A: reviews: general

BETWEEN MARRIAGE AND THE MARKET: INTIMATE POLITICS AND SURVIVAL IN CAIRO. By Homa Hoodfar. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1997. xviii, 302 pp.

THE COURT OF THE IL‐KHANS 1290–1340. Edited by J. Raby and T. Fitzherbert. Oxford Studies in Islamic Art (XII), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996. 218 pp., 84 black and white illustrations, ISBN 0–19–728022–6. £35 (hb)

COMMODITY AND EXCHANGE IN THE MONGOL EMPIRE: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF ISLAMIC TEXTILES. By Thomas T. Allsen. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997. 137 pp. ISBN 0521–58301–2, £30.00 (US$49.95).

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA AND AMERICAN CULTURE: THE MAKING OF A TRANSATLANTIC LEGEND. By JOEL C. HODSON. Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture, No. 47. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Publishing, 1995. xiii + 183 pp., Index, $45.00.

THE CAMBRIDGE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD. Edited by Francis Robinson. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996. xxiii, 328 pp., maps, illustrations, £24.95.

THE HOLY WAR IDEA IN WESTERN AND ISLAMIC TRADITIONS. By James Turner Johnson. Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. 185 pp.

MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS FACE‐TO‐FACE. By Kate Zebiri. Oxford, Oneworld, 1997. 258 pp., £14.99.

JINNAH, PAKISTAN AND ISLAMIC IDENTITY: THE SEARCH FOR SALADIN. By Akbar S. Ahmed. London and New York, Routledge, 1997. 274 pp., 18 plates, 4 maps, £45.00 (hb) £12.99 (pb).

YEZIDISM — ITS BACKGROUND, OBSERVANCES AND TEXTUAL TRADITION. By Philip G. Kreyenbroek. (Texts and Studies in Religion, Vol. 62). Lewiston, New York, Edwin Mellen Press, 1995. 349 pp.

GENDERING THE MIDDLE EAST: EMERGING PERSPECTIVES. Edited by Deniz Kandiyoti New York, Syracuse University Press, 1996. 177 pp.

DORIA SHAFIK, EGYPTIAN FEMINIST: A WOMAN APART. By Cynthia Nelson. Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1996. xxvi + 322 pp., illustrations, $49.95.

THE MOBILIZATION OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN EGYPT. By Ghada Hashem Talhami. Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1996. 192 pp., £36.00.

KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL PRACTICE IN MEDIEVAL DAMASCUS, 1190–1350. By Michael Chamberlain. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994. xii + 199 pp., maps.

EGYPTIENS ET FRANÇAIS AU CAIRE 1798–1801. By André Raymond. Cairo, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Bibliothèque Générate, 18, 1998. 391 pp.

THE STRUCTURE OF CENTRAL AUTHORITY IN QAJAR IRAN: 1871–1896. By A. Reza Sheikholeslami. Atlanta, Georgia, Scholars Press, 1997. 246 pp.

BALAT: ETUDE ETHNOLOGIQUE D'UNE COMMUNAUTE RURALE. By Jacques Hivernel, Cairo, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1996. 204 pp. bibliography, illustrations, maps and pictures.

A BLOOD‐DIMMED TIDE. DISPATCHES FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. By Amos Elon New York, Columbia University Press, 1997. 332 pp., Index £19.95 ($29.00).

RELIGIOUS RADICALISM IN THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST. Bruce Maddy‐Weitzman and Efraim Inbar (eds). Ilford, Essex, Frank Cass, 1997. 264 pp., ISBN 0–7146–4769–1 (hb), 0–7146–4326–2 (pb).

THE SCROLL OR THE SWORD? DILEMMAS OF RELIGION AND MILITARY SERVICE IN ISRAEL. By Stuart A. Cohen. Amsterdam, Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997. xx + 148 pp.

ISLAM IN A CHANGING WORLD: EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST. Edited by A. Jerichow and J. Bæk Simonsen. Richmond, Surrey, Curzon Press, 1997. 190 pp.

ISLAMISCHE WIRTSCHAFTS‐UND WOHLFAHRTSEINRICHTUNGEN IN ÄGYPTEN ZWISCHEN MARKT UND MORAL. By Steffen Wippel. (Studien zur Volkswirtschaft des Vorderen Orients. Bd. 9). Münister, LIT Verlag, 1997. xlii + 391 pp., 88.80 DM.

ARAB AWAKENING AND ISLAMIC REVIVAL: THE POLITICS OF IDEAS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By Martin Kramer. New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers, 1996. 286 pp., index.

ISRAEL AND THE WESTERN POWERS: 1952–1960. By Zach Levey North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press, 1997. 203 pp., $39.95.

BUILDING A PALESTINIAN STATE: THE INCOMPLETE REVOLUTION. By Glenn E. Robinson. Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press, 1997. 228 pp., £12.50.

MANDATE DAYS: BRITISH LIVES IN PALESTINE 1918–1948. By A. J. Sherman. London, Thames and Hudson, 1997. 245 pp., 61 illustrations, short who was who, £16.95.

THE DECLINE OF THE ARAB‐ISRAELI CONFLICT: MIDDLE EAST POLITICS AND THE QUEST FOR REGIONAL ORDER By Avraham Sela. New York, SUNY Press, 1998. xv + 423 pp.

MAKING PEACE WITH THE PLO: THE RABIN GOVERNMENT'S ROAD TO THE OSLO ACCORD. By David Makovsky. Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press, 1996. 239 pp.

ISRAEL ON THE ROAD TO PEACE: ACCEPTING THE UNACCEPTABLE By Ziva Flamhaft. Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press, 1996. 252 pp.

REMAKING THE MIDDLE EAST. Edited by Paul J. White and William S. Logan. Oxford and New York, Berg, 1997. 340 pp.

THE COLD WAR AND THE MIDDLE EAST. Edited by Yezid Sayigh and Avi Shlaim. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997. 303 pp., map.

US‐ISRAELI RELATIONS AT THE CROSSROADS. Edited by Gabriel Sheffer. London, Frank Cass, 1997. 242 pp., £32.50.

LIBYA: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF OIL. By Judith Gurney. Oxford, Oxford University Press (For Oxford Institute for Energy Studies), 1996. 244 pp., £29.50 (hb).

NOTES FROM THE MINEFIELD. UNITED STATES INTERVENTION IN LEBANON AND THE MIDDLE EAST, 1945–1958. By Irene L. Gendzier. New York, Columbia University Press, 1997. 300 pp., maps, illustrations, £32.00.

IRAN‐SAUDI ARABIA RELATIONS AND REGIONAL ORDER. By Shahram Chu‐bin and Charles Tripp. London, IISS/Oxford University Press, 1996. 88 pp., £13.99.

THE UNITED STATES AND IRAN: IN THE SHADOW OF MUSADDIQ. By James Goode. London, Macmillan, 1997. ISBN 0–333–67831–1.

DIR IRANISCHE SCHIA UND DIE ISLAMISCHE EINHEIT 1979–1996. By Wilfried Buchta. Hamburg, Deutsches Orient‐Institut, 1997. 427 pp.

THE MAKING OF IRAQ 1900–1963: CAPITAL, POWER AND IDEOLOGY. By Samira Haj. SUNY Press, 1997. viii + 150 pp.

THE AGONY OF ALGERIA. By Martin Stone. London, Hurst, 274 pp., £14.95 (pb).

FROM TRUCIAL STATES TO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. NEW EDITION By Frauke Heard‐Bey. London, Longman, 1996. xxvi + 540 pp.

ARABIAN DIVERSIONS: STUDIES ON THE DIALECTS OF ARABIA. By Bruce Ingham. Reading, Ithaca Press, 1997. xv + 193 pp. £35.

THE VERB IN LITERARY AND COLLOQUIAL ARABIC. By Martine Cuvalay‐Haak. Berlin and New York, Mouton de Gruyter, 1997. xx + 278 pp., DM 158.

LITERARY CRITICISM IN MEDIEVAL ARABIC‐ISLAMIC CULTURE. THE MAKING OF A TRADITION. By Wen‐Chin Ouyang. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1997. viii + 257 pp.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ARABIC LITERATURE. Edited by Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey. London and New York, Routledge, 1998. Two volumes, 857 pp., ISBN 0–415–06808–8 (set).

IBN ‘AQIL: RELIGION AND CULTURE IN CLASSICAL ISLAM. By George Maqdisi. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1997. 292 pp., £50

THE SIRDAR: SIR REGINALD WINGATE AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By M. W. Daly. American Philosophical Society, 1997 xvii + 345 pp.

ISLAM: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION. By Malise Ruthven. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997. 162 pp., 14 illustrations, 3 maps, £5.00.

THE QURAN: A NEW INTERPRETATION — TEXTUAL EXEGESIS. Muhammad Baqir Behbudi translated by Colin Turner. Richards Curzon Press, 1997. 720 pp.

THE FORMATION OF THE SUNNI SCHOOLS OF LAW, 9–10TH CENTURIES CE. By Christopher Melchert. (Studies in Islamic Law and Society, No. 4). Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1997. 244 pp.

HISTORY OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY. Edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman. London, Routledge, 1996. 1211 pp.

THE SELF‐DISCLOSURE OF GOD: PRINCIPLES OF IBN AL‐'ARABI'S COSMOLOGY. By William C. Chittick (SUNY Series in Islam). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1998. XL + 483 pp., $24.95 (pb).

‘AZIZ NASAFI. By Lloyd Ridgeon. (Curzon Sufi Series.) Richmond, Curzon Press, 1998. xiv + 234 pp., £35 (hb), £14.99 (pb).     

Creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a part of China’s smart power strategy

The aim of this article is to assess the creation of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank within the scope of China’s smart power strategy, which will help not only to analyze China’s strategic use of its coercive and co-optive capacity, but also to understand better the concept of smart power. Given that the wisdom of statecraft can only be situationally determined, through this study I will propose the ability to achieve targeted objectives, the skill to use hard and soft power instruments in such a way that they reinforce each other, good interpretation of the existing regional and global contexts, time planning, and compatibility with long-term interests as criteria for judging the effectiveness of a smart power implementation.     

‘i pray for the factory to continue earning money’: the familial factory regime of the ‘Sun’ food factory in Turkey

This paper explores the factory regime in the ‘Sun’ food processing factory in Turkey, drawing on participant observation in the factory, informal interviews with women workers and in-depth interviews with the managers of the factory’s ‘gherkin department’ in which I worked. This paper argues that the ‘Sun’ bottling and canning factory is best understood through my concept of the ‘familial factory regime’. By ‘familial factory regime’ I mean a factory regime in which the features of the extended patriarchal family are used to manage the labour force by obtaining women workers’ consent. Indeed, the paper suggests that there is a tendency for patriarchy to be reconstituted in the workplace through the presence of a familial factory regime.     

Mothers in Cases of Incest in Turkey: Views and Experiences of Professionals

This paper aims to understand how professionals view non-offending mothers in cases of incest. Its data is based on a larger qualitative research project with 98 professionals in Turkey, including both frontline workers and those who join the process after the disclosure of abuse and are contacted professionally in incest cases. In spite of the differences in their views, the interviewed professionals have acknowledged the critical role of the mother in various phases of incest from disclosure of abuse to the treatment of the victim. However, they have also pointed out the insufficiencies and ambivalences of the mothers in terms of dealing properly with incest by underlining their economic and social vulnerability. The results reflected that the mothers need to be perceived in another light, understood better and empowered according to their needs to become vital partners within the support system combating incestuous abuse.