Habari Post

In 1978, President Carter's foreign policy team was primarily occupied with signing a treaty between Egypt and Israel in an effort to bring peace in Palestine and Israel. His senior advisers paid little attention the the weakening position of the Shah in Iran and the rise of support for then exiled Ayatollah Khomeini (Ayatollah is a high ranking title in structure of Shiite Islam).

After 16 years with the World Bank, William Easterly writes about the failures and shortcomings of development policy and practices by Western dominated organizations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, USAID and the United Nations.

Rory Stewart walks from Herat to Kabul, Afghanistan in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban and chronicles his experience in "The Places in Between." His book provides an excellent first hand account of the diverse cultures in Afghanistan, as well as an introduction to the local cultures and languages.

This eye-opening book highlights parts of the Western legal system that I never realized how much I take for granted. Most Americans buy, sell or mortgage property in their lifetime. The ease at which one can acquire or transfer property rights and leverage assets to obtain capital is one of those processes that seems to take place beneath the surface in the U.S.

This is a very upbeat and easy to read book that encourages people to learn new langauge and provides practical tips to learn a language quickly and successfully. As a native English speaker, I appreciate that many of the methods for learning a language are applied to Middle Eastern and Asian languages because I usually think of those as the most difficult and intimidating.

In 1993 Greg Mortenson, a mountaineer, drifted into an impoverished Pakistani village in the Karakoram mountains after a failed attempt to climb K2. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness that saved his life, he promised to return and build a school. "Three Cups of Tea" chronicles the adventure of that promise and its remarkable outcome.

This novel provides a view into life inside Saudi Arabia for a select group of upper class women in their twenties. Banned in Saudi Arabia, the work follows the lives of four friends and their search for love and marriage. Ms. Alsanea is in her twenties herself and this is her first novel.