The Emergence of Libya - Couverture souple

Wright, John

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1900971062 ISBN 13 : 9781900971065

Editeur : Society for Libyan Studies, 2009

Synopsis

Forty years ago (September 1969) Moammar Gadafi seized power in Libya in a military coup. To mark this event, John Wright has made this selection from his own shorter writings which examine and explain Libya's complex and troubled past - the historical interplay of events, influences and personalities that helped to shape the modern state.From this selection read about...o Why, in about 1860, Britain lost its earlier enthusiasm for Tripoli and the Sahara as a 'Gateway to Africa'o What made the Zionist movement drop plans to settle one million East European Jews in Cyrenaicao Why Mussolini accepted the 'Sword of Islam' in Tripoli in 1937o The first welfare issue to preoccupy the British Eighth Army as it captured Tripoli in January 1943o Why Libya had such an easy passage to independence in 1951o How, as a young leader, Moammar Gadafi was publicly ridiculed and put down by an Arab leader nearly old enough to be his grandfather who claimed Libyans were still living in the days of Adam and Eve.These are just some of the issues John Wright discusses in these 20 chapters, here usefully collected under one cover from the many books and journals in which they first appeared. John Wright, was formerly the chief political commentator and analyst of the BBC Arabic Service, specialising in Libya, the Sahara and the international oil industry.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

John Wright has already made a major contribution to the rather meagre stock of reliable books on Libya, never an easy subject. The Emergence of Libya is welcome as bringing together a number of his previously published articles on aspects of the modern history of Libya. --Oliver Miles, former British Ambassador

The word emergence evokes many images, some prosaic and some flamboyant: prisoners stumbling into the light, new species arising from a barbaric ancestry, an unknown performer catapulted centre stage, a truth revealed. It is the right word for Libya s history, and John Wright is the ideal narrator to show us how and why. The Emergence of Libya is a collection of pieces published by Wright over the last 35 years in a diversity of periodicals which include Encounter, Africa, The Maghreb Review, Slavery and Abolition, and, most abundantly, Libyan Studies. As he tells us in his preface, Wright s first encounter with Libya was on the Tripoli weekly The Sunday Ghibli in 1965, and he has kept his fingers on the country s irregular pulse ever since through his work as the chief political commentator and analyst of the BBC Arabic Service, his association with archaeologists, historians and naturalists in the Society for Libyan Studies, and, as his chapter notes obliquely show, his command of Italian as well as Arabic and French sources. Even though the essays are arranged so that their subject matter is in loose chronological order, certain themes recur and help to make this a much more personal book than the title suggests, notably desert exploration, the Saharan slave trade, colonial history, and the pangs of Libya s birth as an independent state. The Emergence of Libya is idiosyncratic and informative and gruffly affectionate. It will enrich any visit to Libya, virtual or real, by showing off its historical and geographical setting and commemorating its unending pain and forbearance. --Claudio Vita-Finzi

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Society for Libyan Studies
• Date d'édition: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1900971062
• ISBN 13: 9781900971065
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 368
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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