Afterword: uprisings, scholarship, and flying lambs.

In the year since completing this manuscript the momentous events in the Middle East continue to unfold. The civil war in Syria, carnage in Iraq, US drone attacks on Yemini civilians and the twists and turns of the Egyptian revolution are the most dramatic and impact millions across the region. Other developments are less bloody but have lasting importance as well – conflicts between generations, classes, religious and secular, globalization and the struggles of women for an equal voice and place in their societies –with their outcomes still uncertain. ¹