Because we live in a higher-than-ever charged world of violence, child abuse, and misunderstandings of ethnicity, the need to inform and enlighten is at the forefront of our daily lives as never before. Close-up, sometimes graphic, views of these issues are vital to the process.An informative read into the roots of ancient Muslim teachings, SEX, LOVE, AND THE ARAB MIND, is the true story of a young woman who, in part still a child, willingly takes up the patriarch offerings of an old friend.The familiarity of her past breaks thorough in parallel dynamics, bringing her to crashing amidst sex addiction, man-over-woman subservience, and violence, propelling her into a search-and-find reality of the who within.Flashbacks take the reader to a full-view spectrum of one human psyche, its far-back beginnings, and how the core of a true code can change a life.

The roots of America's image problem in the Middle East

First published in 1973, revised in 1983, and updated in 2007 with new demographic information about the Arab world, The Arab Mind takes readers on a journey through the societies and peoples of a complex and volatile region. This sensitive study explores the historical origins of Arab nationalism, the distinctive rhetorical style of Arabic speakers and its effect on politics, traditional attitudes toward child-reading practices, the status of women, the beauty of Arabic literature, and much more. Since Sept 11, 2001, the book's lessons have been misconstrued by some but have proven indispensable to those trying to truly understand the roots of the major political conflicts of our time. In 2010 the book is more relevant than ever. Patai's sympathetic but critical depiction of Arab culture explores the continuing role of the Bedouin values of honor and courage in modern Arab culture, inter-Arab conflict and the aspiration toward unity, and how anti-Western attitudes conflated with anti-modernization have led to stagnation in much of the Arab world. Patai, a prominent anthropologist and historian, drew both on his research and his personal experience to produce this indispensable work in the field of Middle Eastern studies. With an updated forward by Norvell B. DeAtkine, former director of Middle East studies at the JFK Special Warfare School, The Arab Mind remains a relevant and crucial masterpiece of scholarship for anyone seeking to understand this multifaceted culture today. Reviews: "I took this book to Baghdad for my military assignment and left it there with friends who continue to use it to help inform their experiences. The book helped me understand what I was seeing with my own eyes and helped me avoid mis-steps that probably would have been misinterpreted. The book rang true with my experiences and helped me understand the Iraqi people, who I found to be generally good and noble. " "I have lived in the Middle East, on and off, for four years, and no book explained the Arab mind as well as Raphael Patai's. Written over 30 years ago, it still rings true in so many aspects, and definitely helps explain the cultural clashes that still occur and slow down the process of coexisting. Raphael Patai's love of Arabia and all things Arabic is very obvious throughout his work. Even so, Patai managed to be objective and to portray the good and the bad in Arab culture. Too many authors take one road or the other, allowing personal feelings and thoughts to encroach on the necessary objectivity. Patai, like a true sociologist, presents how a culture was formed, in language easily understandable to the Western mind. . . . "The Arab Mind should nonetheless be mandatory reading for all government workers in the Middle East, as it is truly an indispensible guide through a culture that has been around longer than our own." 1672 "When you read this book, you'll become interested in sociology as an interesting branch of human sciences. Patai is a genius. His book is by far the best in this respect. For Arab readers: Read the book and in no time you'll find yourselves putting names to the abundant examples Patai cites. The book deals with several interesting traits that most Arabs share in their inherent characters. These include the Arab unawareness of time, their tendency to speak more than they can actually deliver, their fixation with sex and their keenness to preserve Bedouin values which include preserving a group's honor by preserving the chastity of its female members. Even though the book is academic, the style is entertaining as it alternates between theories and real life examples to illustrate them. The book, a classic, is certainly worth a read. Try it!"-- Review by an Arab reader

An American woman determined to learn the Arabic language travels to the Middle East to pursue her dream in this “witty memoir” (Us Weekly). The shadda is the key difference between a pigeon (hamam) and a bathroom (hammam). Be careful, our professor advised, that you don’t ask a waiter, ‘Excuse me, where is the pigeon?’—or, conversely, order a roasted toilet . . . If you’ve ever studied a foreign language, you know what happens when you first truly and clearly communicate with another person. As Zora O’Neill recalls, you feel like a magician. If that foreign language is Arabic, you just might feel like a wizard. They say that Arabic takes seven years to learn and a lifetime to master. O’Neill had put in her time. Steeped in grammar tomes and outdated textbooks, she faced an increasing certainty that she was not only failing to master Arabic, but also driving herself crazy. She took a decade-long hiatus, but couldn’t shake her fascination with the language or the cultures it had opened up to her. So she decided to jump back in—this time with a new approach. In this book, she takes us along on her grand tour through the Middle East, from Egypt to the United Arab Emirates to Lebanon and Morocco. She’s packed her dictionaries, her unsinkable sense of humor, and her talent for making fast friends of strangers. From quiet, bougainvillea-lined streets to the lively buzz of crowded medinas, from families’ homes to local hotspots, she brings a part of the world thousands of miles away right to your door—and reminds us that learning another tongue leaves you rich with so much more than words. “You will travel through countries and across centuries, meeting professors and poets, revolutionaries, nomads, and nerds . . . [A] warm and hilarious book.” —Annia Ciezadlo, author of Day of Honey “Her tale of her ‘Year of Speaking Arabic Badly’ is a genial and revealing pleasure.” —The Seattle Times

A landmark exploration of Jewish history and culture. First published in 1977, The Jewish Mind provides a penetrating insight into the complex collective reality of the Jewish people. Raphael Patai examines how six great historical encounters, spanning three millennia, between the Jews and other cultures led to both change and continuity in Jewish communities throughout the global diaspora. A timeless analysis by a prominent scholar. Patai, a noted cultural anthropologist and historian, drew on a lifetime of research and personal experience to explore the contemporary Jewish mind in its many manifestations, including an exploration of the notion of Jews as a race, an investigation into Jewish intelligence and talents, as discussion of Jewish self-hate, and a profile of Jewish personality and character. An insightful new foreword by Ari L. Goldman. Bestselling author and journalist Ari L. Goldman places the book in the context of recent turbulent events, especially in the Middle East, and confirms Patai's conclusion that Judaism remains enormous value to humankind. Goldman calls the book "a brilliant and absorbing survery of everything poured into the Jewish mind over the millennia." The Jewish Mind is a towering work of scholarship that remains relevant to anyone trying to understand Jewish culture and society around the world today. Book jacket.