Empire's Son, Empire's Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah

Empire's Son, Empire's Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324002425
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
A rollicking story of two literary fabulists who revealed the West’s obsession with a fabricated, exotic East. In the highbrow literary circles of the mid-twentieth century, a father and son spread seductive accounts of a mystical Middle East. Claiming to come from Afghanistan, Ikbal and Idries Shah parlayed their assumed identities into careers full of drama and celebrity, writing dozens of books that influenced the political and cultural elite. Pitching themselves as the authentic voice of the Muslim world, they penned picaresque travelogues and exotic potboilers alongside weighty tomes on Islam and politics. Above all, father and son told Western readers what they wanted to hear: audacious yarns of eastern adventure and harmless Sufi mystics—myths that, as the century wore on and the Taliban seized power, became increasingly detached from reality. Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan follows the Shahs from their origins in colonial India to literary London, wartime Oxford, and counterculture California via the Levant, the League of Nations, and Latin America. Nile Green unravels the conspiracies and pseudonyms, fantastical pasts and self-aggrandizing anecdotes, high stakes and bold schemes that for nearly a century painted the defining portrait of Afghanistan. Ikbal and Idries convinced poets, spies, orientalists, diplomats, occultists, hippies, and even a prime minister that they held the key to understanding the Islamic world. From George Orwell directing Muslim propaganda to Robert Graves translating a fake manuscript of Omar Khayyam and Doris Lessing supporting jihad, Green tells the fascinating tale of how the book world was beguiled by the dream of an Afghan Shangri-La that never existed. Gambling with the currency of cultural authenticity, Ikbal and Idries became master players of the great game of empire and its aftermath. Part detective story, part intellectual folly, Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan reveals the divergence between representation and reality, between what we want to believe and the more complex truth.

Empire's Son, Empire's Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah

Empire's Son, Empire's Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324002425
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Get Book Here

Book Description
A rollicking story of two literary fabulists who revealed the West’s obsession with a fabricated, exotic East. In the highbrow literary circles of the mid-twentieth century, a father and son spread seductive accounts of a mystical Middle East. Claiming to come from Afghanistan, Ikbal and Idries Shah parlayed their assumed identities into careers full of drama and celebrity, writing dozens of books that influenced the political and cultural elite. Pitching themselves as the authentic voice of the Muslim world, they penned picaresque travelogues and exotic potboilers alongside weighty tomes on Islam and politics. Above all, father and son told Western readers what they wanted to hear: audacious yarns of eastern adventure and harmless Sufi mystics—myths that, as the century wore on and the Taliban seized power, became increasingly detached from reality. Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan follows the Shahs from their origins in colonial India to literary London, wartime Oxford, and counterculture California via the Levant, the League of Nations, and Latin America. Nile Green unravels the conspiracies and pseudonyms, fantastical pasts and self-aggrandizing anecdotes, high stakes and bold schemes that for nearly a century painted the defining portrait of Afghanistan. Ikbal and Idries convinced poets, spies, orientalists, diplomats, occultists, hippies, and even a prime minister that they held the key to understanding the Islamic world. From George Orwell directing Muslim propaganda to Robert Graves translating a fake manuscript of Omar Khayyam and Doris Lessing supporting jihad, Green tells the fascinating tale of how the book world was beguiled by the dream of an Afghan Shangri-La that never existed. Gambling with the currency of cultural authenticity, Ikbal and Idries became master players of the great game of empire and its aftermath. Part detective story, part intellectual folly, Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan reveals the divergence between representation and reality, between what we want to believe and the more complex truth.

Super Sourdough

Super Sourdough PDF Author: James Morton
Publisher: Hardie Grant Publishing
ISBN: 1787134660
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 487

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Book Description
Making Super Sourdough is the true test of every aspiring bread-maker. Fickle and delicate, every loaf is unique. And there are a lot of pitfalls to be avoided. It’s much more than a food: sourdough is a science. Who better than Dr James Morton, baking pedant and fermentation fanatic, to explain the basics for both the uninitiated, and more experienced bakers? James talks the home baker through everything from starters, flours and hydration, to kneading, shaping, rising, scoring and baking, explaining how to achieve the perfect crust and crumb. With more than 40 sourdough recipes including basic loaves and rolls, baguettes, bagels and buns, clear step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting tips and explanations of what works and why, Super Sourdough is the new, accessible guidebook that bakers everywhere have been waiting for.

Sufism

Sufism PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405157658
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Since their beginnings in the ninth century, the shrines, brotherhoods and doctrines of the Sufis held vast influence in almost every corner of the Muslim world. Offering the first truly global account of the history of Sufism, this illuminating book traces the gradual spread and influence of Sufi Islam through the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and ultimately into Europe and the United States. An ideal introduction to Sufism, requiring no background knowledge of Islamic history or thought Offers the first history of Sufism as a global phenomenon, exploring its movement and adaptation from the Middle East, through Asia and Africa, to Europe and the United States of America Covers the entire historical period of Sufism, from its ninth century origins to the end of the twentieth century Devotes equal coverage to the political, cultural, and social dimensions of Sufism as it does to its theology and ritual Dismantles the stereotypes of Sufis as otherworldly 'mystics', by anchoring Sufi Muslims in the real lives of their communities Features the most up-to-date research on Sufism available

Midnight Chicken

Midnight Chicken PDF Author: Ella Risbridger
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 140886777X
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
_________________ Winner of the Guild of Food Writers General Cookbook Award 2020 _________________ 'A manual for living and a declaration of hope' – Nigella Lawson 'Beautiful, life-affirming memoir with recipes ... The most talented British debut writer in a generation' - Sunday Times 'Brave and moving ... as effective as a manual for life as it is as a kitchen companion' - Shamil Thakrar, co-founder of Dishoom _________________ There are lots of ways to start a story, but this one begins with a chicken. Because one night, Ella found herself lying on her kitchen floor, wondering if she would ever get up – and it was the thought of a chicken, of roasting it, and of eating it, that got her to her feet and made her want to be alive. Midnight Chicken is the story of Ella's life in a Tiny Flat, and the food she cooked there. From roast garlic and tomato soup to charred leek lasagne or burntbutter brownies, she shares recipes that are about people, about love, about the things that matter every day. This is a cookbook-of-stories to make you fall in love with the world again. With a new afterword about life after The Tiny Flat. _________________ 'An utter treat' - Dolly Alderton 'Divine. Utterly totally perfect' - Charly Cox 'Generous, honest and uplifting' - Diana Henry 'So thoughtfully and poetically written' - Josie Long 'She cooks like a dream and writes like an angel' - Sarah Phelps 'She has found a way to write not just about food itself but, more importantly, about the darkness for which cooking can be a partial remedy' - Bee Wilson _________________

My Father, Our Fraternity

My Father, Our Fraternity PDF Author: Amjad Ali Khan (Ustad)
Publisher: Roli Books
ISBN: 9788174367617
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Amjad Ali Khan offers an insider's view of this era, through the life and times of his father, the famous sarod icon, Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan.

God's Diplomats

God's Diplomats PDF Author: Victor Gaetan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538184672
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 483

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Book Description
[God’s Diplomats is] a mix of impartial description and informed opinion. Not everyone will agree with how different issues are framed, or how different figures are portrayed. But what certainly cannot be argued with is the fact that Gaetan has given a gift not only to foreign policy practitioners, but also to American Catholics. You will not find a book on Church diplomacy as accessible, comprehensive, and faithful, as God’s Diplomats. It is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the Vatican’s diplomatic priorities better — and especially why they don’t always align with America’s. ― National Catholic Register Using inside sources and extensive field reporting about the secretive, high-stakes world of international diplomacy, Vatican reporter Victor Gaetan takes readers to the Holy See to explicate Pope Francis's diplomacy, show why it works, and to offer readers a startling contrast to the dangerous inadequacies of recent U.S. international decisions.

Making Space

Making Space PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199088756
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
How could settlement emerge in an early modern 'world on the move'? How did the Sufis imprint their influence on the cultural memory of their communities? Weaving together investigations of architecture, ethnography, local history, and migration, Making Space offers bold new insights into Indian, Islamic, and comparative early modern history. Nile Green explores the tensions between mobility and locality through the ways in which Sufi Islam responded to the cultural demands of moving and settling. Central to this process were the shrines, rituals, and narratives of the saints. Tracing how different Muslim communities located their sense of belonging, this book shows how Afghan, Mughal, and Hindustani Muslims constructed new homelands while remembering different places of origin.

Indian Sufism Since the Seventeenth Century

Indian Sufism Since the Seventeenth Century PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113416825X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Nile Green reveals the politics and poetry of Indian Sufism through the study of Islamic sainthood in the midst of a cosmopolitan Indian society comprising migrants, soldiers, litterateurs and princes.

Islam and the Army in Colonial India

Islam and the Army in Colonial India PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139479245
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Set in Hyderabad in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this book, a study of the cultural world of the Muslim soldiers of colonial India, focuses on the soldiers' relationships with the faqir holy men who protected them and the British officers they served. Drawing on Urdu as well as European sources, the book uses the biographies of Muslim holy men and their military followers to recreate the extraordinary encounter between a barracks culture of miracle stories, carnivals, drug-use and madness with a colonial culture of mutiny memoirs, Evangelicalism, magistrates and the asylum. It explores the ways in which the colonial army helped promote this sepoy religion while at the same time attempting to control and suppress certain aspects of it. The book brings to light the existence of a distinct 'barracks Islam' and shows its importance to the cultural no less than the military history of colonial India.

The Love of Strangers

The Love of Strangers PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691210403
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
How a group of Iranian students sought love and learning in Jane Austen's London In July 1815, six Iranian students arrived in London under the escort of their chaperone, Captain Joseph D'Arcy. Their mission was to master the modern sciences behind the rapid rise of Europe. Over the next four years, they lived both the low life and high life of Regency London, from being down and out after their abandonment by D’Arcy to charming their way into society and landing on the gossip pages. The Love of Strangers tells the story of their search for love and learning in Jane Austen’s England. Drawing on the Persian diary of the student Mirza Salih and the letters of his companions, Nile Green vividly describes how these adaptable Muslim migrants learned to enjoy the opera and take the waters at Bath. But there was more than frivolity to their student years in London. Burdened with acquiring the technology to defend Iran against Russia, they talked their way into the observatories, hospitals, and steam-powered factories that placed England at the forefront of the scientific revolution. All the while, Salih dreamed of becoming the first Muslim to study at Oxford. The Love of Strangers chronicles the frustration and fellowship of six young men abroad to open a unique window onto the transformative encounter between an Evangelical England and an Islamic Iran at the dawn of the modern age. This is that rarest of books about the Middle East and the West: a story of friendships.