This book is available and can be ordered immediately. The last edition was printed in December, 1996. It won first place in the nation by the National Federation of Press Women out of 1700 books submitted. The author, Helen Corey, has updated and included in this book all the recipes of her best seller The Art of Syrian Cookery. It also includes additional recipes and photographs plus a descripton of the mores of the people of the Middle East. One of the reviewers, Michelle Plummer, Professor of Nutrition of Indianapolis, In. writes "Recipes are bursting with flavor as Helen makes them easy to prepare with her fail-proof methods, adapting them to the American kitchen. She tells you what basic ingredients to buy and work with them for the most dazzling results. Considered one of the most popular teachers of Middle Eastern cuisine, Helen prsents elegant plate presentations allowing many cooks the pleasure of preparing vegetables, meats and desserts for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike".

"Helen Corey's cookbook Food from Biblical Lands and The Art of Syrian and Lebanese Video Cooking shows are classics. A learning experience as Helen's tiips and techniques keep you attentive through her preparation of every recipe in this 70 minute show. These authentic Syrian & Lebanese recipes are bursting with flavor as Helen makes them easy to prepare with her fail-proof mathods. She tells you what basic ingredients to buy and work with them for the most dazzling results. Considered one of the most popular teachers of Middle Eastern cuisine, Helen' s elegant plate presentations allows many cooks the pleasures of preparing vegetables, meats and desserts for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. I have tried other Middle Eastern cookbooks, but Helen Corey"s recipes are by far the best and have made me an expert in cooking these foods. MCPfood@aol.com, Professor of Nutrition, Sept. 9, 1999"

Each recipe is explained in detail and if an ingredient is uncommon she explains where to get it and what it is. She writes the recipes so that the end result turns out wonderfully. I grew up eating this food in Canton, OH and her recipes taste just the way the old Syrians would have prepared it. I was so happy to find a cookbook so true to the old world style. There are meat recipes as well as vegetable based cuisine, desserts, and even how to make the old Syrian cheese usually served with breakfast. It is a concise, great book and I wish more people knew how to prepare meals like this.

I have used Ross Burns' "Monuments of Syria" guide while visiting Syria and found it excellent. It gives detailed information and expert maps - making the whole discovery of the sites as easy as possible. I would recommend it to anyone visiting Syria.

This is a well written and meticulously researched guide. The author is obviously very knowledgeable and has done his homework thoroughly. You can't go wrong!

For many years I led many tours in many countries, amongst them, Syria. Years later, at a party here in Swaziland, I was talking to this guy who mentioned that he had been in Syria, too; in fact, he was writing a guide book on the subject. One of the many magic, even if almost unknown, places in Syria is the early Christian pilgramage city of Al Rosafa. Ross was kind enough to fax me an excerpt from his book, covering that walled desert city. Quite simply, I haven't read anything as good before or since, and don't expect to. If the rest turns out to be as good - serious or armchair travellers alike - get this book: it will be an Alladin's cave!

Finally a cook book that reads like a family album. Not only authentically Syrian American foods, but stories of the authors childhood memories and loves. I have tried many of the recipes and the results are spectacular. Easy to follow instruction, I feel sometimes like 'grandma' is in the kitchen teaching me. Thanks for this wonderful slice of your life, and for a book I will use for many years to come. Now I can enjoy my favorite Syrian foods at home without going to Paterson!!

"A Taste of Syria" is a wonderful collection of Middle Eastern recipes and a special treasure for those of us who are third and fourth generation descendants of Middle Eastern families. I grew up in Brooklyn and remember fondly the wonderful Syrian cooking of my paternal grandmother and the many wonderful meals eaten at her home. As a teenager and young adult I tried to cook my favorites among these meals but my grandmother's instructions were basically - "a little bit of this or that; you need to see how it tastes or feels." After several unsuccessful efforts, I gave up trying to cook most of these meals and truly missed these wonderful, healthy foods of my childhood. This book has given me back those wonderful recipes and memories. The recipes are clear and provide step by step instructions with many pictures and lots of useful information. The names in Arabic and English and the information on where to get the ingredients are particularly useful. I have tried several of the recipes and they are terrific and taste just the way my Grandmother made them. I have also shared this book with many of my relatives and non-Middle Eastern friends and family who also enjoy this food and are excited that they now can try these recipes. The authors have done a truly outstanding job and I thank them for keeping alive a very special part of our heritage and capturing the essence and quality of Middle Eastern cooking for all.

"A Taste of Syria" is must reading for any one who enjoys terrific Middle East cuisine. Not only is it the first truly authentic, homespun Syrian cook book published in decades, this outstanding book impressively captures the texture and the life of the Syrian American community as it pertains to its culinary traditions.The authors present delicious Syrian specialities, capitalizing especially on the internationally acclaimed cuisine of Aleppo.And there are two helpful indexes -- dishes are listed by both their Arabic names and their English names. This yummy cook book has it all--how to conveniently prepare tasty lamb, seasoned vegetables, yogurt, as well as favorite staples like Hummus, Baba Ghanouj and Tabouli.What I especially like about this book, which spans two cultures, are the easy-to-follow cooking instructions. This innovative cook book is such a delight I'm seriously considering changing professions and becoming a chef!

One of the best studies I have ever read on the nature of power and domination. Wedeen asks the simple question of how Asad is able to keep power in Syria when all of the people know that all of the state propaganda is false. Her elegant answer gets right to the heart of what makes a ruler powerful. Asad rules not through totalitarianism, but through authoritarianism. What's the difference? A ruler who controls everything that the people think (like in North Korea) is not really dominating them, they just don't know any better. But a ruler like Asad rules because the people fear him and become unable to dissent as a result of Foucault-ian discursive practices.

This book will facinate anyone interested in the modern Middle East or the nature of power.

A ground-breaking exploration of the subtle ways power operates to structure everyday life. Rich in ethnographic detail and eloquently written. Definitely worth _much_ more than $17. A worthy read, not just for people interested in contemporary Middle Eastern politics, but for those interested in issues of power, discipline and resistance. Ms. Wedeen is a rising star in the field of Political Science. Bravo!!

Sonia Uvezian has written yet another landmark cookbook, her best yet. I am familiar with many books on eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cooking, but none compare to this revelatory and loving volume in which the author brings to life a cuisine and a culture in the way only one who was born and reared in the region could. Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen recreates a time and place inaccessible not only to most Americans, but even to most eastern Mediterraneans. It evokes the world of Uvezian's Lebanese childhood and is a rich portrayal of how people lived once upon a time, a happy time, not too long ago. A masterpiece of culinary instruction as valuable for its authentic and inspired recipes as for its exceptionally informative text, this extraordinary work is an essential guide for anyone who enjoys cooking and reading about eastern Mediterranean ingredients, markets, traditional utensils, scenes of daily life, views of mountain villages and the sea, ancient temples, mosques, and monasteries. I found the content of these illustrations at least as impressive as their inherent beauty. Anyone can make the dishes described by following the author's clearly written recipes, which are almost always based on readily available ingredients. Some of the best cooking I have done-ever-resulted from this wonderful book.

I am so impressed with Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen that I have ordered several copies as gifts for friends and relatives on my Christmas list. I strongly recommend that you buy two copies for yourself, one for your kitchen and the other for your night table. My thanks to Sonia Uvezian for a truly remarkable cookbook.

I love eastern Mediterranean food, especially Lebanese, but had always been better at eating it than cooking it. This book has changed that. Not only do the recipes produce fantastic results, they are not at all difficult to make and require no special expertise, equipment, or hard-to-find ingredients.

I really enjoyed reading about how the cuisine has evolved over so many centuries and found the author's personal insights and memories as well as the fascinating stories, quotations, and proverbs very helpful in placing the recipes in a cultural context. The information on ingredients is a revelation and far better than anything I have seen elsewhere, and the menu suggestions are super! Also, the many evocative period illustrations relate beautifully to the enlightening text.

"Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen" is a truly unique and exceptional cookbook that is amazing in its scope. It is a must for every family of Lebanese or Syrian descent and indispensable for any lover of good food. Whether you actually cook from the book or simply read it (I strongly recommend you do both!), an inexhaustible fund of knowledge and pleasure awaits you.

Uvezian's timeless classics, The Cuisine of Armenia, Cooking from the Caucasus, and The Book of Yogurt, turned me into a passionate cook. But as wonderful as those three volumes are, this one is even better. In fact, Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen is surely one of the finest cookbooks ever written. I could go on singing its praises, but to appreciate what a great book it really is, you must read its illuminating text, see its fascinating period illustrations, and try its magnificent recipes, which, in addition to those from Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, include some superb Armenian ones not found in the author's previous works. I can't recommend this masterful volume highly enough!

My husband and I read this book while touring Syria. It was the perfect accompanyment. It casts a humorous, gentle, but not uncritical eye on the culture of this region, and--though not a political novel--places its story against the background of the coups and counter-coups leading up to the Assad regime. Highly recommended!

Damascus nights is indeed written like a delightful story based on the ancient 1001 nights. There are however some dark under-currents and echoes of other important pieces of literature. Do you not hear the echoes of other horsemen, of the darkness of the Apocalypse in the distance? Like Gullivers Travels this book can be read on so many levels. Enjoy it!

I loved this book. It kept me engaged from start to end - it was so delightful. This is for all ages.

This book proves why a person needs to check out local bookstores when traveling - small presses often do not have the distribution network that good writers deserves. I live near Ft. Worth but found this book at the Pike Street Market in Seattle. I started reading it on the airplane going home and found it hard to put down. The paperback version is so attractively packaged that I did not realize when I purchased it that it was written and published locally in Seattle. Everything the other reviewers have said about the book is true. It is a very worthwhile and entertaining read. There is fuel for plenty of great arguments about "what it all means." Buy it!

Scott Davis' wonderful The Road from Damascus is a treat.
I have found it difficult to put a face on this area of the world, to actually get a sense of how citizens of the Middle East live, work and think. Davis gives the reader a ground-floor vantage. Introducing the reader to the Syrians, young and old, male and female, who sat next to him on rickety busses. Met with him at monastaries. And introduced him to their families, their art, their culture. The Syrian secret police are never very far from the author and rarely out of his thoughts. Which adds to tension that drives this journey through Syria and kept me turning pages.

Not a big fan of "travel" books, I found this one to be seasoned with the author's integrity, humor and affection for the Syrian people. Which made it most enjoyable.

Why would a Stanford graduate turned mountain climber/carpenter drop everything and, on a shoestring-budget, wander through the deserts of Syria? An attraction to adventure -- a quest. Davis takes the reader along as he visits the homes of Syrians,converses about spirituality, and visits sacred locations, all under the insidious scrutiny of the local police. Davis's narrative captures the ambiguities, fear, and exhilaration instilled by unfamiliar situations in remote places, while keeping a lighthearted perspective now that the trial is behind him.

Several times Agatha Christie accompanied her husband Max Mallowan on his archaeological expeditions to the Middle East. When friends kept on asking how she lived there, Agatha decided to write her adventures down in this book.

The title, in fact, is a pun on "tell," the Arabic word for hill or mound, which is used in the Middle East to describe the hill-like shapes of buried archaeological sites.

This book is probably the most humorous book the detective writer has ever written. She not only puts her own fame in perspective, but also acts as a keen observer of those little things that make humans such funny creatures. Although you never lose the impression that most of the characters in this non-fiction book are caricatures of real people, it still gives you a plausible impression of how life strolled on in the Middle East at that time.

Do not expect a serious treatise on archaeological excavations, because you won't find any scientific information in this book. What you can expect is a rather messy hodgepodge of all-day situations that may bring a smile on your face. And that's fine with me, because that's all Agatha intended it to be: an easily digested chronicle written with love.

When reality surpasses fiction: Every near-eastern archaeologist will love to read over and over again this wonderful book. Almost every situation is still true today.

Yallah Shebab!

I HAVE HEARD ABOUT THIS BOOK AND WANT TO HAVE IT. HOWEVER, IT SEEMS THAT YOU ARE NOT AWARE THAT IT HAS BEEN RE-PUBLISHED AND HAS BEEN REVIEWED IN THE ATLANTIC, LATEST ISSUE, IF IT IS AVAILABLE PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

This book is the rambling memoirs of Usumah ibn-Munqidh, 1095-1188. His lifetime very nearly tracks the time of the First Crusade through Saladin's reconquest of Jerusalem. Usumah was a member of the noble family of Shayzar, but was exiled by his jealous uncle. He became a high-ranking government official in Egypt, then in Damascus.

Usumah's memiors is an invaluable description of ordinary life during the time of the Crusades. Usumah spends more time in battle against other Muslims than against the Crusaders, and often travelled to Crusader lands for business or on diplomatic missions. His descriptions of Western Civilization are fascinating.

I recommend that you understand the basics of Crusader history before reading this book. Read Runciman vol.1 and 2 and Maalouf's "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes." Both Usumah and the editor assume that you already know basically what happened.

I suggest that you keep Runciman vol. 2 handy at all times. Usumah jumps backwards and forwards in time and it is sometimes difficukt to follow him. He also suffers from the medieval curse of obsessing on a topic and writing about it to death. The topics that fascinate him are wounds and hunting, and his discussion of these topics can get a little tedious.

But overall, a really cool book that I highly recommend to my fellow Crusades-freaks.

Usamah calls his book "Kitab al-Itibar" or "The Book of Instructive Example." True to its title, there is much to learn from this book, but what I found very interesting were perhaps things other than what Usamah wanted us to learn. For example, it was interesting to note the Arab perception of Franks, the relationship between Arabs and Franks during the first of two centuries of crusades on the Eastern Mediterranean, and aspects of the life of a prince and some commoners as well. The stories about hunts are numerous and tend to get boring, but they tell us of a rich fauna that is now largely extinct (lions, leopards, etc.). Usamah's talk of old age provides a sobering philosophical view of life.

What an excellent job by Philip Hitti who translated the manuscript from Arabic! Considering that the manuscript was lacking in things such diacritical marks (dots on Arabic letters), punctuation, etc. it is truly an amazing that he was able to pull this book together in the manner its stands. Thanks to Philip Hitti we can enjoy Usamah's book: it is truly a delightful read!

Unlike any other history book, this is a first hand account, day to day life of an Arab Syrian prince in the time of the crusades; He talks about his advantures, feelings and thoughts, it's just like going back in time almost 1000 years. If you like history and especially the crusades, this book is a must. I go back and read this book every once in a while, it's entertaining and informative.