From the holy mountain : a journey among the christians of the middle east: 9780307948892

from piano3646

Quite fragmented because of its format (divided into various chapters) but a good read 

from jonfaith

Very promising beginning which soon detoured into ruminations on geopolitics and along the way found it self stretched in the muddy fields of scripture and doctrine. The geopolitics appears dated, of course, which is no one's fault. The scripture and doctrine appear methodical, which I regard as ...

from name99

More Dalrymple. Longer and a little more serious than In Xanadu, probably because the material us that much more depressing. A sad catalog of hatreds in the Middle East that continue to this day, happily sponsored by various states. Especially interesting were the claims that * Turkey is still do...

from jonfaith

Very promising beginning which soon detoured into ruminations on geopolitics and along the way found it self stretched in the muddy fields of scripture and doctrine. The geopolitics appears dated, of course, which is no one's fault. The scripture and doctrine appear methodical, which I regard as ...

from stillatim

As good as advertised, and perhaps even more so twenty years after publication, given all that has happened in the meantime. If you're not inclined to sadness over lost traditions, you probably won't care, but I almost cried when the Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddha, and I have literally no soc...