“What I am going to reveal is my own personal experience, a valuable window on history” Mo Yan, the acclaimed Chinese writer, announces in this ambitious novel. And what a history he tells, through the eyes of a wealthy landlord executed in 1948, during the Land Reform Movement. In successive incarnations, he returns to his village as a donkey, an ox, a pig, a dog, a monkey, and finally as a big-headed boy. Here is the inside story, from human and animal perspectives, of a society buffeted between the turbulent winds of ideology, told with brio, pathos, and a lot of humor.

The wolf, the totem of the nomadic Mongols, is the true subject of this sprawling novel about a Han Chinese student who volunteers to live in Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution. What Chen Zhen learns from his new neighbors, in harsh circumstances, is the centrality of the wolf not only to the vitality of the grasslands but to the human spirit. Wolf Totem, a runaway bestseller and winner of the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize, is an elegy to a way of life—and a biting commentary on the drive to modernize. “Wolves follow the wind,” Mongols say. And now the wind carries the dust of what was once a fertile landscape as far as Los Angeles—and beyond.

Saudi Arabia is the setting - and, you might say, a character - in the new novel by Saudi author Yousef Al-Mohaimeed. The book is called "Wolves of the Crescent Moon."

Yousef Al-Mohaimeed

Its main human characters are outcasts. Each is missing a part of his body -- and a part of his life. And each seems to be of no concern to the larger society. Al-Mohaimeed's novel has been published in the United States. But it was banned in Saudi Arabia. Al-Mohaimeed says he knew it would be.

More than four thousand U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. Of those deaths, not a single soldier has died in the northern part of Iraq known as Kurdistan. The Kurdish region of Iraq has known relative peace and stability since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. That wasn't the case before the war.

Quil Lawrence is The World's Middle East correspondent. He's also the author of a new book, 'Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East'.

Quil Lawrence with a Kurdish fighter during the Iraq invasion in 2003

View more pictures from the Kurdish region of Iraq

From the publisher:
The dramatic story of the Kurds and their quest to create a nation—essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the turmoil in Iraq will play out.

Kurdistan is an invisible nation, and the Kurds the largest ethnic group on Earth without a homeland, comprising some 25 million moderate Sunni Muslims living in the area around the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Through a history dating back to biblical times, they have endured persecution and betrayal, surviving only through stubborn compromise with greater powers. Yet, like the Basques in Spain and the Chechens in Chechnya, they have yearned for official statehood—and in the denouement of the conflict in Iraq, they could take a giant step toward that goal. But will they?

As Quil Lawrence relates in his fascinating and timely study of the Kurds, while their ambition and determination grow apace, their future will be largely dependent on whether America values a budding democracy in the region, or decides to yet again sacrifice the Kurds in the name of political expediency. In any event, the Kurdish north may well prove to be the defining battleground in Iraq. At this extraordinary moment in the saga of Kurdistan, informed by his deep knowledge of the people and region, Lawrence’s intimate and unflinching portrait of the Kurds and their heretofore quixotic quest—their deep history mingling with the controversy and complex realities of the present—offers a vital and original lens through which to contemplate the future of Iraq and the surrounding Middle East.

From the publisher:
'Shut Up, I'm Talking' is a smart, hilarious insider take on Israeli politics that reads like the bastard child of Thomas Friedman and David Sedaris. Now a political writer for Salon, Gregory Levey stumbled into a job as speechwriter for the Israeli delegation to the United Nations at age twenty-five and suddenly found himself, like a latter-day Zelig, in the company of foreign ministers, U.S. senators, and heads of state. Much to his surprise, he was soon attending U.N. sessions and drafting official government statements. The situation got stranger still when he was transferred to Jerusalem to write speeches for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

'Shut Up, I'm Talking' is a startling account of Levey's journey into the nerve center of Middle Eastern politics at one of the most turbulent times in Israeli history. During his three years in the Israeli government, the Second Intifada continued on in fits and starts, Yasser Arafat died, Hamas came to power, and Ariel Sharon fell into a coma. Levey was repeatedly thrust into highly improbable situations -- from being the sole "Israeli" delegate (even though he's Canadian) at the U.N. General Assembly, with no idea how "his" country wanted to vote; to nearly inciting an international incident with his high school French translation of an Arab diplomat's anti-Israel remarks; to communicating with Israeli intelligence about the suspected perpetrators of suicide bombings; to being offered leftover salami from Ariel Sharon's lunch. As Levey got better acquainted with the personalities in the government's inner sanctum, he witnessed firsthand the improvisational and ridiculously casual nature of the country's behind-the-scenes leadership -- and realized that he wasn't the only one faking his way through politics.

With sharp insight and great appreciation for the absurd, Levey offers the first-ever look inside Israel's politics from the perspective of a complete outsider, ultimately concluding that the Israeli government is no place for a nice Jewish boy.

From the publisher:
More and more people are moving into towns and cities to live and work, which is altering the urban/rural balance of countries worldwide. THE ENDLESS CITY is an unparalleled study of the growth of six of the world's international cities (New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg, and Berlin), exploring key structural, social, and economic factors. This book was overseen by the London School of Economics, and features extensive research and coherent texts by world-renowned professionals in the field of urban planning and development. The information is presented in a comprehensive and visually compelling sequence, enabling quick and efficient reference as well as offering material that is exciting to study. Each city is examined individually in its own chapter as well as being analyzed comparatively in an observational chapter. THE ENDLESS CITY is authoritatively edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic in collaboration with the London School of Economics and the Urban Age Project, an expanding international organization seeking a new urban agenda for global cities.

About the author:
Ricky Burdett is Centennial Professor in Architecture and Urbanism at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is an advisor on architecture to the mayor of London, the BBC, and the Tate Organisations. He was Director of the 10th Venice Architectural Biennale (2006). DEJAN SUDJIC was formerly editor of BLUEPRINT and DOMUS magazines, and Director of 'Glasgow 1999: UK City of Architecture and Design' and the Venice Architectural Biennale 2002. He is architecture critic of the Observer, and he has written many books, including THE 100 MILE CITY (1992), BLADE OF LIGHT: THE STORY OF LONDON'S MILLENNIUM BRIDGE (2002), and RON ARAD, published by Phaidon.

Osama bin Laden wasn't born to terrorism. He was born to wealth and influence. His father, businessman Muhammad bin Laden, oversaw lucrative construction projects for the Saudi royal family. And Steve Coll writes in his new book, "The Bin Ladens," that Muhammad bin Laden considered his business international. The World's Lisa Mullins talked with Coll about the Bin Laden family.

From the publisher:
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national bestseller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family’s rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one member’s rebellion changed America

The Bin Ladens rose from poverty to privilege; they loyally served the Saudi royal family for generations—and then one of their number changed history on September 11, 2001. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll tells the epic story of the rise of the Bin Laden family and of the wildly diverse lifestyles of the generation to which Osama bin Laden belongs, and against whom he rebelled. Starting with the family’s escape from famine at the beginning of the twentieth century through its jet-set era in America after the 1970s oil boom, and finally to the family’s attempts to recover from September 11, The Bin Ladens unearths extensive new material about the family and its relationship with the United States, and provides a richly revealing and emblematic narrative of our globally interconnected times.

To a much greater extent than has been previously understood, the Bin Laden family owned an impressive share of the America upon which Osama ultimately declared war—shopping centers, apartment complexes, luxury estates, privatized prisons in Massachusetts, corporate stocks, an airport, and much more. They financed Hollywood movies and negotiated over real estate with Donald Trump. They came to regard George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Prince Charles as friends of their family. And yet, as was true of the larger relationship between the Saudi and American governments, when tested by Osama’s violence, the family’s involvement in the United States proved to be narrow and brittle.

Among the many memorable figures that cross these pages is Osama’s older brother, Salem—a free-living, chainsmoking, guitar-strumming pilot, adventurer, and businessman who cavorted across America and Europe and once proposed marriage to four American and European girlfriends simultaneously, attempting to win a bet with the king of Saudi Arabia. Osama and Salem’s father, Mohamed bin Laden, is another force in the narrative—an illiterate bricklayer who created the family fortune through perspicacity and wit, until his sudden death in an airplane crash in 1967, an accident caused by an error by his American pilot.

At the story’s heart lies an immigrant family’s attempt to adapt simultaneously to Saudi Arabia’s puritanism and America’s myriad temptations. The family generation to which Osama belonged—twenty-five brothers and twenty-nine sisters—had to cope with intense change. Most of them were born into a poor society where religion dominated public life. Yet by the time they became young adults, these Bin Ladens found themselves bombarded by Western-influenced ideas about individual choice, by gleaming new shopping malls and international fashion brands, by Hollywood movies and changing sexual mores—a dizzying world that was theirs for the taking, because they each received annual dividends that started in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. How they navigated these demands is an authentic, humanizing story of Saudi Arabia, America, and the sources of attraction and repulsion still present in the countries’ awkward embrace.

From the publisher:
It is the most diverse species on the planet and it inhabits the polluted, unforgiving streets of Cairo, a city that simply refuses to stand still. The taxi driver is an urban omnivore whose high-speed colours, habits and moods reflect all surrounding life, and yet pass it by, in the bustling flora and fauna of the Egyptian capital. Khaled Al Khamissi's "Taxi" is a remarkable journey into the lives and labyrinths of this beast of burden that has become a best-selling modern masterpiece in the author's home country. "Taxi" brings together 58 fictional monologues with Cairo cabbies recreated from the author's own experience of traversing the city. The experience takes the reader on a roller-coaster of emotions as bumpy and noisy as the city's potholed and chaotic streets.Described as an urban sociology, an ethnography, a classic of oral history - and a work of poetry in motion - "Taxi" tells Herculean tales of the struggle for survival and dignity among Greater Cairo's 80,000 cab drivers.

A wing-mirror that reflects both on modern Egypt and on the human condition, it plucks from the rush-hour sandstorm a feast of drivers' recollections, memories, personal stories, lies, loves, hates, dreams and philosophical adventures.Translated by Jonathan Wright, "Taxi" is a unique work combining the authentic insights of the man on the street with the poignant self-reflections of members of a caste who have little or nothing in common. Written in a rich colloquial that departs with a slam of a dented door from the literary language Egyptian writers commonly employ, it has been credited with reviving an interest in reading as it has become an instant best-seller, topping the sales charts in Arabic-speaking markets. "Taxi" will be released to the English market to co-incide with Arab countries being the market focus of the 2008 London Book Fair.

From the publisher
I am the translator who has taken journalists into dangerous Darfur. It is my intention now to take you there in this book, if you have the courage to come with me.

The young life of Daoud Hari–his friends call him David–has been one of bravery and mesmerizing adventure. He is a living witness to the brutal genocide under way in Darfur.

The Translator is a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world–an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time. Using his high school knowledge of languages as his weapon–while others around him were taking up arms–Daoud Hari has helped inform the world about Darfur.

Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, grew up in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan. As a child he saw colorful weddings, raced his camels across the desert, and played games in the moonlight after his work was done. In 2003, this traditional life was shattered when helicopter gunships appeared over Darfur’s villages, followed by Sudanese-government-backed militia groups attacking on horseback, raping and murdering citizens and burning villages. Ancient hatreds and greed for natural resources had collided, and the conflagration spread.

Though Hari’s village was attacked and destroyedhis family decimated and dispersed, he himself escaped. Roaming the battlefield deserts on camels, he and a group of his friends helped survivors find food, water, and the way to safety. When international aid groups and reporters arrived, Hari offered his services as a translator and guide. In doing so, he risked his life again and again, for the government of Sudan had outlawed journalists in the region, and death was the punishment for those who aided the “foreign spies.” And then, inevitably, his luck ran out and he was captured. . . .

The Translator tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide– time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people.

About the author
Daoud Hari was born in the Darfur region of Sudan. After escaping an attack on his village, he entered the refugee camps in Chad and began serving as a translator for major news organizations including The New York Times, NBC, and the BBC, as well as the United Nations and other aid groups. He now lives in the United States and was part of SaveDarfur.org's Voices from Darfur tour.

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from the publisher:
In an age of plastic knives on planes, Tony Wheeler can make the extraordinary claim of having visited all the rogue countries currently on newsreaders' lips. Bad Lands is a witty first-hand account of his travels through places often perceived as having some of the most repressive and dangerous regimes in the world: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Taking into account each country's attitude to human rights, terrorism and foreign policy, he asks 'what makes a country truly evil?' and 'how bad is really bad?' - all the while engaging with a colourful cast of locals and hapless tour guides, ruminating on history and debunking popular myths.

Written by the founder of Lonely Planet, this fascinating account of life in these closed-off countries will appeal to anyone with an interest in the state of the world today.