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There are few books about the renaissance that are as entertaining and rewarding as this autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, one of the most celebrated glodsmiths and artists of that time. The book is candid and can also serve as a tour guide of Florence for the more adventurous. Certainly I would recommnend reading it if you're thinking of visiting. Cellini describes other artsist of the time, famous spats between artists and between artists and their masters. despite the genius of the man, Cellini's book is more interetsing as a first hand docuemnt of what it was like to live in that time. One gets the imperssion of the sort of education parents siught for their children. Cellini… Read more
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The longstanding debate in the study of Middle East politics Area Studies and Social Science has divided schorlas in two general camps. Thos upporting the political economy approach (and its variations, i.e. State focused studies) such as James Waterbury, Roger Owens or Nazih Ayubi to mention some and those preferring a more cultural approach based on modernization theory typified by Bernard Lewis. This book edited by Mark Tessler aims to draw from the various approaches to establish a balanced view which combines the more scientific 'methods' of describing the Middle East through social science with the historical and local specificity of area studies. Tessler's aim is to sgow that neother… Read more
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
This is an easy to read book that contains interesting ideas about the role of political islamic movements. However it puts advances different notions than most books on the subject that ahve been published in the aftermath (and before, if we think of Huntington). This book suggests that Islam is not necessarily heading for a major confrontation or clash with the West. Some have suggested and criticized that the WTC attack proves otherwise; however, the the full story on that event and its aftermath have yet to be written and despite its horror, the evnt has worked far more in favoring an attack from the West to Islam than the other way around. Olivier Roy, in the tendency of another… Read more
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