Middle East

Secrets of Divine Love is the #1 international bestselling book on Islam that draws upon spiritual secrets of the Qur’an, ancient mystical poetry, and stories from the world’s greatest prophets and spiritual masters to help you reignite your faith....

"This is not a political book, but simple a somewhat impressionistic study of the moods and atmospheres of Cyprus during the troubled years 1953-6." So wrote Lawrence Durrell in the preface to Bitter Lemons. Durrell, who lived abroad for much of his life, brilliantly captures the romance, beauty...

An intimate portrait of life in the world’s richest nation ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup. Just 70 years ago, the Gulf nation of Qatar was a backwater, reliant on pearl diving. Today it is a gas-laden parvenu with seemingly limitless wealth and ambition. Skyscrapers, museums and futuristic...

A 2026 Audie Awards Finalist! Stow away with Rick Steves for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 journey on the legendary Hippie Trail. In the 1970s, the ultimate trip for any backpacker was the storied “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu...

Colin Thubron undertakes a journey along the greatest land route on earth: the Silk Road....

With all the narrative power and intellectual authority that have distinguished his earlier books, V.S. Naipaul explores the life, the culture, the ferment inside the nations of Islam.

This classic memoir by the remarkable French explorer and Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel is the one of the greatest Buddhist travelogues of the 20th century. She was the first European woman to meet the Dalai Lama (in the 1920s) and in 1924 became the first to enter the forbidden Tibetan capital...

Upon retirement at the age of sixty-two, and grieving his deceased wife, renowned journalist Bernard Ollivier felt a sense of profound emptiness: What do I do now? While some see retirement as a chance to cash in their chips and settle into a comfy armchair, Ollivier still longed for more...

Jamie Maslin decides to hitchhike the entire length of the Silk Road. Then, unexpectedly stranded in Iran, Maslin finds himself suddenly plunged into the subversive, contradictory world of Iranian subculture....

Dom Joly was born in Beirut and lived there until he was 18. He lived through the civil war, went to school with Osama Bin Laden, and learned to ski and speak French and Arabic. At the age of seven, he was sent to an English boarding school, where he would spend term times before returning to...

Robert Byron set off from Venice with friend Christopher Sykes to explore the architecture of the Middle East. They travel by any means necessary and encounter several setbacks, but their risks are rewarded as they encounter some of the greatest examples of Eastern art and architecture....

An instant New York Times bestseller! Journey with Kathie Lee Gifford and Messianic Rabbi Jason Sobel into Israel and explore the deep roots of the Christian faith. As a lifelong student of Scripture, Kathie Lee Gifford has always desired a deeper understanding of God’s Word and a deeper...

Award-winning Professor John R. Hale of the University of Louisville is your guide to the fabulous civilizations of the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans, and to the natural wonders and idyllic landscapes that surround them....

With its long history at the center of empires, Istanbul offers a wealth of historic and religious places to take in....

Raja Shehadeh is a passionate hill walker. He enjoys nothing more than heading out into the countryside that surrounds his home. But in recent years, his hikes have become less than bucolic, and sometimes downright dangerous. That is because his home is Ramallah, on the Palestinian West Bank...

Returning to the UK in September 2010 after serving in Iraq as the political adviser to the top American general, Emma Sky felt no sense of homecoming. She soon found herself back in the Middle East traveling through a region in revolt....

Brought to you by Penguin. In March 2022, Michael Palin travelled the length of the River Tigris through Iraq to get a sense of what life is like in a region of the world that once formed the cradle of civilisation, but that in recent times has witnessed turmoil and appalling bloodshed. It was a...

Laura Kasinof studied Arabic in college and moved to Yemen a few years later - after a friend at a late-night party in Washington, DC, recommended the country as a good place to work....

Eat Like a Local - Egypt by Manal O. Kordi offers the inside scoop on food in Egypt. Culinary tourism is an important aspect of any travel experience. Food has the ability to tell you a story of a destination, its landscapes, and culture on a single plate....

You can now listen to Conversational Arabic Quick and Easy: Modern Standard Arabic - Part 1, one of the most advanced and revolutionary programs ever designed for quickly becoming conversational in a new language.