Shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, author Martin Yant argued in a newspaper column that Saddam Hussein's military machine wasn't nearly the menace President Bush said it was. Rather than being a well-equipped and battle-hardened million-man Wehrmacht at the command of another Adolf Hitler, Yant suggested that the Iraqi army appeared to be a war weary, smaller, supply-short force at the command of another Manuel Noriega.When the Persian Gulf War ended in February of 1991 in the U.S. led coalition's rout of the Iraqi army, Yant set out to write Desert Mirage to show how the Bush administration had deliberately deceived Americans into supporting the pursuit of power disguised as the pursuit of principle - at the cost of an estimated 375,000 lives.In the process, Yant shows how the liberation of Kuwait, whose occupation the Bush administration helped cause - either by ineptness or design - was merely a pretense for assertion of American power in the Middle East.Yant pieces together his convincing case from thousands of reports from dozens of sources that sporadically seeped through the administration's veil of deceit to reveal that the thunderously triumphant 'Desert Storm' was actually a deviously devised 'Desert Mirage' with far more foreboding causes and consequences than what the public could ever imagine.In the best tradition of contrarian journalism and worth consideration. - Kirkus Reviews

A new biography of Lawrence of Arabia T.E. Lawrence is one of the most enigmatic characters in British history. At the outbreak of the First World War he was working as an archaeologist in the Middle East. He had no military training at all, and a strong distrust of politicians and senior officers alike. And yet he succeeded in a task where all these people had failed: not only did he unite the Arab nation - a nation at perpetual war with itself - but he also led them to victory against the Ottoman Empire. How he managed to achieve these incredible feats has fascinated and confounded historians ever since. The myths that have grown up around this remarkable man have been enhanced by the untruths Lawrence himself propagated. He was never captured and tortured by the Turks as he claimed, neither was he the first to target Ottoman troops by dynamiting their trains. And yet the truth is every bit as compelling as the fiction. He was far more ruthless than he portrayed himself, and the battles he fought were every bit as barbarous as those fought by his Ottoman enemies. He was also strangely determined not to take credit for his achievements: when offered the VC at Buckingham Palace he refused it, leaving the king holding the box. This brand new biography by the author of RORKE'S DRIFT uses primary sources to uncover the truth from all the fictions that surround this legendary man. It covers the actualities of the war Lawrence fought in greater detail than ever before, and also describes what happened to Lawrence after the war.

This book is a unique collaboration as practice meets theory. Frontline correspondents write exclusively on their experiences dodging the bullets and joining the anti-Gaddafi fighters as they stormed into Tripoli, Libya's capital. In addition, there's analysis by significant journo big name thinkers plus a rich mixture of 'hackademics' and their take from Britain and further afield.

In response to the catastrophic destruction of Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site, a group of major international scholars gathered to focus on the art, archaeology, and history of the beleaguered site and present their latest findings. Their papers, given at a symposium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in May 2016, have been collected in this fascinating and important publication. They are accompanied by a moving tribute by Waleed Khaled al-Asa‘ad to his father, Khaled al-Asa‘ad, the Syrian archaeologist and head of antiquities for the ancient city of Palmyra who was brutally murdered in 2015 while defending the site. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana} Palmyra: Mirage in the Desert, published simultaneously in English and Arabic, is the latest volume in the Metropolitan Museum symposium series. It is a major contribution to the knowledge and understanding of this multicultural desert—located at the crossroads of the ancient world—that will help preserve the memory of this extraordinary place for generations to come.

These photographic books enabled the images to speak directly to the viewer.

No longer overshadowed by neighboring Palm Springs, Mod Mirage reveals in photos and stories the historic homes and communities of Rancho Mirage that make up its significant midcentury heritage. Mod Mirage documents the architecturally innovative homes and communities that were built on and adjacent to the historic Thunderbird and Tamarisk Country Clubs from 1950 to 1970, in what is now the community of Rancho Mirage, California. Some of the midcentury's most distinguished architects, including William Cody, Donald Wexler, William Krisel, E. Stewart Williams, and William Pereira, designed many of these structures, many of which are hidden behind country club gates and not easily accessible to the public. This is the first book to focus solely on Rancho Mirage's rich architecture while also discussing its influential social history. Melissa Riche is a writer, researcher, architecture enthusiast, preservationist, and media consultant. She has written about architecture and design for twenty years, including articles for Atomic Ranch magazine and the Desert Sun newspaper and historic nominations for the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation. She is the founder of Mod Mirage, a group of midcentury modern homeowners in Rancho Mirage, California. Melissa and her husband, photographer Jim Riche, live in Tamarisk Ranchos, a William Krisel-designed midcentury modern community.

In this fascinating history of the discovery, development, and exploitation of Middle East oil, an international journalist tells a largely unknown story rich in drama, conflict, and comic interludes. Illustrations.