The Blink of an Eye follows the story of Hamasa, raised in Afghanistan by the Taliban, or so he thought. His story takes him to Canada where a profound spiritual experience leads him to make the journey back home, to a land ravaged by war. Hamasa finds himself asking: What is our purpose in the Universe? Are we part of a Divine Master plan? When Hamasa discovers ancient documents found with the Dead Sea scrolls, he risks not only his own life, but that of his family and loved ones, to find answers which have eluded men for centuries.

Contents Series Foreword / K. C. Hanson Foreword / K. C. Hanson Bibliography (1889Ð2005) Preface Introduction Part 1: Orthography and Phonetics I. Orthography II. Phonetics 1. Vowels 2. Consonants Part 2: Morphology I. Nouns 1. Pronouns 2. Nouns in the Strict Sense 3. Numbers as Words 4. Particles II. Verbs 1. The Inflection of Verbs 2. Verbs with Objective Suffixes Part 3: Syntax I. Parts of Speech 1. Nouns 2. Verbs II. Sentence 1. The Simple Sentence 2. Connection with Additional Sentences Table of Mandaean Characters

Buraimi is an oasis in an otherwise bleak desert on the border between Oman and the UAE. In the early twentieth century, it shot to notoriety as oil brought the world's attention to this corner of the Arabian Peninsula, and the ensuing battle over energy resources between regional and global superpowers began. In this lively account, Michael Quentin Morton tells the story of how the power of oil and the conflicting interests of the declining British Empire and the United States all came to a head with the conflict between Great Britain and Saudi Arabia, shaping the very future of the Gulf states. The seeds of conflict over Buraimi were sown during the oil negotiations of 1933 in Jedda, where the international oil companies vied for control of the future industry in the Arabian Peninsula. As a result of lengthy discussions, including the efforts of men such as St John Philby and Ibn Saud himself, the Saudis granted an oil concession for Eastern Arabia without precisely defining the geographical limits of the area to be conceded. Matters came to a head in 1949 when Saudi Arabia made claim to the territory, and Great Britain, acting on behalf of Oman and Abu Dhabi, challenged the actions of the Saudis. Attempts at arbitration failed, and only one year before Britain's defeat over the Suez Canal, Britain expelled Saudi Arabia from the oasis. In the wake of Britain's withdrawal 'East of Suez' in the early 1970s, the dispute was apparently solved between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. But whilst the controversy dominated Anglo-Saudi relations for more than 30 years, it still casts its shadow across the Gulf today, threatening to expose the fragility of the West's ever-present dependency on the region for its supply of oil. Morton brings a range of historical figures to life, from the American oilmen arriving in steamy Jedda in the 1930s, to the rival sheikhs of Buraimi itself competing for power, wealth and allegiances as well as the great players in world politics: Churchill, Truman and Ibn Saud. This entertaining and thoroughly researched book is both a story of a decisive conflict in the history of Middle East politics and also of the great changes that the discovery of oil brought to this previously desolate land.

Fiction Crown of the Nazarene: A Carmela Buenasuerte Case Jesse Edward Corralez Pre-publication The Crown is the third installment in the Carmela Buenasuerte mystery series by Jesse Edward Corralez. In this book, Carmela and friends are called on to find an ancient relic the Vatican wishes to preserve for all of humankind regardless of religious affiliation. But the item's elusiveness suggests that its purpose does not include being housed in a museum. Archbishop Nicolas Rand, head of the Holy Antiquities Museum, is called on by the pope to authenticate a relic that is believed to be the crown of thorns that was worn by Jesus Christ during his crucifixion. The archbishop is given the directive to go to a museum in Switzerland and negotiate the purchase of the crown from the curator if he determines that it is the real thing. Money is no obstacle. Once in Switzerland, the archbishop is shown pictures of the thorny wreath that a former visitor to the Switzerland museum sent to the curator. The archbishop and the curator travel to Portland, Oregon, to authenticate the wreath. When they arrive, they are informed that the wreath was taken during a robbery of the owner's condo. Enter Carmela Buenasuerte, the crack private investigator who solved the curbside recycling and warehouse robbery mysteries. When her husband, police officer Shawn Sparrow, takes on the case of the stolen wreath with few results, Carmela's services are retained. As the couple begins to acquire bits of information about the location of the wreath, first at a pawnshop and then across the country in New York City, they recruit their friends Abraham Joseph Dooley and Gideon Nathan Blaze, owners of a special security and transport business, to help with the search. The jaunt to New York to recover the wreath from a couple who'd been visiting Portland leads the group all over the globe including Italy, Israel, Syria, and Iraq. With each attempt to retrieve the wreath, the foursome encounters people who have experienced a miracle after coming in contact with the crown: a child blind from birth can suddenly see and recognize her surroundings; a woman disfigured and crippled in a car accident as a child becomes beautiful and all her physical deformities are corrected; and a man who was positive for AIDS shows absolutely no signs of the disease after coming in contact with the wreath. Corralez achieves in this book what he does best as a writer: the combination of action with a focus on human behavior the good and the bad to weave a tale that not only entertains, but feeds the spirit. While the search for the crown of thorns is endless, one can determine that the wreath is not supposed to be found and possessed by one person or institution. The crown appears to belong to everyone, and as a result, it should be free to circulate among the masses. Crown of the Nazarene is a strong addition to the Carmela Buenasuerte series. I highly recommend it. Melissa Levine for Independent Professional Book Reviewers www.bookreviewers.org

December 2, 1971 ushered the United Arab Emirates into existence and marked the end of one hundred fifty years of British protection of the Arab states of the Gulf. Today, the UAE projects an image of modernity and prosperity; but before its formation, the emirates endured poverty and political upheaval while the rulers and people navigated the transition from autonomous city-states to modern nation states under informal British rule. This book shows how the Trucial States came to form a sovereign federation, paying particular attention to the role of nationalism and anti-imperialism. Kristi Barnwell demonstrates that the ruling sheikhs of the Gulf Arab rulers in the Gulf strove to create their new state with close ties to Great Britain, which provided technical, military and administrative assistance to the emirates, while also publicly embracing the popular ideologies of anti-imperialism and Arab socialism that were still dominating the political discourse in the Arab world. In the process, she situates the Emirates' modern history in the broader narratives of the history of the Middle East. The research draws on primary source materials from British and American government archives, speeches, and government publications from the Arab Emirates, as well as memoirs and secondary sources.