed experiment, but the author attempts to treat to explore the union with more depth. While he does not reject the idea that it was doomed, he does apply more nuance on why this was the case and, rather than dismissing it outright, takes time to highlight all of the specific points of that failure.

Podeh’s introduction is fairly straightforward for an academic text, consisting primarily of a summary of the previous literature on the topic, along with a quick review of his sources. This section does more to highlight the structure of his analysis than elucidate a particular thesis, but this is a product of his overall goal of better understanding the UAR instead of making a singular argument. Also notable is his emphasis on diplomatic sources; with no meaningful access to Egyptian and Syrian archives at the time, his Arabic sources consist primarily of publicly-available material such as newspapers, which he acknowledges throughout the text as a factor that limits his ability to provide the Arab perspective. The first official chapter could also be considered an introductory one of sorts, as he takes time to define his main unit of analysis: elite politics. This is the closest he gets to a singular thesis, as he argues that elite politics are an important factor in both the creation and dissolution of the union.

Chapter two begins his primary narrative of the UAR and argues for a Syrian belief that a union with Egypt might resolve some of the country’s internal turmoil as driving the creation of the union. As a newly-forged nation seeking its identity, many believed that latching onto Egypt’s ideological stability, and particularly its Pan-Arabism in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, would help bring Syrians together. Podeh highlights Nasser’s reluctance – and the indifference of the average Egyptian – towards such a union, but also his inability to truly reject the idea, as he was using Pan-Arabism to support his legitimacy as a regional leader. His hand was essentially forced and, in February 1958, the union was declared. In the third chapter, the author explores the political foundations of this union and its relative success in instituting significant changes that most in Syria welcomed as pillars of stability.

In chapter four, Podeh begins to explore what he feels is a key factor in the dissolution of the union: economic integration. His overarching theme is that Nasser was rushed into copying changes that had been successful in Egypt, but were inappropriate for Syria. Coupled with a long-term drought, the author’s economic narrative is one of a consistent failure to integrate and an increasing alienation of the elites that had pushed for the establishment of the union. While many of the changes might have benefitted a new power base, such as the working class, their haphazard implementation prevented Nasser from truly growing his support in Syria. This theme continues into the fifth chapter, which also emphasizes how Nasser’s political transformations came to be seen increasingly as Egyptian dominance in Syria, rather than an attempt at equal union. Failures in economic integration and the frustration of the elites contributed to this perception.

By chapter six, Podeh argues that the decline of the UAR was beyond the point of no return. In order to combat growing dissent, Nasser had to tighten his political control, which in turn led to more complaints of Egyptian dominance. Also key here is the failure to create a cultural identity that was specific to the UAR, with most citizens considering themselves Egyptian or Syrian. This cultural factor is touched upon only slightly in the book, perhaps due to the lack of availability of Arabic-language sources and the fact that it was not a subject touched upon often by diplomatic archives. The seventh chapter continues an investigation into this topic from the economic perspective, highlight the continuing failures in that sphere.

Chapter eight focuses on the end result: Syrian’s secession. It provides a narrative of the collapse and argues that the average person was either supportive of dissolution or indifferent. Over the course of three years, the failures of the union overrode the limited philosophical enthusiasm for the project. The ninth chapter builds upon this, arguing that internal developments in Syria meant that Arab unity was no longer viable in addressing the political situation, as the factors that made the project attractive in the first place had dissipated. With the union’s failure to build enthusiasm for Pan-Arab unity in an era of nation-states, there was no hope for the emergence of a similar project in the future, even if Nasser used such rhetoric to maintain his legitimacy at home and abroad.

In his concluding chapter, Podeh maintains the narrative that the union was relatively doomed from the start, but offers more nuance to this argument by providing a detailed list of the problems, rather than simply painting it as a failure of the idea of Pan-Arabism as a whole. The overarching theme is that the union was created to address internal Syrian problems, rather than on the basis of a philosophical and popular belief in Arab unity. Nasser recognized the potential problems of a union at that time, but could not reject the idea, as it was the foundation of his own legitimacy. As such, he was rushed into duplicating his Egyptian policies in Syria without the time to adapt them to the Syrian situation. This led to a spiral wherein Nasser was perceived as attempting to dominate Syria and alienated the elites, who in turn furthered the argument of Nasser’s heavy-handedness. Overall, The Decline of Arab Unity presents a strong case and does very well in bringing together a handful of arguments into something comprehensible and satisfying. The major omission here is the lack of archival Arabic-language sources, which was a product of circumstance, rather than any fault of the author. It does give the book the strange feeling of discussing a topic with only limited perspective from the main subjects, and thus it would be nice to see a more updated work that takes advantage of the wider availability of Arab sources. Until then, however, this text is a good option for scholars seeking a better understanding of the UAR as a foundation for their own works. ...more