{"title":"Mesopotamia","description":"\u003cp\u003e Title:Books\u0026gt;\u0026gt;History\u0026gt;\u0026gt;Ancient Civilizations\u0026gt;\u0026gt;Mesopotamia\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Handle:books-history-ancient-civilizations-mesopotamia\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Children :\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/collections\/books-history-ancient-civilizations-mesopotamia-assyria\"\u003eAssyria\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/collections\/books-history-ancient-civilizations-mesopotamia-babylonia\"\u003eBabylonia\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/collections\/books-history-ancient-civilizations-mesopotamia-sumer\"\u003eSumer\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"0874860628-the_last_christians_stories_of_persecution-_flight-_and_resilience_in_the_middle_east_gospel_in_great_writers","title":"The Last Christians: Stories of Persecution, Flight, and Resilience in the Middle East (Gospel in Great Writers)","description":"\n\n\u003cb\u003eA Westerner’s travels among the persecuted and displaced Christian remnant in Iraq and Syria teach him much about faith under fire.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGold Medal Winner,\u003c\/b\u003e 2018 IPPY Book of the Year Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSilver Medal Winner, \u003c\/b\u003e2018 Benjamin Franklin Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist, \u003c\/b\u003e2018 ECPA Christian Book Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eInside Syria and Iraq,\u003c\/b\u003e and even along the refugee trail, they’re a religious minority persecuted for their Christian faith. Outside the Middle East, they’re suspect because of their nationality. A small remnant of Christians is on the run from the Islamic State. If they are wiped out, or scattered to the corners of the earth, the language that Jesus spoke may be lost forever – along with the witness of a church that has modeled Jesus’ way of nonviolence and enemy-love for two millennia. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe kidnapping, enslavement, torture, and murder of Christians\u003c\/b\u003e by the Islamic State, or ISIS, have been detailed by journalists, as have the jihadists' deliberate efforts to destroy the cultural heritage of a region that is the cradle of Christianity. But some stories run deep, and without a better understanding of the religious and historical roots of the present conflict, history will keep repeating itself century after century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndreas Knapp,\u003c\/b\u003e a priest who works with refugees in Germany, travelled to camps for displaced people in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to collect stories of survivors – and to seek answers to troubling questions about the link between religion and violence. He found Christians who today still speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The uprooted remnant of ancient churches, they doggedly continue to practice their faith despite the odds. Their devastating eyewitness reports make it clear why millions are fleeing the Middle East. Yet, remarkably, though these last Christians hold little hope of ever returning to their homes, they also harbor no thirst for revenge. Could it be that they – along with the Christians of the West, whose interest will determine their fate – hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region?\u003cbr\u003eIncludes sixteen pages of color photographs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eCategories:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReligion \u0026amp; Spirituality\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReligious Studies\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eReligious Intolerance \u0026amp; Persecution\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n","brand":"Plough Publishing House","offers":[{"title":"Used - Good","offer_id":45262215151806,"sku":"0874860628-4","price":4.76,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0640\/9689\/5166\/files\/91UwGpA97rL.jpg?v=1754090718"},{"product_id":"0767907558-royal_babylon_the_alarming_history_of_european_royalty","title":"Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty","description":"\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn uproarious, eye-opening history of Europe's notorious royal houses that leaves no throne unturned and will make you glad you live in a democracy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDo you want to know which queen has the unique distinction of being the only known royal kleptomaniac? Or which empress kept her dirty underwear under lock and key? Or which czar, upon discovering his wife's infidelity, had her lover decapitated and the head, pickled in a jar, placed at her bedside?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoyally dishing on hundreds of years of dubious behavior, \u003ci\u003eRoyal Babylon\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the manifold appalling antics of Europe's famous families, behavior that rivals the characters in an Aaron Spelling television series. Here, then, are the insane kings of Spain, one of whom liked to wear sixteen pairs of gloves at one time; the psychopathic Prussian soverigns who included Frederick William and his 102-inch waist; sex-fixated French rulers such as Philip Duke D'Oreleans cavorting with more than a hundred mistresses; and, of course, the delightfully drunken and debauched Russian czars - Czar Paul, for example, who to make his soldiers goose-step without bending their legs had steel plates strapped to their knees. But whether Romanov or Windsor, Habsburg or Hanover, these extravagant lifestyles, financed as they were by the royals' badgered subjects, bred the most wonderfully offbeat and disturbingly unbelievable tales - and Karl Shaw has collected them all in this hysterically funny and compulsively readable book. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRoyal Babylon \u003c\/i\u003eis history, but not as they teach it in school, and it underlines in side-splitting fashion Queen Victoria's famous warning that it is unwise to look too deeply into the royal houses of Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e Publishers Weekly \u003cp\u003eAnyone who loves scandal, particularly the juicy dish on royalty, will inhale this gossipy account by British writer Shaw (The Mammoth Book of Tasteless Lists). In a style reminiscent of low-end tabloids, the author presents a litany of negative and sometimes disgusting details about the personal lives of the men and women who ruled Britain, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Austria. Leaving the late 20th century mostly behind (his only mention of Charles and Diana is in the introduction), the author concentrates instead on royal misbehavior back to the 1700s. Entertaining overall, many entries are indisputably not for the faint of heart, such as the truly gross story of Russia's Peter the Great (\"`Great' was generally a recognition of power or brute strength, no matter how they lived, how many people they had killed or how repulsive they were\"), described by Shaw as a \"paranoid sadist.\" This tsar was an alcoholic who tortured people for fun and once forced an attendant to bite into the flesh of a corpse. This chronicle is replete with royal sexual activities, including those of the Bourbons of France, whom Shaw credits with possessing \"extraordinary appetites.\" Irony is Shaw's strong suit, which lends a great deal of humor to often humorless anecdotes. For example, he notes that Spain's King Philip IV fathered 30 illegitimate children \"but being a good Catholic always felt bad about it\" and forced his wife to have sexual relations three times daily. Like Michael Farquhar's A Treasury of Royal Scandals (see review below), this irreverent and amusing expos of royal indiscretions will appeal especially to those who like their history \"lite.\" Illus. not seen by PW. (May 29) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eCategories:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistory\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eEurope\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Used - Very Good","offer_id":49035217731774,"sku":"0767907558-3","price":18.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0640\/9689\/5166\/files\/71GHCiXxNbL.jpg?v=1789494488"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.sustainablebooks.com\/collections\/books-history-ancient-civilizations-mesopotamia.oembed","provider":"Sustainable Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}