Catalog Search Results
2061) Murder at the Citadel
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
The Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali is widely referred to as the Father of Modern Egypt. Learn about his bloody ascension to power, ending 600 years of intermittent Mamluk rule. Trace Ali’s 43-year reign, during which he introduced a modern, European-style army, modern education, a professional civil service, and thriving industrial development.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
No other single factor has impacted the economy, politics, and social life of the Middle East as profoundly as oil. Trace the 20th-century discovery of petroleum across the region by foreign oil companies, and observe the ensuing geopolitical conflicts with local governments. Consider what became known as the Middle East’s "oil curse.”
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
In the 1800s, America began looking inward, not to England, for its language standards. The new norms were recorded in dictionaries, spelling books, and grammars, and celebrated in a profusion of distinctly American literary works. Noah Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain are all key figures in this stage in the historical development of American English.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Our journey continues with the westward expansion of American English, as the New England dialect spreads across the North, the South extends to the Southwest, and people in the middle increasingly intermingle. Along the way, dialect mixing and leveling lead to increasing standardization, or at least the ideal of a single, uniform standard, and "General American English"is born. But where is it, and who speaks it?
2065) Battle of Talas
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
The Battle of Talas in Central Asia was the only occasion when Arab and Chinese armies would oppose one another. Explore the factors leading to the encounter, the lengthy battle that led to victory for the Abbasid Arabs, and the resulting spread of papermaking to the Middle East, an event with global impact.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Investigate the phenomenon of the British East India Company, a militarized trading organization of astonishing power and reach. Learn about the Company’s seizure of the strategic Yemeni port of Aden, which became a trading center of global importance, heralding Britain’s century-spanning imperial presence in the Middle East.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Explore the economic and political factors that sparked the brutal French invasion of Ottoman Algeria. Follow the events of the ensuing occupation, and examine the war of resistance led by the religious leader Abd al-Qadir. Observe how the invasion marked a major shift in European relations with the Middle East.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Examine the birth of the 250-year Safavid Empire, established by the religious leader, warrior, and poet Ismail. Observe how Ismail forcibly converted his entire kingdom to the Shiite Islamic faith, introduced a new military system, and put in place the Persian bureaucratic framework that underlies the modern nation of Iran.
2069) Napoleon Invades Egypt
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Examine the motives of France and of Napoleon for the massive invasion of Egypt in 1798, and witness the two primary military engagements that ensued. Take account of the impacts of the French occupation, and of the phenomenal work of scholarship under Napoleon that gave birth to the field of Egyptology.
2070) Suleiman the Magnificent
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Take the measure of the sultan Suleiman’s extraordinary vision, through which he expanded and consolidated the Ottoman Empire, engendered a bureaucratic system and a unified legislative code, and commissioned monumental architecture. Learn also of his great love for his favorite wife, Roxelana, perhaps the most influential female political figure in Ottoman history.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Under the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun, Baghdad thrived as both a center of trade and manufacturing and a world city of scholarship. Consider al-Ma’mun’s lavish patronage of learning, his promotion of translation and scholarly missions, and his extraordinary influence in three areas: literature, the sciences, and Islamic theology.
2072) English in America
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Welcome to the enthralling world of linguistics. If you’ve ever been curious how words like "awesomesauce"ever came to be, let alone made it into the Oxford English Dictionary, or if you’ve ever wondered why you say "firefly"and someone else calls the same insect a "lightning bug,"English in America: A Linguistic History is for you...There’s an incredibly rich and colorful history behind American English. A profoundly diverse assortment of cultures...
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Moving into 20th-century America, examine how changes in movement patterns of peoples, and of information, have affected language change. Consider population movements from rural to urban to suburban—and then back to the city again; the Civil Rights Movement; and the increasing influence of Hollywood media and the dawn of the Internet age.
2074) The Last Caliphate Falls
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Investigate the epochal turning point of the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of the Islamic caliphate—Islam’s supreme religious authority—after 1300 years. Witness the remapping of the Middle East by the imperial powers of Britain and France, the impact of these changes on the region, and the emergent states of the modern Middle East.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Examine the role of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, and uncover why it entered the war on the side of Germany and Austro-Hungary. Consider the scope of the conflict in the Middle East, the Arab Revolt (arguably the most significant Middle Eastern campaign of the war), and the emergence of Arab nationalism.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
The establishment of the Umayyad caliphate’s capital in Damascus was the most important political turning point in early Muslim history. Trace the Umayyads’ achievements, and investigate their reasons for locating the empire’s capital away from the Arabian peninsula, reflecting the shift from a religiously inspired Islamic empire to a politically oriented imperial power.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Begin with a big-picture overview of the American English dialect map, asking as we explore: What is the difference between a language, a dialect, and an accent? Discover the intricate rules governing all linguistic systems, and consider how and why some varieties of language become valued standards and others are stigmatized.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Study the events surrounding the incursion of Berber-Arab armies into the Iberian peninsula in 711, leading to Muslim domination of the region that would last 800 years. Witness the fateful Battle of Guadalete and the Arabs’ advance north, and consider both the immediate legacy of the invasion and its overall impact on European history.
2079) Qairouan University
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
The world’s first university was founded by a visionary Muslim woman in the city of Fes, Morocco. Learn how this groundbreaking institution made advanced education available to all. Assess its influence in the Middle East, discover its unrivalled impact on European learning, and examine the life and work of one of its most celebrated alumni.
2080) Mongols Sack Baghdad
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
This lecture narrates the calamity that befell the world’s largest, most prosperous, and most celebrated city. First trace the rise of the Mongols, a fierce and most destructive ancient empire. Then follow their conquest of the Abbasids of Baghdad, culminating in the horrific siege that effectively ended the Islamic Golden Age.
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