Kanan Makiya

From the best-selling author of "Republic of Fear, "here is a gritty and unflinching novel about Iraqi failure in the wake of the 2003 American invasion, as seen through the eyes of a Shi ite militiaman whose participation in the execution of Saddam Hussein changes his life in ways he could never have anticipated. When the nameless narrator stumbles upon a corpse on April 10, 2003, the day of the fall of Saddam Hussein, he finds himself swept up in the tumultuous politics of the American occupation and is taken on a journey that concludes with the discovery of what happened to his father, who disappeared into the Tyrant s gulag in 1991. When he was a child, his questions about his father were ignored by his mother and his uncle, in whose house he was raised. Older now, he is fighting in his uncle s Army of the Awaited One, which is leading an insurrection against the Occupier. He slowly begins to piece together clues about his father s fate, which turns out to be intertwined with that of the mysterious corpse. But not until the last hour before the Tyrant s execution is the narrator given the final piece of the puzzle from Saddam Hussein himself. "The Rope "is both a powerful examination of the birth of sectarian politics out of a legacy of betrayal, victimhood, secrecy, and loss, and an enduring story about the haste with which identity is cobbled together and then undone. Told with fearless honesty and searing intensity, "The Rope "will haunt its readers long after they finish the final page."

The Rock of Jerusalem is a religious artifact and symbol claimed by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. Its significance and history is explored by Kanan Mikaya, a professor at Brandeis University. Mikaya also describes the construction of the Dome of the Rock, which was built by the cooperation of all three faiths.

Desde el momento en que al joven Ishaq, a finales del siglo VII, se le encarga la construcción de la Cúpula de la Roca (Qubbat as-Sahra), emprende una recopilación de las diversas historias y leyendas asociadas a este espacio mitico en el que se concentra el ancimiento de las tres grandes culturas monoteistas. Combinando los relatos a que va teniendo acceso con el recuerdo de lo que le contara en su dia su padre, que tuvo una participacion activa en la conquista arabe de la Ciudad Santa, va construyendo, al mismo tiempo que la cupula, un hipertexto del origen de las tres religiones. La Roca es una novela sorprendente, que se sirve de muy diversos textos (sagrados y laicos) y de estrategias narrativas propias del ensayo, para conformar una novela historica original, proxima al colage, que abre nuevos espacios de reflexion a la escritura de ficcion historica. El mestizaje cultural y el dialogo entre culturas son sin duda dos temas de plena actualidad, y el hecho de que los aborde un intelectual nacido en Bagdad y residente en Estados Unidos hace de este libro una obra a tener muy en cuenta.

From the best-selling author of Republic of Fear, here is a gritty and unflinching novel about Iraqi failure in the wake of the 2003 American invasion, as seen through the eyes of a Shiite militiaman whose participation in the execution of Saddam Hussein changes his life in ways he could never have anticipated. When the nameless narrator stumbles upon a corpse on April 10, 2003, the day of the fall of Saddam Hussein, he finds himself swept up in the tumultuous politics of the American occupation and is taken on a journey that concludes with the discovery of what happened to his father, who disappeared into the Tyrants gulag in 1991. When he was a child, his questions about his father were ignored by his mother and his uncle, in whose house he was raised. Older now, he is fighting in his uncles Army of the Awaited One, which is leading an insurrection against the Occupier. He slowly begins to piece together clues about his fathers fate, which turns out to be intertwined with that of the mysterious corpse. But not until the last hour before the Tyrants execution is the narrator given the final piece of the puzzlefrom Saddam Hussein himself. The Rope is both a powerful examination of the birth of sectarian politics out of a legacy of betrayal, victimhood, secrecy, and loss, and an enduring story about the haste with which identity is cobbled together and then undone. Told with fearless honesty and searing intensity, The Rope will haunt its readers long after they finish the final page.

Whose rock is enshrined inside the golden Dome of Jerusalem? The rock of Moses or of Muhammad? Kanan Makiya gathers together the stories, legends, and beliefs that define the Rockthe place where Adam landed in his fall from Paradise and where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his first-born; where Solomons Temple stood and where Jesus preached; the rock from which Muhammad ascended to heavenand transforms them into a narrative of novelistic depth and drama. This brilliantly imagined, historically based account of the building of the Dome of the Rock reconstructs the paths of the actual individuals whose spiritual journeys revolved around the seventh-century lore of the Rock. The chief protagonist is Kab al-Ahbar, a learned Jew who accepted the prophecy of Muhammad and who accompanied the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab during his conquest of the Holy City. The story is narrated by Kabs son, Ishaq, who years later is commissioned to design the first monument of Islam, the Dome of the Rock. As he imagines the construction of the Domeand the complex reasons behind its creationMakiya gives us a meditation on the common terrain of the worlds three great monotheistic religions and a remarkable investigation into what the Rock symbolizesbeyond its various stories and names, beyond even the three faiths at whose heart it sits.