Essays discuss modern art, the political aspects of art, architecture, futurism, French realism, Cezanne, Matisse, Derain, Picasso, and Raphael.

Reconstructing Modernism establishes for the first time the centrality of modernist buildings and architectural periodicals to British mid-century literature. Drawing upon a wealth of previously unexplored architectural criticism by British authors, this book reveals how arguments about architecture led to innovations in literature, as well as to redesigns in the concept of modernism itself. While the city has long been a focus of literary modernist studies, architectural modernism has never had its due. Scholars usually characterize architectural modernism as a parallel modernism or even an incompatible modernism to literature. Giving special attention to dystopian classics Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, this study argues that sustained attention to modern architecture shaped mid-century authors' political and aesthetic commitments. After many writers deemed modernist architects to be agents for communism and other collectivist movements, they squared themselves--and literary modernist detachment and aesthetic autonomy--against the seemingly tyrannical utopianism of modern architecture; literary aesthetic qualities were reclaimed as political qualities. In this way, Reconstructing Modernism redraws the boundaries of literary modernist studies: rather than simply adding to its canon, it argues that the responsibility for defining literary modernism for the mid-century public was shared by an incredible variety of authors--Edwardians, modernists, satirists, and even anti-modernists.

This text focuses on two interrelated subjects: the evolution of the Jewish community in central and southern Iraq, its impact upon the neighbourhood structure and the design of the Baghdad house, and the non-energy-consuming cooling system which evolved in response to the arid climate.

Enemies by Design is a rigorously researched expos of the greed, corruption and racism driving George W. Bush's "War on Terrorism." Journalist and scholarly historian Greg Felton reveals how oil interests and Zionist expansionists cultivated and exploited hateful images of the Muslim world to justify aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. This book is basic reading for understanding the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy.

This highly unusual book gathers together the largest collection of photographs ever published of the astonishing tiled domes, minarets and walls of Islamic Asia. Michael Barry's text draws on a wealth of historical, technical and iconographic information to illuminate the history and meaning of these remarkable decorations. He traces the history of Islamic architectural tiles from their first major appearance at the end of the twelfth century as a means of protection from the weather, through their apogee in the fifteenth century which saw them perhaps at their most ornate, right up to the present day when Herat's tilemasters still perpetuate the finest medieval traditions. Beginning with a highly evocative traveller's impression of modern Afghanistan, the text combines profound historical knowledge with insight into the technical innovations that shaped the course of tile decoration in medieval Islam. In addition, in order to explore the symbolism behind the seven colors Michael Barry turns to one of the greatest medieval Persian-language poets, Nezami of Ganjeh, and his verse romance The Brides of the Seven Climes. He translates this series of tales, which are as charming and gripping as any in the Thousand and One Nights, and in his commentary provides a fascinating glimpse of the philosophical, literary and religious context for Nezami's work.