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History
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275 pages, Hardback
152x228mm, Landscape
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ISBN-10: 1905299974
ISBN-13: 9781905299973
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Envoys to the Arab World: Volume II, The Mecas Memoirs, 1944-2009
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An aura of intrigue has long surrounded the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS). This 'school for spies' was founded in 1944 and originally based for a few years in Jerusalem before relocating to the village of Shemlan, deep in the Lebanese hills.
The Centre rapidly became a key training ground for young diplomats in the Arab world. Their memories undimmed by time, graduates of 'Shemlan', as the Centre became know, tell of their often eventful time there, and the challenges, trials and joys of their subsequent lives as diplomats
As such, Envoys of the Arab World reads like collected fragments of a score of diaries; each shedding light on the key events of the wider Middle East at the time.
The original Arabists of Shemlan was published to wide acclaim in 2006, and this second volume, sharing its predecessor's mix of humour, insight and anecdote, is no less compelling. |
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| James Craig - Sir James Craig GCMG graduated in Oriental langauges (Arabic and Persian) at Oxford and became Lecturer in Arabic at Durham University. In 1955 he was seconded to the Foreign Office as Principal Instructor at the Middle East Center for Arab Studies (MECAS) in Shelman. He joined the Foreign Office substantively in 1956, serving as HM Political Agent in the Trucial States, First Secretary, Beruit, Counsellor and Head of Chancery, Jeddah and Head of Near East and North Africa Department, foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.
He was Ambassador to - Syria between 1976 and 1979, and to Saudi arabia from 1979 to 1984. On retirement, he became Visiting Professor in Arabic at Oxford, Director-General (and subsequently President) of the Middle East Association (MEA), President of the British Society for the Middle East Studies (BRISMES), chairman of the Anglo-Arab Association, and several other committees and conferences connected with the Middle East.
Donald Maitland - Biography coming soon.
Paul Tempest - Paul Tempest attended MECAS from 1966 to 1968 and again for month's refresher in 1974. He was at the Bank of England from 1959 to 1983, including a secondment in 1970-71 as General Manager of the Qatar and Dubai Currency Board. He spent two years with the World Bank in Washington, six with shell International in London and eight years as Director- General of the world Petroleum council. He is currently Vice-President of the British Institute of Energy Economics and Director and CEO of the Windsor Energy group, London.
Related title(s):
Bright Levant By Lawrence Grafftey-Smith; James Craig (Introduction)
Enduring Friendship By Paul Tempest (Editor)
Arabists of Shemlan By James Craig (Editor) ; Donald Maitland (Editor) ; Paul Tempest (Editor)
The Bank of England Bedside Book - A Thread of Gold 1694-2008 By Paul Tempest; Danny Denahy (Illustrator) ; Basil Hone (Illustrator)
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