A. Reviews: general

THE HISTORY OF AL-TABARI (TA'RIKH AL-RUSUL WA 'L-MULÜK). [An annotated translation] (Bibliotheca Persica) (SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies): VOLUME XXVII: THE 'ABBASID REVOLUTION [A.D. 743-750/A.H. 126-132]. Translated and annotated by JOHN ALDEN WILLIAMS. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1985. xiv, 233pp. VOLUME XXXV: THE CRISIS OF THE 'ABBASID CALIPHATE: [THE CALIPHATES OF AL-MUSTA'IN AND AL-MUTAZZ A.D. 862-869/A.H. 248-255]. Translated and annotated by GEORGE SALIBA. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1985. xii, 187pp. VOLUME XXXVIII: THE RETURN OF THE CALIPHATE TO BAGHDAD: [THE CALIPHATES OF AL-MUTADID, AL-MUKTAFI AND AL-MUQTADIR A.D. 892-915/A.H. 279-302]. Translated and annotated by FRANZ ROSENTHAL. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1985. xxii, [2], 239pp. VOLUME XVIII: BETWEEN CIVIL WARS: THE CALIPHATE OF MU'AWIYAH [A.D. 661-680/A.H. 40-60]. Translated and annotated by MICHAEL G. MORONY. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1987. xi, 261pp. AN INTRODUCTION TO SHI'I ISLAM: THE HISTORY AND DOCTRINES OF TWELVER SHI'ISM. By MOOJAN MOMEN. New Haven & London, Yale University Press, xxii, 397pp. JEWISH LIFE UNDER ISLAM: JERUSALEM IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. By AMNON COHEN. London, Harvard University Press, 1984. ISLAMIC ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY: Collected Papers. By RICHARD ETTINGHAUSEN. Prepared and edited by MIRIAM ROSEN AYALON. Berlin, Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1984. 1318pp. THEMES FROM NORTHERN SUDAN. By AHMED AL-SHAHI. (Brismes Series No 1.) London, Ithaca Press, 1986 152pp. £15.00. SYRIA UNDER ASSAD: DOMESTIC CONSTRAINTS AND REGIONAL RISKS. Edited by MOSHE MAOZ and AVNER YASIV. London, Croom Helm, 1986. 273pp., maps, notes. £25.00 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE ARAB WORLD: EGYPT'S NASSER AND THE ARAB LEAGUE. By TAWFIG Y. HASOU. London, Kegan Paul International, 1985. 228pp., appendices, notes, bibliography. £25.00 DESPATCHES FROM DAMASCUS: GILBERT MACKERETH AND BRITISH POLICY IN THE LEVANT, 1933-1939. By MICHAEL G. FRY and ITAMAR RABINOVICH. Jerusalem, University of Southern California and Tel Aviv University, 1985. 225pp. THE MAKING OF MODERN LEBANON. By HELENA COBBAN. London, Hutchinson, 1985, 248pp., illus., maps, bibliography. £6.95. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN EDUCATION IN THE GULF. By SHEIKHA AL-MISNAD. London, Ithaca Press, 1986. 386pp., tables, appendices, bibliography. £24.95. SAUDI ARABIA: THE CEASELESS QUEST FOR SECURITY. By NADAV SAFRAN. London, Harvard University Press, 1985. 542pp., map, tables, notes, appendices, bibliog