Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith PDF

Author: Queen Noor

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 9780753817568

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The dramatic and inspiring story of one woman's incredible journey into the heart of a man and his nation. Born into a distinguished Arab-American family, Lisa Halaby was a strongly independent young woman. After studying architecture at Princeton, her work on projects in the Middle East gave her a profound understanding both of the links between the environment and social problems, and also of the tumultuous history of the Arab nations. Then, in 1974, her life took a very different turn, when her father introduced her to the world's most eligible bachelor, King Hussein of Jordan. After a whirlwind romance, she became Noor Al Hussein, Queen of Jordan. With eloquence and honesty, Queen Noor speaks of the obstacles she faced as a young bride and of her successful struggle to create a role for herself as a humanitarian activist. She tells of her heartbreaking miscarriage and the births of her four children, along with her continuing support for King Hussein's campaign to bring peace to the Arab nations. But most of all this is a love story - an honest and engaging portrait of a truly remarkable woman and the man she married.

Queen Noor

Queen Noor PDF

Author: Lucia Raatma

Publisher: Capstone

Published: 2007-02

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 9780756518035

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Examines the woman who became Queen Noor, a woman whose efforts improved the quality of life in Jordan.

Queen Noor

Queen Noor PDF

Author: Susan Muaddi Darraj

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781438146843

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Traces the life of American-born Lisa Halaby, who married King Hussein of Jordan and became Queen Noor.

Koh-i-Noor

Koh-i-Noor PDF

Author: William Dalrymple

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2017-09-12

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1635570778

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

From the internationally acclaimed and bestselling historians William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, the first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, arguably the most celebrated jewel in the world. On March 29, 1849, the ten-year-old leader of the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the center of the British fort in Lahore, India. There, in a formal Act of Submission, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company swathes of the richest land in India and the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond, otherwise known as the Mountain of Light. To celebrate the acquisition, the British East India Company commissioned a history of the diamond woven together from the gossip of the Delhi Bazaars. From that moment forward, the Koh-i-Noor became the most famous and mythological diamond in history, with thousands of people coming to see it at the 1851 Great Exhibition and still more thousands repeating the largely fictitious account of its passage through history. Using original eyewitness accounts and chronicles never before translated into English, Dalrymple and Anand trace the true history of the diamond and disperse the myths and fantastic tales that have long surrounded this awe-inspiring jewel. The resulting history of south and central Asia tells a true tale of greed, conquest, murder, torture, colonialism, and appropriation that shaped a continent and the Koh-i-Noor itself.

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith PDF

Author: Queen Noor

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2003-11

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 9780753818176

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Born into a distinguished Arab-American family and raised amid privilege, Lisa Halaby was in the first co-educational freshman class at Princeton, graduating in 1974 with a degree in architecture and urban planning. Following graduation, her work on projects in the Middle East gave her a profound understanding both of the links between the environment and social problems, and also of the tumultuous history of the Arab nations. Then, in 1974, her life took a very different turn, when her father introduced her to the world's most eligible bachelor, King Hussein of Jordan. After a whirlwind romance, she became Noor Al Hussein, Queen of Jordan. Sharing a personal perspective on the past three decades of world history, Leap of Faith highlights Queen Noor's views on Islam and the West; the challenges of rearing her family; her work as Queen and humanitarian activist; and her struggles to protect her husband as he slipped into the illness that would kill him in 1999. Leap of Faith is refreshingly candid and clear-eyed, a true love story set against the turbulent politics of the last thirty years.

Married to a Bedouin

Married to a Bedouin PDF

Author: Marguerite van Geldermalsen

Publisher: Virago

Published: 2010-09-02

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0748122737

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

'"Where you staying?" the Bedouin asked. "Why you not stay with me tonight - in my cave?"' Thus begins Marguerite van Geldermalsen's story of how a New Zealand-born nurse came to be married to Mohammad Abdallah Othman, a Bedouin souvenir-seller from the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. It was 1978 and she and a friend were travelling through the Middle East when Marguerite met the charismatic Mohammad who convinced her that he was the man for her. A life with Mohammad meant moving into his ancient cave and learning to love the regular tasks of baking shrak bread on an open fire and collecting water from the spring. And as Marguerite feels herself becoming part of the Bedouin community, she is thankful for the twist in fate that has led her to this contented life. Marguerite's light-hearted and guileless observations of the people she comes to love are as heart-warming as they are valuable, charting Bedouin traditions now lost to the modern world.

Montezuma

Montezuma PDF

Author: Jon Bowman

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Montezuma Castle near Las Vegas, New Mexico ranks among the undisputed architectural gems of the state. Built in the 1880s as arguably the most opulent and fashionable resort west of the Mississippi, the Montezuma hosted US presidents and titans of industry as well as European and Japanese nobility and the outlaw Jesse James. Patrons enjoyed the first bowling alley in the West, the first electric lighting in New Mexico, celebrated hot springs and spas, and exquisite cuisine, including fresh fish and sea turtles hauled by rail from the West Coast and Mexico. In spite of its illustrious past, the Montezuma stood empty for much of the last century -- the structure vandalised and falling into ruin. Chances for its resurrection looked dim until 1997 when the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the former hotel as one of America's eleven Most Endangered Historic Places. It was the first property west of the Mississippi to gain that attention, and a committed preservation effort followed.Here is the story of the castle's heritage, its architectural grandeur and its rebirth as an educational complex serving the diverse, global population of students attending the United World College of the American West, founded by Armand Hammer with help from Prince Charles.

Lion of Jordan

Lion of Jordan PDF

Author: Avi Shlaim

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2008-09-09

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0307270513

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The first major account of the life of an extraordinary soldier and statesman, King Hussein of Jordan. Throughout his long reign (1953—1999), Hussein remained a dominant figure in Middle Eastern politics and a consistent proponent of peace with Israel. For over forty years he walked a tightrope between Palestinians and Arab radicals on the one hand and Israel on the other. Avi Shlaim reveals that Hussein initiated a secret dialogue with Israel in 1963 and spent hundreds of hours in talks with countless Israeli officials. Shlaim expertly reconstructs this dialogue from previously untapped records and first-hand accounts, significantly rewriting the history of the Middle East over the past fifty years and shedding light on the far-reaching impact of Hussein’s leadership.

Our Last Best Chance

Our Last Best Chance PDF

Author: King Abdullah II of Jordan

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2011-02-22

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1101190132

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A newsbreaking memoir that tackles head-on the toughest challenge in the world today. When a dying King Hussein shocked the world by picking his son rather than his brother, the longtime crown prince, to be the next king of Jordan, no one was more surprised than the young head of Special Operations, who discovered his life was in for a major upheaval. This is the inspirational story of a young prince who went to boarding school in America and military academy in Britain and grew up believing he would be a soldier. Back home, he hunted down terrorists and modernized Jordan's Special Forces. Then, suddenly, he found himself king. Together with his wife, Queen Rania, he transformed what it meant to be a monarch, going undercover to escape the bubble of the court while she became the Muslim world's most passionate advocate of women's rights. In this exceptionally candid memoir, King Abdullah tackles the single toughest issue he faces head-on- how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian standoff- and reveals himself to be an invaluable intermediary between America and the Arab world. He writes about the impact of the Iraq war on his neighborhood and how best to tackle Iran's nuclear ambitions. Why would a sitting head of state choose to write about the most explosive issues he faces? King Abdullah does so now because he believes we face a moment of truth: a last chance for peace in the Middle East. The prize is enormous, the cost of failure far greater than we dare imagine.

Faces of America

Faces of America PDF

Author: Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2010-09-01

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0814732658

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Explores the family trees and genealogical identity of twelve remarkable Americans: Stephen Colbert, Louise Erdrich, Eva Longoria, Yo Yo Ma, and others. Since 2007, the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has been helping African Americans find long-buried details about their ancestors by researching their family trees and then, when the paper trail ends, by analyzing their DNA and marrying that information to a wealth of historical data. Now, in Faces of America, Gates explores the family trees of twelve of America’s most recognizable and extraordinary citizens, individuals who learn that they are of Asian, English, French, German, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Jewish, Latino, Native American, Swiss, and Syrian ancestry: Inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian and television personality Stephen Colbert, writer Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, cellist Yo Yo Ma, writer and director Mike Nichols, former monarch of Jordan Queen Noor, surgeon and author Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and Olympic gold medalist and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi. In addition, each of the subjects in Faces of America underwent dense genotyping to trace their genetic ancestry on their father’s line, their mother’s line, and their percentages of European, Asian, Native American, and African ancestry. Readers will share in the surprise and delight, the shock and sadness of these twelve individuals themselves as Gates unveils their rich family stories, traced back to their arrival on America’s shores, and beyond, deep into the history of their ancestors’ countries of origin. In this compelling book, Gates demonstrates that where we come from profoundly and fundamentally informs who we are today.