Professor Stephen Cory's Books

Reviving the Islamic Caliphate in Early Modern Morocco

By: Professor Stephen Cory

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Reviving the Islamic Caliphate in Early Modern Morocco

By: Professor Stephen Cory

Historians have long grappled with the question of how Islamic civilization - so clearly dominant during the medieval period - could fall completely under Western hegemony in the modern age? Many Western writers answer this question by referencing European ingenuity, initiative, and transformative energy in contrast with Islamic parochialism, passivity, and resistance to change. This book challenges such assumptions by studying the career of an aggressive sultan in early-modern Morocco, Mulay Ahmad al-Mansur (r. 1578-1603), who dared to take on the international super-powers of his day and sought to redraw the map of Islamic Africa. Al-Mansur is best known for launching a bold invasion across the Sahara desert to conquer the West African Songhay Empire. Most historians ascribe strictly economic motives for this assault, stating that the sultan wished to capture the prosperous gold trade that had traveled for centuries from West Africa to the Mediterranean. Dr Cory argues instead that Mulay Ahmad was pursuing more expansive goals than simply stuffing his coffers with West African gold, as evidenced by audacious claims made on his behalf in numerous panegyric texts produced by the sultan's court. Through a detailed analysis of official histories, documents and correspondence, writings by European observers, and architectural evidence, he contends that the sultan sought to establish a Western caliphate that would eclipse the Ottoman Empire. Mulay Ahmad advanced this agenda through panegyric literature, elaborate court ceremonies, grand constructions, stunning military conquests, and astute diplomacy with European powers, Ottoman officials, and sub-Saharan rulers. Such assertions of universal caliphal authority had not been seriously promoted in Islam for over three hundred years before al-Mansur's reign. Thus al-Mansur sought to move his country forward into the modern age by returning to an institution that had governed Muslim lands during the fabled golden age of the Abbasid and Andalusian Umayyad caliphates. Through an investigation of the sultan's ambitions and achievements Dr Cory provides new insight into the history of relations between Muslim states and the West.

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475

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Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1472413989

ISBN 13

9781472413987

Dictionary of African Biography

By: Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong,Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

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Dictionary of African Biography

By: Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong,Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

From the Pharaohs to Fanon, Dictionary of African Biography provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of the men and women who shaped Africa's history. Unprecedented in scale, DAB covers the whole continent from Tunisia to South Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somalia. It also encompasses the full scope of history from Queen Hatsheput of Egypt (1490-1468 BC) and Hannibal, the military commander and strategist of Carthage (243-183 BC), to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1909-1972), Miriam Makeba and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1918 -).

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3382

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195382072

ISBN 13

9780195382075

For the People?

Democratic Representation in America

By: Charles R Beitz,Edwards S Sandford Professor of Politics Charles R Beitz

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For the People?

Democratic Representation in America

By: Charles R Beitz,Edwards S Sandford Professor of Politics Charles R Beitz

Many observers of American politics believe that representative government, particularly in the Congress, is failing. This book examines the case for failure: what are the outward signs, and how do they reflect breaches of underlying norms of fair and effective representation? The book argues that good representation demands healthy competition between parties, but that in today's America, that competition has run off the rails.

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247

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0197780431

ISBN 13

9780197780435

Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention

By: Mechtild Rössler,Professor Christina Cameron

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Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention

By: Mechtild Rössler,Professor Christina Cameron

In 1972, UNESCO put in place the World Heritage Convention, a highly successful international treaty that influences heritage activity in virtually every country in the world. Focusing on the Convention's creation and early implementation, this book examines the World Heritage system and its global impact through diverse prisms, including its normative frameworks, constituent bodies, programme activities, personalities and key issues. The authors concentrate on the period between 1972 and 2000 because implementation of the World Heritage Convention during these years sets the stage for future activity and provides a foil for understanding the subsequent evolution in the decade that follows. This innovative book project seeks out the voices of the pioneers - some 40 key players who participated in the creation and early implementation of the Convention - and combines these insightful interviews with original research drawn from a broad range of both published and archival sources. The World Heritage Convention has been significantly influenced by 40 years of history. Although the text of the Convention remains unchanged, the way it has been implemented reflects global trends as well as evolving perceptions of the nature of heritage itself and approaches to conservation. Some are sounding the alarm, claiming that the system is imploding under its own weight. Others believe that the Convention is being compromised by geopolitical considerations and rivalries. This book stimulates reflection on the meaning of the Convention in the twenty-first century.

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476

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Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409484777

ISBN 13

9781409484776

Alun Hoddinott

A Source Book

By: Professor Stewart R Craggs

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Alun Hoddinott

A Source Book

By: Professor Stewart R Craggs

Alun Hoddinott is the most important living Welsh composer and one of the most distinguished and prolific composers of his generation internationally. His works have been performed in major centres as far afield as Tokyo and Berlin, Melbourne and Leipzig, New York and Venice as well as the major festivals in Wales and England. He is one of the very few composers to have been commissioned to compose a concerto for Mstislav Rostropovitch. Born in Bargoed, Glamorganshire, in August 1929, Alun Hoddinott started to play the violin and compose at an early age. Some of his works were performed and broadcast whilst he was a student at University College, Cardiff and he later studied with the Australian composer and pianist Arthur Benjamin. His first major success was his Clarinet Concerto No.1, given by Gervaise de Peyer and the Halle Orchestra under John Barbirolli at the 1954 Cheltenham Music Festival. This Source Book lists all Hoddinott's compositions from 1946 to 2005, almost 60 years of phenomenal output, and shows he has achieved a mastery of composition which embraces almost every musical medium. With information given on first performances, manuscript locations and recordings, in addition to details of composition dates, authors/librettists, durations, commissions and dedications amongst much else, this book is a key reference for all those interested in Alun Hoddinott and his music.

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256

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409493695

ISBN 13

9781409493693

Book's by Professor Stephen Cory

Reviving the Islamic Caliphate in Early Modern Morocco

Reviving the Islamic Caliphate in Early Modern Morocco

Dictionary of African Biography

Dictionary of African Biography

For the People?

For the People?

Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention

Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention

Alun Hoddinott

Alun Hoddinott

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