The Penn Museum has a long and storied history of research and archaeological exploration in the ancient Middle East. This book highlights this rich depth of knowledge while also serving as a companion volume to the Museum's signature Middle East Galleries opening in April 2018. This edited volume includes chapters and integrated short, focused pieces from Museum curators and staff actively involved in the detailed planning of the new galleries. In addition to highlighting the most remarkable and interesting objects in the Museum's extraordinary Middle East collections, this volume illuminates the primary themes within these galleries (make, settle, connect, organize, and believe) and provides a larger context within which to understand them. The ancient Middle East is home to the first urban settlements in human history, dating to the fourth millennium BCE; therefore, tracing this move toward city life figures prominently in the book. The topic of urbanization, how it came about and how these early steps still impact our daily lives, is explored from regional and localized perspectives, bringing us from Mesopotamia (Ur, Uruk, and Nippur) to Islamic and Persianate cites (Rayy and Isfahan) and, finally, connecting back to life in modern Philadelphia. Through examination of topics such as landscape, resources, trade, religious belief and burial practices, daily life, and nomads, this very important human journey is investigated both broadly and with specific case studies.

The book is remembrance to the fading memories of a city and takes its readers on a journey of 'Vale of Doon'. It tries to tell the story of Doon Valley through its narratives and illustrations, which we have often found ourself wondering about when passing by an old deteriorating structure hiding beneath green monsoon moss in a forgotten part of the city, sitting by a canal or an abandoned bridge watching the setting sun through the blue‐tangerine skies or while taking a walk through a forest bathed in wintery sunshine. Doon Valley has been nothing less than a magical land with its inhabitants of kinds who have coexisted since time immemorial, but this coexistence of man and nature is now threatened by insensitive and unscientific development. The book urges its readers to reflect and act in order to protect their valley for future generations and times to come. The book tries to put together the otherwise ignored fragments of the city heritage that still stand, awaiting to be torn apart by the insensitive developmental activity but hoping to be rescued and bring people closer to the Dehra of old times.

Randy White tells how he and his family left suburbia to live and minister in a disadvantaged area of Fresno, California. Their compelling story will show you God's heart for the city and help you discover how you can make a difference in today's cities.

This book examines the myth of the journey from the village to the city and shows how this myth and the changes it has undergone provide rich insight on India's ambivalent affair with the modern city. The first section looks at the vicissitudes of the metaphor of journey, especially the imagination of the hero as it intersects with the imagined city. The next two sections profile various heroes as they negotiate the transitions from the village to the city and back to the village. The final section focuses on the psychopathological journey from a poisoned village into a self-annihilating city, and the narrative draws parallels with the violence in 1946-8, the period which saw the birth of modern India and Pakistan.

ICCoLLIC is an international conference hosted by the English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sebelas Maret. This conference is arranged to become an annual conference making room for scholars and practitioners in the area of communication, language, literature, and culture to share their thoughts, knowledge, and recent researches in the field of study.