Do we really need another John Grisham? Lovers of great fiction, especially legal thrillers, will say a resounding YES! And those who've read "Directed Verdict" will say,"Randy Singer is the new Grisham." This is a great read from page one. The settings are vivid. The characters and dialog are so real I can hear them. And, the story line, although growing out of the very real religious persecution in Saudia Arabia, is uplifting and heartening. You know a book is good when you think about it when you're not reading it, longing to get back to it...that's Directed Verdict. I loved it! Hey, Mr. Singer, when's book 2 coming out?

A novel this serious shouldn't be this much fun! Randy Singer offers a bright future for those of us who feel Grisham's latest legal thrillers have lost their sparkle.

"Directed Verdict" weighs in at 485 pages, but these pages turn quicker than most. A brash young trial lawyer finds himself defending Sarah Reed, a woman who lost her husband while they were working as missionaries in Saudia Arabia. Sarah's husband, already weakened by heart trouble, died due to interrogation by the Saudia Arabian secret police, and now she calls those responsible to account in the American courts. (This idea is timely, in light of recent suits by Americans affected by Sept. 11.)

The premise seems straightforward, but Singer introduces numerous complications, keeping our interest and keeping things racing along. Mixing the fast-paced, intricate plotting of original Grisham, the intriguing characters of Turow, and the humorous sprinkles of Meltzer, Singer creates a wonderful story. The courtroom maneuvers are masterful. The in-fighting and conniving are genuinely shrewd and nasty. The plot twists are believable. And, ultimately, the spiritual applications to our modern day world are noteworthy.

I hope Singer has more books coming, because I had a blast reading this one.

Due to the fact that I've heard Randy Singer preach a time or two at my home church, I was more than happy to hear that he had written a book. With possible aspirations of becoming a lawyer in the future, I was very excited to read this book and see what this very neat guy had to offer in literature.

I was not disappointed! Randy Singer spins a tale together that is so intriguing, you can't put it down. I've tried reading Grisham before. I thought it was okay. Other mysteries and legal books spark my interest somewhat. However, "Directed Verdict" captivated me (as well as several other people I know from church who have read the book), and I couldn't put it down until the end. There will be twists and turns all along the way that will make you wonder just what is coming next, who did what, and exactly how everything falls into place. If you are looking for a good story falling into the legal fiction category, I highly recommend "Directed Verdict."

The Middle East has been, regrettably, one of the most active "laboratories" of war-fighting since WWII. The lessons learned from the numerous conflicts there have had tremendous influence on the development of the concepts of maneuver warfare which are so central to current Western military doctrine. The success of that developmental process has been manifestly evident in the Coalition (essentially U.S.)-Iraqi conflicts of 1991 and 2003. Pollack's book, which is well-summarized by the other reviewers, is a fairly technical survey of the course of each of the individual Middle-East conflicts, with an eye towards elucidating the causes for the defeats of the Arab militaries in each of those wars. His analytic style will be familiar to those who have read his other, more politically charged, book, The Threatening Storm. He proposes hypotheses for Arab military ineffectiveness in his introduction, and then proceeds to evaluate the degree to which performance of each country in each conflict supports or refutes each of those hypotheses. It is a very logical, detailed method of argument which has an aura of inevitability in its conclusions. However, some in the general readership may find it a bit dry. There are few anecdotes of small unit action to liven up the narrative, which reads more like a War College document than a popular history.

The conclusions have also been summarized by the other reviewers. As I see it, Pollack proposes that Arab military ineffectiveness stems mainly from an inability of smaller units, either on land or in the air, to engage in the free-flowing maneuver and combined-arms co-ordination required for tactical success on the modern battlefield. He proposes that problems reliably using and maintaining sophisticated modern weapons systems are also significant, but the root cause is the inflexibility of the small unit. Pollack attributes this mainly to failings of the junior officer corps, but I would like to have seen a discussion of the role of the non-commissioned officers in Arab armies, since the ability of Western NCOs is a major factor in the strength of Western militaries.

Pollack does not propose an explanation for the limitations he identified. It would be fascinating to read an evaluation of his conclusions in light of the Arab Development Report, to assess the degree to which the military deficiencies are indirect manifestations of aspects of Arab culture. My own hypothesis (although I am certainly no expert) is the observed limitations arise from an absence of a technological, machine-oriented, society that emphasizes individual empowerment and action, an inherent conservatism that values the collective (umma) at the expense of personal initiative, and an system of personal worth and honor that limits the ability to recognize and convey negative information. In other words, many of the factors that are at the heart of criticisms of Western (and especially U.S.) society by the Arab world are those that are associated with Western success, and Arab failure, in modern war.

Of course, as Pollack points out, the nature of war is not static. And there may come a time in the future when Arab militaries are more effective, politically if not tactically or operationally. For instance, the development of asymmetric warfare takes advantage of Arab personal courage and willingness to sacrifice for the collective, and suicide bomber vests are not sophisticated weapons systems. But, without a significant restructuring of Arab society, it is hard to see how the limitations detailed so mercilessly in this book will be overcome in a way that will allow the Arabs to prevail on a conventional battlefield.

After reading "The Threatening Storm", I bought this for further background and to continue to assess the quality of Pollack's research. This seems a detailed and objective analysis.

Pollack analyzes each of the Arab armies, and finds, as noted in other reviews, that Arab soldiers have often been incredibly brave, but with tactical leadership uneven at best, and often truly awful.

I take away from this that at least part of the problem is not just that lower-ranking officers are not good, but that the common problem has been *architectural*. That is, the structures and motivations of these governments have almost never allowed for independence and initiative at the lower levels. In some cases, it is clear that various rulers never wanted the military to be too independent, and this resulted in a rigid centralized-control approach.

Hence, perhaps it is possible this is a military problem, i.e., train better tactical leadership, but the consistency of the problem makes me think that it is more of a government/society issue, where the existing structures simply don't encourage the long-term existence of flexible troops.

In any case, fine analysis with comprehensive military history of the era.

Accessibly written by Kenneth M. Pollack (a former Persian Gulf military analyst for the CIA), Arabs At War: Military Effectiveness 1948-1991 is a straightforward and comprehensive "power history" of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Syria during the post-World War II epoch. Studying in meticulous detail the often difficult evolution of Arab militaries in terms of how they learned from their past experiences and conflicts, the frame of mind that permeates the military strategy of these nations today, and much, much more, Arabs At War is a seminal and sobering contribution to contemporary Military Studies and Middle East Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Michael Wolfe is an excellent writer. He is also a very convincing writer. For years my parents have been asking me to go for Hajj. I compromised and went for Umra. Mr. Wolfe's preface and the introduction convinced me that I should make this journey. I am preparing for the trip in year 2003. Inshallah.
This is an excellent book. Equally enlighting to Muslims and Non-Muslim. I recommend it.

Reading the title, one might think that this is a religion book, in reality this is a unique history book that give us a look at what the common man might experience on the way to and in Mecca through 1,000 years, through the eyes and words of the people who experienced the trips.

I found this book to be wonderful. I enjoyed it alot. It really has showen change in the pilgrimage. I would recomend the book for Muslims, like my self and non- Muslims alike.

The First Stone is a brilliantly written suspensful novel focued on a young man and woman who are devoted and dedicated to their cultural, religious, political and romantic belief systems. Together they bond and together they deceive, and continually they grow to learn the differences between the American and Arab world. Are they ever able to accept the reality of each other as their lives become exposed? Once you begin, you won't be able to put this novel down. The First Stone is not easily found in bookstores and if you are able to get your hands on a copy through Amazon DO IT!

John Briley has certainly outdone himself with this suspense novel which is so timely. I was on the edge of my seat at all times while reading this book in record time: One day without stopping! He used an artist's pallette and paintbrush rather than a typewriter to paint the scenery. He certainly did a lot of research in this project. It surpasses his screenplay for "Gandhi" and will make for a great movie. A most timely novel, I recommend it to all readers of good books

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A fascinating read for any -woman-we Western women are so lucky. I just recently read a new book called "Single in Saudi" by Genia that gives a different perspective on life in Arabia. The young woman in this book got away with all of the things the Princess could not. Both books are a must read for the liberated woman

These books never cease to amaze, enlighten, sadden, and thrill me. I finally bought the Trilogy set after borrowing the three individual books from friends. I cant get Princess Sultana out of my mind and I am empowered to help the plight of women in Saudi Arabia. I recommend this book to every sex and race, as it will open your eyes to issues that are so topical in current events today with war looming in the Middle East.

I first discovered these books when I was in the 7th grade when the first book PRINCESS, was required reading in my literature class. It was the only book that was equally loved by the males as well as the females in our class. From that time, I have followed the story of Sultana, a Saudi Arabian princess who has struggled for her entire life against male domination. After 9/11, the entire world looked at Saudi Arabia with new eyes and for the first time, news reports gave credibility to Sasson's books about the women of Arabia.

For several years I have been wishing to see a set of these books and finally, it has happened! Yes!

If anyone is interested in understanding the real workings of Saudi Arabia and why so many radicals come out of that country, the Princess books answers many questions.

These three books are not only educational, but highly entertaining. You laugh, you cry, you seethe, you rejoice, all in the course of reading one book. A night of entertainment doesn't come any cheaper than the price of one book!

I recommend these books to any reader, young or old, male or female.

During my tenure working for The Arabian American Oil company (ARAMCO), now the Saudi American Oil company, I had the opportunity, along with a staff member of the Ras Tanura hospital, to hear her speak about her book and her experience in the Kingdom. She autographed my copy of her book which has since been lost. How did she get back into the Kingdom after what she wrote in her book and how was she able to speak so freely at these lecture? For several reason this was possible for only her. She was very friendly with the old King and he apparently liked her a good deal and was more than willing to allow her to travel to the kingdome several times. Each time she wanted to travel to the kingdom she contacted the king direct.

She was also speaking at a movie theater in an ARAMCO facility, and in fact I belive she spoke at three or four ARAMCO facilities,where the Kingom allowed westerners to act like westerners, for the most part etc. She would never have been able to speak at any other location in Saudi Arabia.

She told of here infatuation with this young dark and handsome suitor and, to the dismay of her family decided to marry him and move to Saudi Arabis. (I recommended this book to a young lady who had a child by a Saudi student while he was going to college in the US and was thinking about doing the same thing. Her family,after reading this book went ballistic and she decied not to go.) While in Saudi Arabia I met several American women who had decided to marry and live in Saudi Arabia, most seemed satisfied, at least on the surface. In any event, back to her book.

I recall her tale of her being introduced to his second wife and how embarrassed he was at the meeting. She spoke of her son who is a successful businessman and that he was well ajusted to that society etc. I don't recall but I think her other children were in the states and planned to stay there etc.

I can only say after working in the Kingdom for over ten years that this is a very old culture, and it's all to easy to completely misunderstand it when viewed from a westerners point of view.

This book tells the tale of Marianne Alireza, an American college student who married a Saudi citizen in 1943. In 1945, Alireza moved to Jeddah with her husband and infant daughter, and from there witnessed Arabian lifestyle firsthand for 12 years. She describes her experiences as part of the Alireza harem, composed of her mother-in-law, 2 sisters-in-law and their various children, of which Marianne herself eventually had 5. Alireza discusses how the family traveled to the mountains of Ethiopia to escape the summer heat in Jeddah, and how development changed all of their lives. She also details the events that led to the end of her marriage, and how she abducted her children from their school in Switzerland. The details of this book make it invaluable for anyone wanting to learn about living conditions for women in affluent Saudi Arabia in the 1940s and 50s. The story of Alireza's marriage and its demise should also serve as a warning to any Western woman considering marrying a Muslim. Under Islamic law, a Muslim man is usually granted sole custody of his (weaned) children following divorce and a Western woman who is divorced from a Middle Eastern Muslim man stands a very high chance of never being allowed to see her children again. From the man's point of view, his child custody rights are guaranteed by God, and he would be devastated to lose his children. It was exactly this sort of situation which put Marianne in the position where she felt she had no choice but to abduct her children and try to escape back to the States. All marriages these days face a relatively high risk of divorce, but cross-cultural marriages bring added stress and tend to have even higher divorce rates than marriages within a culture. Thus, a Western woman who decides to marry a foreign Muslim man is entering into a situation where there is a 1 in 2 chance of divorce, and if divorce does happen, she has an extremely high chance of losing her children forever. And this is true no matter how happily the marriage starts off, as it happened in Marianne's case. Interestingly, a quick 2001 Web search for Marianne's children turned up a traveler's note stating that all 5 of her children decided to return to Saudi Arabia upon reaching adulthood.

I would love to read a sequel to this wonderful story. How did she and her children fair after the book ended? This is a fascinating true story of an American woman's life in Saudi Arabia before oil wealth arrived. The dynamics of family and life in general are personally and historically interesting. Part 'Not Without My Daughter', part travel and life documentary. Her sense of humor that persevered throughout was remarkable. Highly, highly recommended....but I want more....wish she, or her children would write a sequel!

Reporters have been known, now and then, to play fast and loose with the facts to entertain their readers or elevate themselves. This phenomenon is not limited to our own age. For proof, look no further than Lowell Thomas' fanciful volume, With Lawrence in Arabia. In 1917, Thomas was a 25-year-old part-time instructor at Princeton, a "fledgling showman from Ohio who had knocked about North America in search of fame, fortune and adventure," according to historian David Fromkin (A Peace to End All Peace). Thomas then raised enough money to travel to Britain and the Middle East front as a World War I cameraman. With his coverage began the Lawrence of Arabia myth.

Eight copies of Seven Pillars of Wisdom were published by Oxford in 1922 (six still exist). The first limited edition was followed in 1926 with the private publication of 211 copies of the book. In 1935 another limited run was published. But the same year, Seven Pillars was reprinted at least four more times. Now, there have probably been dozens, if not hundreds of printings.

This work assured T. E. Lawrence a place in history as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. It is a military history, colorful epic and lyrical exploration of Lawrence's mind.

Nevertheless, it is largely fiction. Fromkin writes that when poet and scholar Robert Graves proposed to describe the liberation of Damascus in a biography of Lawrence, the subject himself warned Graves, "I was on thin ice when I wrote the Damascus chapter...."

A onetime junior officer in the Cairo Arab Bureau, Lawrence admitted that Seven Pillars of Wisdom included a false tale of Arab bravery to aggrandize the followers of Sharif Hussein of Mecca and his son Feisal. Indeed, as early as 1818, reputable newsmen reported that the Australian Light Horse division liberated Damascus from Ottoman control, not Feisal's Arab troops, who marched in afterwards, for show.

By 1921, Fromkin writes, Winston Churchill was in charge of Britain's Arab policy in Mesopotamia and tapped John Evelyn Shuckburgh to head a new Middle East department and Foreign Office man Hubert Winthrop Young to assist him. They arranged transport and supplies for Feisal's Arab army, earning hearty endorsement from Churchill's Masterson Smith committee, which simultaneously took grave exception to T.E. Lawrence as a proposed Arab affairs adviser. The committee considered Lawrence "not the kind of man fit to easily fit into any official machine."

Fromkin reports that Lawrence was frequently insubordinate, went over his superiors and in 1920 publicly disparaged Britain's Arab policy in the London Sunday Times as being "worse than the Turkish system." He also accused Britain of killing "a yearly average of 100 Arabs to maintain peace." This was of course untrue.

Efraim and Inari Karsh write, in Empires of the Sand, that Lawrence's Damascus victory was "less heroic" than he pretended. Feisal was "engaged in an unabashed exercise in duplicity and none knew this better than Lawrence, who whole heartedly endorsed this illicit adventure and kept most of its contours hidden from his own superiors." Yet Lawrence basked in the limelight Thomas created in London, attending at least five of the showman journalist's lectures.

As an unfortunate result of Lawrence's subterfuge, he had a large hand in shaping the modern Middle East.

Bad enough, we suffer to this day the consequences of Lawrence's fabrications.

Worse, a new generation of readers seems to accept as gospel the Lawrence of Arabia myth that stemmed from Lowell Thomas' hype and Lawrence's own Seven Pillars of Wisdom. While few seem to know it, this was long ago debunked. Those who want to know what really happened should at minimum also consult Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace and the Karsh's Empires of the Sand. Alyssa A. Lappen

Those who enjoyed David Lean's magnificent "Lawrence of Arabia" and picked this book up wanting to gain a deeper insight into T E Lawrence will be sorely disappointed if they expected to see the film reflected clearly in the book. True, the main incidents in the film are there in the book, albeit in a totally different context: you begin to realise how freely Robert Bolt (and presumably Lean himself) adapted Lawrence's account to make the film hang together more dramatically.

Many of the previous reviewers have commented that the book is a rewarding if demanding read, that it doesn't really "get going" until about 100 pages in, and that the constant shifts of scene and entrances and exits of characters are sometimes difficult to follow. All that is true - a friend of mine advised that Lawrence is easier to read about than to read. But I felt that choppy nature of the narrative was inevitable when one considers the type of warfare Lawrence describes: hit-and-run guerilla action undertaken by (often mutually antagonistic) Bedouin tribes. Just as Lawrence's raiding parties would emerge at unexpected places out of the desert, so the reader must be prepared for the text to jump from location to location, event to event, and must I suppose be prepared for much of the text (particularly the first 100 pages) to be devoted to how Lawrence managed to muster support both from the Arabs and from the British.

Parts of the book will remain with me for a long time - for example - Lawrence's descriptions of how he dug his camel out of the snow, the descriptions of the Bedouins' eating habits, the non-romantic description of life in the desert (defecating camels, infestations of lice and so on). However, what does come over is Lawrence as a tortured soul: he both loves and despises the Bedouin; professes that he knew from the start that the British (and therefore he himself) were merely using the Arabs against the Turks and would not honour their promises at the end of the War; is both proud (particularly of Allenby) and ashamed of the British; and is both spiritually and physically attracted to the Bedouin men, yet embarrassed by this.

It helps to have even a superficial knowledge of the Middle East campaigns in World War One: I felt that the danger of not having that overview is that one would tend to think that Lawrence's campaign was the pivotal factor in those campaigns rather than a contributory one (Allenby's campaigns are referred to only obliquely by Lawrence, even though in the later stages of the book he does emphasise the supportive role he was playing). Fair enough, as Lawrence was not writing a general history of the campaigns, but I feel (as my friend advised) that reading about Lawrence now that I have read him would be interesting.

It's difficult to describe the experience of reading The Seven Pillars. It is by turns beautiful and ugly. It is military history. It is a subjective view provided by a man very much of his time. It is an apology and an excuse for the necessities of war. It is a portrait of a tribe that Lawrence came to respect and even love. It is a travel book about life in the desert at the time of writing. It is inevitably a mix of fact and history and fiction and probably at least a little bit of wishful thinking.

It's a pretty amazing book to read.

A few notes:

Before you read the book, do some quick background reading on the history that's involved. This will help avoid confustion.

Be prepared for a long read! It's not only a long book, it's an extremely dense book. The choppiness and frequent changes in tone make it hard to put on the reading cruise control.

Read it as a product of its time. Lawrence was a fascinating man, but not without his prejudices or faults.

I once pondered, from my squalid apartment in Boston, joining a friend who was heading down to Texas to get a job on an oil rig. He told me nothing could go wrong and the pay was stratospheric. The oil industry was in dire need of guys like us to help get their oil out of the ground and into gastanks where it belonged. Still, due to certain unanswered questions, I continued to hesitate. Then my friend went on a five week drinking binge and nothing ever came of the plan to go to Texas.

Now, twenty years later, "The Empty Quarter" answers all my questions, questions like: Are there girls on oil rigs? Do roughnecks really mix their drinks with screwdrivers like it says in Trivial Pursuit? Does one have to be physically strong to be a roughneck? Is the title literal, i.e., is the employment contingent on the condition of the neck. Is roughneck related in any way to redneck? Or is the condition of the neck a result of the job, and if so, does it happen to women, too, or are their necks protected by long silky hair tumbling luxuriantly from under their hardhats? If there are no women on oil rigs, do they work close by in some sort of air-conditioned office, or, in the case of an offshore rig, on a boat moored within shouting distance of the platform? What is the social status of a roughneck? Is he or she afforded the same level of personal dignity as, say, a busboy in a New Wave dance club?

The story takes place on a rig in Saudi Arabia, where the protagonist, Logan, struggles to escape from the smothering influence of his onetime mentor, Jamie Strong. They are not roughnecks, having moved up a few notches on the oilfield ladder. They command a crew of roughnecks, who are from India. Far from being rednecks, these roughnecks are practicing Muslims, who send their earnings home to destitute families, much as Mexicans do from their jobs in the US. The Indians are treated less than respectfully by the Americans and Europeans, much as Mexicans are treated in Texas or California. In fact, the whole scenario is reminiscent of Texas of the Fifties, with Strong playing a sort of Lyndon Johnson, a powerful and demented yokel, with no thought of anything outside his own gluttonous appetites.

On a previous job in the North Sea, Strong had manipulated some machinery so as to deliberately maim some English roughnecks whom he felt did not show him the proper deference. During the investigation of the crime he switches tactics from swaggering to sniveling, and suborns the callow Logan to perjure himself. In this way he at once evades punishment and brings Logan further under his power by involving him in the crime.

Sadly enough, there are no women on oil rigs, and this could partially explain the tolerance of and connivance in racism and mayhem, since men do trend more toward bestiality when women are not present. It's unclear whether their nonpresence is due to Saudi strictures on mingling of the sexes, or to the heavy nature of the equipment used. "Empty Quarter" is full of huge and deadly machinery: tongs, drawworks drum, slug tank, rotary table, cathead... but none of it is never defined or explained in any way, which lends a patina of historicity to the story, as though it were an actual journal dug out of a roughneck's battered locker in the aftermath of an industrial accident.

So, too, does the story of "Empty Quarter" play out: inexplicable yet seemingly inexorable. The men on the rig rank themselves by race in an era when race has been discredited as a means to determine quality; they settle their differences by brawling in an age when lawsuits and subterfuge have been shown more effective in vanquishing foes. Most puzzling of all is that all the brawling and race-baiting and hatred is in the quest of a commodity that they won't even own, that their own nations won't even own when it is finally gotten out of the ground, so that these poor myopic men are at each other's throats for a few bucks an hour, like Treasure of the Sierra Madre set in a Taco Bell. All in all, it seems a tale of a world that is already disappearing. Probably by now there is software that can do Strong or Logan's job better than either of them--and not fly into a murderous rage when the roughnecks disobey it.

I read this straight through, when it first came out, on non-stop flight from Houston to Seattle. I couldn't put it down. It's that good because it comes straight from David's heart and from his own personal experiences in the oil patch and because he skillfully crafts a spell-binding story that goes beyond a personal memoir. It's wrought with the universal themes of trust, faith and comittment (to name a few). David Wilkinson takes the reader on a fast-paced journey through the eyes of his main character Logan, from Austin to the god-foresaken desert known as The Empty Quarter. There, Logan finds himself as he engages the Arabian desert's ocean of oil with a drilling crew that's made up of the real-life characters you still find in the oil business. I felt like I was there! Moreover, there's some real first-rate writing here that reminds one of Conrad and Hemingway. I hope to see a follow-up to this one from David Wilkinson.

This excellent thriller set in the uninhabited desert of Saudi Arabia on a drilling rig tips you off right away that the writer has both been in the situation himself and done meticulous research. The book is packed with action and fascinating interaction, between men from various countries working for an American/Arabian oil company. There are constant clashes of culture, race, religion, nationality and personality in one of the most isolated situations possible, where the people involved are forced to work aas a team, no matter how they may feel about each other. I particularly enjoy fiction that teaches the reader something about a new subject, in this case oil and gas drilling. The author thoughtfully provided a picture of the works at the front of the book, with many of the parts labelled. Even though it is fiction, I would have also liked some kind of glossary of technical terms. But I sure can't fault the writing--this is one of those books I just blasted through without wanting to put down, and one I can't wait to lend to family and friends. Good books are made to share!

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.