"Mubariz: The Story of Yemeni Diaspora in America" by Khaled Alyamany, translated by Wael Al-Hamdani, is a memoir-like narrative chronicling the Yemeni diaspora in the United States, primarily focusing on the life of Abdulsalam Mubarez, a prominent figure in the Yemeni community in New York City. The book explores the historical context of Yemeni migration to the U.S., the challenges they faced, and their contributions to American society. The narrative begins by exploring the early Yemeni immigrants' journeys, often starting from the village of Al-Ma'adat in Yemen and passing through Aden, a major port city under British colonial rule. The book details the economic hardships, political instability, and tribal conflicts that pushed Yemenis to seek opportunities abroad. Many found their way to America through work on British ships or through family connections, settling in cities like New York, Dearborn, and Sacramento. The book delves into the experiences of Yemenis in various sectors of the American economy, from agriculture in California to the automobile industry in Michigan and the service industry in New York. It highlights their resilience, work ethic, and entrepreneurial spirit, as they established businesses and built communities in their new homeland. The narrative also touches on the challenges faced by Yemeni Americans, including racial discrimination, cultural adjustment, and the impact of events like the September 11 terrorist attacks. It discusses the role of community organizations in providing support and advocating for their rights. Abdulsalam Mubarez's personal story is interwoven throughout the book, illustrating the struggles and triumphs of Yemeni immigrants. His journey from a young boy in a Yemeni village to a successful businessman in New York serves as a testament to the resilience and determination of the Yemeni diaspora. The book also provides insights into the cultural and social aspects of the Yemeni American community, including their traditions, values, and contributions to American society. It discusses the importance of preserving their cultural identity while integrating into their new homeland. Overall, "Mubariz: The Story of Yemeni Diaspora in America" offers a comprehensive and nuanced look at the Yemeni American experience, highlighting their challenges, contributions, and ongoing efforts to build a better future for themselves and their communities.

Meet the Laments—the affably dysfunctional globetrotting family at the center of George Hagen’s exuberant debut novel. Howard is an engineer who dreams of irrigating the Sahara and lives by the motto “Laments move!” His wife Julia is a fiery spirit who must balance her husband’s oddly peripatetic nature with unexpected aspirations of her own. And Will is the “waif with a paper-thin heart” who is given to Howard and Julia in return for their own child who has been lost in a bizarre maternity ward mishap. As Will makes his way from infancy to manhood in a family that careens from continent to continent, one wonders where the Laments will ever belong. In Bahrain, Howard takes a job with an oil company and young Will makes his first friend. But in short order he is wrenched off to another land, his mother’s complicated friendship with the American siren Trixie Howitzer causing the family to bolt. In Northern Rhodesia, during its last days as a white colony, the twin enfants terribles Marcus and Julius are born, and Will falls for the gardener’s daughter, a girl so vain that she admires her image in the lid of a biscuit tin. But soon the family’s life is upturned again, thie time by their neighbor Major Buck Quinn, with his suburban tirades against black self-rule. Envisioning a more civilized life on “the sceptered isle,” the Laments board an ocean liner bound for England. Alas, poor Will is greeted by the tribal ferocity of his schoolmates and a society fixated on the Blitz. No sooner has he succumbed to British pop culture in the guise of mop-top Sally Byrd and her stacks of 45s, than the Laments uproot themselves once again, and it’s off to New Jersey, where life deals crisis and opportunity in equal measure. Undeniably eccentric, the Laments are also universal. Every family moves on in life. Children grow up, things are left behind; there is always something to lament. Through the Lament’s restlessness, responses to adversity, and especially their unwieldy love for one another, George Hagen gives us a portrait of every family that is funny, tragic, and improbably true.

Michael Freeman highlights several key events of 1979 that caused the current wave of Islamist terrorism.

"The first comprehensive look at youth in a country attempting to rebuild itself after three decades of civil conflict, Children of Afghanistan relies on the research and fieldwork of twenty-one experts to cover an incredible range of topics. Focusing on the full scope of childhood, from birth through young adulthood, this edited volume examines a myriad of issues...Children of Afghanistan is the first volume that not only attempts to analyze the range of challenges facing Afghan children across class, gender, and region but also offers solutions to the problems they face. With nearly half of the population under the age of fifteen, the future of the country no double lies with its children. Those who seek peace for the region must find solutions to the host of crises that have led the United Nations to call Afghanistan 'the worst place on earth to be born.' The authors of Children of Afghanistan provide child-centered solutions to rebuilding the country's cultural, social, and economic institutions." -- Back cover.

"Obeyd-e Zakani, who died in 1372 is among the great poets of Iran but little known in the West. This selection of his work is the first to be translated into English. Obeyd was a remarkable satirist and social critic who looked upon his world of extravagant indulgence and corruption with the censorious eyes of a Juvenal, and portrayed it with the cynicism and wit of a Voltaire, and the hilarious grotesqueness of a Rabelais. He used scathing stories and sardonic maxims to paint a world full of deceit, greed, lust, sycophancy, and perversion, where old values and virtues were scorned and extremes of wealth and poverty, violence and bloodshed were the order of the day." -- from publishers.

Failed or failing states cause concern and spread chaos to their neighbors. They are an unquestionable and authentic source of terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, violence, disease, and economic breakdown. Afghanistan is an example of such a troubled state, which collapsed in 1992. The Afghan state remained shattered and failed due to the inattention of the international coalition. In modern intellectual forums, most of the failed-state discourses are centered on the lack of a state's capacity to carry out the basic services for which it is responsible, such as the rule of law, good governance, and effective border control against external threats. This book is a collection of articles on various issues leading to the Failed States written by eminent scholars and researchers.