Neil MacFarquhar's Books

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East

By: Neil MacFarquhar

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The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East

By: Neil MacFarquhar

Since his boyhood in Qadhafi's Libya, Neil MacFarquhar has developed a counterintuitive sense that the Middle East, despite all the bloodshed in its recent history, is a place of warmth, humanity, and generous eccentricity. In this book, he introduces a cross-section of unsung, dynamic men and women pioneering political and social change. There is the Kuwaiti sex therapist in a leather suit with matching red headscarf, and the Syrian engineer advocating a less political interpretation of the Koran. MacFarquhar interacts with Arabs and Iranians in their every day lives, removed from the violence we see constantly, yet wrestling with the region's future. These are people who realize their region is out of step with the world and are determined to do something about it - on their own terms.

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570

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ReadHowYouWant.com

Published Date

ISBN 10

145876009X

ISBN 13

9781458760098

The Sand Cafe

A Novel

By: Neil MacFarquhar

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The Sand Cafe

A Novel

By: Neil MacFarquhar

Dhahran Palace Hotel, Saudi Arabia, 1991. As U.S. forces mass on the border with Iraq, preparing to throw Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, more than 1,000 foreign correspondents and other media species are jockeying for space in the hotel's 190 rooms. Helicopters and armor are churning across the desert sand, there are rumors of Scud missiles and talk of chemical attacks, but, in fact, nothing is really happening. With no story to report, the press is getting restive. Not even the stranger aspects of Saudi Arabia keep them distracted for long." "Angus Dalziel, an up-and-coming war reporter for the World Press wire service, finds his attention divided between dull military briefings utterly lacking in news and the figure of Thea Makdisi, a smoldering, spirited cable news reporter. She is sassy while he is buttoned-down; she is exotic while he is studious; she is TV while he is print. Worse, she arouses attention anywhere she goes, stirring up everyone from sex-starved navy pilots to rival television producers. Angus faces the oldest dilemma of any reporter - should he chase the story or the girl?" "Like all the foreign correspondents - scurrying endlessly in pursuit of a really big story, festering with jealousy at other reporters getting better military access or bigger budgets - Angus lives surrounded by the smell of damp rot that comes from a combination of leaking air-conditioning and wretched hotel carpeting. The romance of war reporting - such as it is - exists far from the Dhahran Palace Hotel and its bedraggled swarm of reporters."--BOOK JACKET.

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396

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Public Affairs

Published Date

ISBN 10

1586483684

ISBN 13

9781586483685

Useful Bullshit

Constitutions in Chinese Politics and Society

By: Neil J. Diamant

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Useful Bullshit

Constitutions in Chinese Politics and Society

By: Neil J. Diamant

In Useful Bullshit Neil J. Diamant pulls back the curtain on early constitutional conversations between citizens and officials in the PRC. Scholars have argued that China, like the former USSR, promulgated constitutions to enhance its domestic and international legitimacy by opening up the constitution-making process to ordinary people, and by granting its citizens political and socioeconomic rights. But what did ordinary officials and people say about their constitutions and rights? Did constitutions contribute to state legitimacy? Over the course of four decades, the PRC government encouraged millions of citizens to pose questions about, and suggest revisions to, the draft of a new constitution. Seizing this opportunity, people asked both straightforward questions like "what is a state?", but also others that, through implication, harshly criticized the document and the government that sponsored it. They pressed officials to clarify the meaning of words, phrases, and ideas in the constitution, proposing numerous revisions. Despite many considering the document "bullshit," successive PRC governments have promulgated it, amending the constitution, debating it at length, and even inaugurating a "Constitution Day." Drawing upon a wealth of archival sources from the Maoist and reform eras, Diamant deals with all facets of this constitutional discussion, as well as its afterlives in the late '50s, the Cultural Revolution, and the post-Mao era. Useful Bullshit illuminates how the Chinese government understands and makes use of the constitution as a political document, and how a vast array of citizens—police, workers, university students, women, and members of different ethnic and religious groups—have responded.

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171

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501761293

ISBN 13

9781501761294

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East

By: Neil MacFarquhar

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The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East

By: Neil MacFarquhar

Since his boyhood in Qadhafi 's Libya, and later as a reporter for more than thirteen years in cities stretching from Tehran to Marrakesh, Neil MacFarquhar has developed a counterintuitive sense that the Middle East, despite all the bloodshed in its contemporary history, is a place of warmth, humanity, and generous eccentricity. In The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday MacFarquhar shares a lesser known side of the region, the story he always wanted to file. MacFarquhar shows the daily lives and attitudes of people frequently obscured behind the curtain of violence: the stories of chefs and sex therapists, bloggers and academics struggling to reform on their own terms.

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400

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PublicAffairs

Published Date

ISBN 10

1586488112

ISBN 13

9781586488116

Embattled Glory

Veterans, Military Families, and the Politics of Patriotism in China, 1949–2007

By: Neil J. Diamant

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Embattled Glory

Veterans, Military Families, and the Politics of Patriotism in China, 1949–2007

By: Neil J. Diamant

This groundbreaking book examines the treatment of veterans of the People's Liberation Army and military families as an illuminating window into Chinese patriotism, citizenship, and legitimacy. Using a wealth of recently declassified archival documents and employing a wide comparative perspective, Neil J. Diamant presents the first large-scale study of these groups in comparison to similar populations in other parts of Asia and in the West. He offers an unprecedented look at the "everyday interactions" among veterans, military families, state officials, and ordinary citizens as they attempted to secure urban residence, jobs, spouses, medical care, and respect. Often celebrated by the government for their glorious and patriotic service, veterans and military families were the beneficiaries of many policies, such as affirmative action in hiring and access to political power. But, the author asks, if veteran and military families were heroic, why did many of them compare their situation to "donkeys slaughtered after grinding the wheat" and "tossed-away dirty socks?" And what explains the thousands of suicides among veterans, rampant discrimination, and ongoing protests against the government? By comparing veterans in China to their counterparts in the United States, the Soviet Union, Israel, and elsewhere, this book provides important answers to the larger question of what circumstances lead to better or worse treatment of veterans, and what this treatment tells us about patriotism, legitimacy, and respect for military service.

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Page Count

478

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

0742557685

ISBN 13

9780742557680

Chomsky

Ideas and Ideals

By: Neil Smith,Nicholas Allott

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Chomsky

Ideas and Ideals

By: Neil Smith,Nicholas Allott

A radically revised and updated account of Noam Chomsky's thought and its revolutionary impact on linguistics, psychology, philosophy and politics.

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479

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Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1107082145

ISBN 13

9781107082144

Celebrity and Mediated Social Connections

Fans, Friends and Followers in the Digital Age

By: Neil M. Alperstein

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Celebrity and Mediated Social Connections

Fans, Friends and Followers in the Digital Age

By: Neil M. Alperstein

Celebrity and Mediated Social Connections is a critical examination of the multiple realities of the mediated culture we traverse, extending from our imaginary inner worlds to the imagined communities of digital media. Chapters explore the dialogic at work when we connect with celebrities and internalize aspects of their personas due to the various social roles they serve within our everyday lives. What might begin as strong identification and internalization within our imaginary worlds, in this digital age, sometimes seeps out as we connect to celebrities, their fans, friends and followers in ways that were not formerly possible. The book contains topics that range from the degradation of micro-celebrities, the role of celebrities in promoting prescription drugs and their role in contemporary social movements. The common thread that runs through the book presents a mediated world that paradoxically allows if not encourages people to daydream, engage in stream of consciousness thinking and fantasize about celebrities, all while concurrently compelling us to engage in a digitally based objective world. The possibility of interaction on and through digital media intensifies the emotional connection between celebrity and fan. The more personal details one gives up, the closer we feel we become—digital intimacy based on the excessive self. Digital media entice us to engage and remain tethered to technology, staying continuously connected so as not to miss the latest post or meme. To suggest we should build a proverbial wall between the two—imaginary and objective worlds—runs counter to the reality of an always on, always connected culture in which we presently live.

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256

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3030179028

ISBN 13

9783030179021

Revolutionizing the Family

Politics, Love, and Divorce in Urban and Rural China, 1949–1968

By: Neil J. Diamant

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Revolutionizing the Family

Politics, Love, and Divorce in Urban and Rural China, 1949–1968

By: Neil J. Diamant

In 1950, China's new Communist government enacted a Marriage Law to allow free choice in marriage and easier access to divorce. Prohibiting arranged marriages, concubinage, and bigamy, it was one of the most dramatic efforts ever by a state to change marital and family relationships. In this comprehensive study of the effects of that law, Neil J. Diamant draws on newly opened urban and rural archival sources to offer a detailed analysis of how the law was interpreted and implemented throughout the country. In sharp contrast to previous studies of the Marriage Law, which have argued that it had little effect in rural areas, Diamant argues that the law reshaped marriage and family relationships in significant--but often unintended--ways throughout the Maoist period. His evidence reveals a confused and often conflicted state apparatus, as well as cases of Chinese men and women taking advantage of the law to justify multiple sexual encounters, to marry for beauty, to demand expensive gifts for engagement, and to divorce on multiple occasions. Moreover, he finds, those who were best placed to use the law's more liberal provisions were not well-educated urbanites but rather illiterate peasant women who had never heard of sexual equality; and it was poor men, not women, who were those most betrayed by the peasant-based revolution. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 2000. In 1950, China's new Communist government enacted a Marriage Law to allow free choice in marriage and easier access to divorce. Prohibiting arranged marriages, concubinage, and bigamy, it was one of the most dramatic efforts ever by a state to change mari

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463

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520922387

ISBN 13

9780520922389

The Endgame of Globalization

By: Neil Smith

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The Endgame of Globalization

By: Neil Smith

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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238

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1135930538

ISBN 13

9781135930530

American Editor in Early Revolutionary China

John William Powell and the China Weekly/Monthly Review

By: Neil O'Brien

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American Editor in Early Revolutionary China

John William Powell and the China Weekly/Monthly Review

By: Neil O'Brien

This is a study of Sino-American relations and the editorial policy of the China Weekly Review / China Monthly Review , published in Shanghai by John William Powell during the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. The Review supported US attempts in early 1946 to avert civil war through the creation of a coalition government. By 1947 it reflected growing disillusionment with Guomindang policies, and increasing sympathy for the demands of impoverished students and faculty for multi-party democracy and peace. As the Civil War shifted in favour of the Communists in late 1948, Powell and the Review counseled US businessmen to remain in Shanghai and urged the US government to establish working relations with the Communists, and later to recognize the new regime. Staying in Shanghai to report changes engendered by the Communist victory, the Review 's staff accomodated themselves to the new orthodoxy and to the regime's coordination of the press. During the Korean War, the Review opposed the expanding US air war, becoming the foremost American purveyor of Chinese and North Korean allegations of American use of bacteriological weapons. The Review was also utilized for the political indoctrination of US prisoners-of-war by the Chinese and North Koreans. After closing the Review in July 1953 and returning to the United States, Powell, his wife Sylvia Campbell and assistant editor Julian Schuman were put on trial for sedition. As the government narrowed its focus to the bacteriological warfare issue, Powell and his lawyers countered by trying to prove the veracity of the charges, seeking witnesses in China and North Korea. Adverse publicity led to a mistrial in January 1959 and limitations in both the sedition and treason statutes ended plans to renew prosecution. Powell and the Review had insisted that positive diplomatic and economic relations between China and the United States were both possible and desirable. The gradual normalization of trade, investment and political relations since the 1970s seemed to validate this belief. In the post-Cold War age when Sino-American relations are often strained and tempestuous, this book serves as a reminder of the value of making the extra effort to achiece understanding.

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616

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1135945713

ISBN 13

9781135945718

American Carnival

Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media

By: Neil Henry

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American Carnival

Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media

By: Neil Henry

The author examines the issues that have led to the decline of journalistic professionalism in recent years including intentional frauds and corruption, the effect of the Internet, and serious stories about unethical practices in journalism.

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343

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520243420

ISBN 13

9780520243422

Engaging the Law in China

State, Society, and Possibilities for Justice

By: Neil Jeffrey Diamant,Stanley B. Lubman,Kevin J. O'Brien

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Engaging the Law in China

State, Society, and Possibilities for Justice

By: Neil Jeffrey Diamant,Stanley B. Lubman,Kevin J. O'Brien

This book explores legal mobilization, culture, and institutions in contemporary China from a perspective informed by 'law and society' scholarship.

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Page Count

270

Publisher

Stanford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0804750483

ISBN 13

9780804750486

Little Book of Great Britain

By: Neil Storey

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Little Book of Great Britain

By: Neil Storey

This little gem of a book is a repository of intriguing, fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts and trivia about Britain and all the things that have made it great.Within this volume are such themes as myths and legends, traditions and customs, great Britons and great British places, while not forgotten is a celebration of the best of British music, food, entertainment and sport and a host of topics that explore the more eccentric and eclectic people and things that contribute to and define Great Britain.Despite being a relatively small collection of islands, there is always something new, fascinating, frivolous or even bizarre to discover about Great Britain – you will find much of it here.Did You Know?There is no location in Britain which is more than 741⁄2 miles from the sea.The first person in Britain to be convicted of speeding was Walter Arnold of Kent, who in 1896 was fined 1s plus costs for driving at a breakneck 8mph.Britain has some thoroughly unusual pub names, including: The Bucket of Blood in Phillack, Cornwall, The Honest Lawyer in Folkestone and The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn in Stalybridge – which also enjoys the honour of having Britain’s longest pub name.Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a well-known corgi fan. She has owned no fewer than 30 during her reign, the first being Susan, who was given to her in 1944.

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184

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The History Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0752482459

ISBN 13

9780752482453

We Gather Together

The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics

By: Neil J. Young

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We Gather Together

The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics

By: Neil J. Young

The story of the birth of the Religious Right is a familiar one. In the 1970s, mainly in response to Roe v. Wade, evangelicals and conservative Catholics put aside their longstanding historical prejudices and theological differences and joined forces to form a potent political movement that swept across the country. In this provocative book, Neil J. Young argues that almost none of this is true. Young offers an alternative history of the Religious Right that upends these widely-believed myths. Theology, not politics, defined the Religious Right. The rise of secularism, pluralism, and cultural relativism, Young argues, transformed the relations of America's religious denominations. The interfaith collaborations among liberal Protestants, Catholics, and Jews were met by a conservative Christian counter-force, which came together in a loosely bound, politically-minded coalition known as the Religious Right. This right-wing religious movement was made up of Mormons, conservative Catholics, and evangelicals, all of whom were united--paradoxically--by their contempt for the ecumenical approach they saw the liberal denominations taking. Led by the likes of Jerry Falwell, they deemed themselves the "pro-family" movement, and entered full-throated into political debates about abortion, school prayer, the Equal Rights Amendment, gay rights, and tax exemptions for religious schools. They would go on to form a critical new base for the Republican Party. Examining the religious history of interfaith dialogue among conservative evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons, Young argues that the formation of the Religious Right was not some brilliant political strategy hatched on the eve of a history-altering election but rather the latest iteration of a religious debate that had gone on for decades. This path breaking book will reshape our understanding of the most important religious and political movement of the last 30 years.

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583

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199911916

ISBN 13

9780199911912

Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military

By: Neil deGrasse Tyson,Avis Lang

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Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military

By: Neil deGrasse Tyson,Avis Lang

“Extraordinary.… A feast of history, an expert tour through thousands of years of war and conquest.” —Jennifer Carson, New York Times Book Review In this far-reaching foray into the millennia-long relationship between science and military power, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-author Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. Spanning early celestial navigation to satellite-enabled warfare, Accessory to War is a richly researched and provocative examination of the intersection of science, technology, industry, and power that will introduce Tyson’s millions of fans to yet another dimension of how the universe has shaped our lives and our world.

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Page Count

622

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

039328543X

ISBN 13

9780393285437

The Sand Cafe

A Novel

By: Neil MacFarquhar

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The Sand Cafe

A Novel

By: Neil MacFarquhar

Dhahran Palace Hotel, Saudi Arabia, 1991. The US forces are massing on the border with Iraq, preparing to throw Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Men and material are arriving daily, helicopters and armor are training in the desert sand. There are rumors of Scud missiles, talk of the possibility of chemical attack, but in fact, nothing is really happening. With no story to report, the press is getting restive. The Sand Caf' is a satire of modern war reporting that mercilessly exposes the life of the foreign correspondent: endless scurrying trips in pursuit of a really big story, gathering frustration, brewing jealousy directed towards other reporters, especially those from better financed TV networks, and the stale smell of damp rot that comes from a combination of leaking air-conditioning and wretched carpeting in the hotel where the entire bedraggled press corps is housed. Boredom massages idle thoughts into wild excesses, even in a country that officially bans the sale of alcohol. Neil MacFarquhar, a veteran of the Middle East foreign press corps, has written a woundingly witty black comedy of those who bring us news from the front lines, exposing their vanities, rivalries and petty distractions. Love, lust for fame and the magnificent gilded hypocrisy of the regime in Saudi make this novel as revealing as it is compelling.

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Page Count

385

Publisher

PublicAffairs

Published Date

ISBN 10

1586486004

ISBN 13

9781586486006

Book's by Neil MacFarquhar

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

The Sand Cafe

The Sand Cafe

Useful Bullshit

Useful Bullshit

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

Embattled Glory

Embattled Glory

Chomsky

Chomsky

Celebrity and Mediated Social Connections

Celebrity and Mediated Social Connections

Revolutionizing the Family

Revolutionizing the Family

The Endgame of Globalization

The Endgame of Globalization

American Editor in Early Revolutionary China

American Editor in Early Revolutionary China

American Carnival

American Carnival

Engaging the Law in China

Engaging the Law in China

Little Book of Great Britain

Little Book of Great Britain

We Gather Together

We Gather Together

Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military

Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military

The Sand Cafe

The Sand Cafe

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