Mansour El-Kikhia provides a critical and entertaining account of the 'unique' and flawed political system that Ghadafi has instituted in Libya. I found it balanced and very relevant. This system has produced some interesting, if puzzling, results in the course of its implementation that clearly demonstrate its shortcomings and its proclivity to suffer from excessive zeal .
El-Kihia shows how Qadhafi has concentrated power to the provinces where the Colonel's extended family members wield important posts in the army and provincial government. The concept of a formal head of state has also been revised in favor of designating an official leader. El-Kikhia also suggests that there has been a concerted effort to diminish the influence of technocrats and educated personnel, who have been instrumental in ceating the institutions to manage the oil economy and important political negotiations with the outside world, in favor of the ideologues of the revolutionary cadres . Certainly this is in accordance with the pattern of power distribution that has prevailed in Libya since the al-Fatah revolution.
There are also accounts of the decline of culture and eductaion as a result of Qadhafi's policies and the profusion of ideology in all aspects of daily life.

As a political science major at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and also a frequent student of Dr. El-Kikhia, having read this book I can say that it is absolutely essential to an understanding of Libya's past and present political course and journey. Dr. El-Kikhia's unique perspective and special knowledge presents both the average reader and political science student with a powerful insight into the core of Quaddafi's world.

As a student of Professor El-kikhia's Foreign Policy courses, I can address his almost uncanny knowledge and understanding of foreign policy and the Middle East in specific. I would wholeheartedly recommend this and any other of Professor El-Kikhia's books to those who wish to educate themselves in foreign policy in this unique sector of the globe.

Ben Herd

My wife took the time to search for "A Visa for Ahmad" and finally ordered it for us. She is a very fast reader and finished it quickly, raving about it constantly and about how fitting it was for the life our country is living since 9/11. She asked: "How could he have written such a timely book a year ago?"

I was reading John Adams' biography at the time, which is a great book but slow reading for me. I finally got to "A Visa for Ahmad," and I have to agree. It is facinating reading, and the detail the author adds to the locations and activities, describing the settings in every detail, he must have traveled to these locations and collected that information. Anyway, I congratulate him on a very interesting story. It was timely and kept our attention, demanding daily reading even to the point of passing on a golf game!

I want to tell you how much a enjoyed reading A VISA FOR AHMAD on a recent automobile trip to New York State. I often read it aloud to my husband, who was driving. We enjoyed it together! As I got close to finishing it, I found myself not wanting it to end, and I dragged the last few pages out over several days when I got home.
My favorite quality about the book is the author's exquisite talent for descriptive prose. After completing the book, I had a feeling as though I had traveled to Europe and experienced the journey myself. I savored the local food, walked the walks down the narrow streets, listened to the beautiful language of the people (it is obvious that the author has an exquisite mastery of the French language), AND I DID ALL OF THIS LOOKING OVER MY SHOULDER THE WHOLE TIME BECAUSE OF THE UNDERLYING ELEMENT OF SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE!
Another favorite quality was the threading of accurate historical documentation throughout the novel which blended fiction with the authenticity and substance of historical fact. I absolutely LOVED the way the author did that. It seems the book has a universal, contemporary quality about, as if it could have been written today. If we compare the Libyan Arab terrorists of 1985 with our current Arabs, this book should do very well.

If you are looking for only one pictoral work on this subject - this is the one to own! It be quite honest I have not read the book cover to cover yet - I can't get past the photos and the detailed captions - 90% of the photos are unpublished.The author
obviously spent sometime running these photos to ground. The
last 20-30 pages contain color photos which appear to be
taken from the German wartime magazine Signal. The book is in
written in French & English but this does not distract from its
overall 'viewability'. The book is worth the price!!

My great aunt actually wrote this book.
This book is a memior of her journey to Benghazi.
I have read most of it, it is a very personal and heartfelt story of her life. Enjoy!

This book is a definate MUST READ by anyone who has any interest in politics - a genuine interest.

The Green Book is the ideological springboard from which many of the self-determining factors of the Popular Rule system were based. This is one of the most blatantly suppressed books of the Twentieth Century. One read and you will know why it is so potentially explosive and literally terrifies the corrupt and decadent "democracies" (oligarchies!) of the New World Order today!

This will also tell you, beyond any shadow of a doubt WHY Muammar al Qadhafi is portrayed as he is - for only the Third Universal System (The Third Way) will provide TRUE National Freedom and Social Justice to the People of the world.

This book is NOT out of print. It is still in print and all one has to do is take the time to contact the Libyan Embassy or Consulate (at the UN even!) and they will provide you with a FREE copy of the book.

Seton Dearden wrote few books, but those he did write he wrote very well. A Nest of Corsairs: The Fighting Karamanlis of the Barbary Coast takes the reader into the Karamanli family's reign of Tripoli with special emphasis on the British Consulate's position and influence on the royal court. The power and direction of the Sultanate in Constantinople had much impact on how the Tripoli court was run, but the Karamanli family did things their own way (bowing to the Sultan only when funds and armies were needed). One of the most captivating moments in the story is when one brother assassinates another during a meeting with their mother in her hareem. Few detective novels or murder mysteries engross the reader like this book, partly because it is written from obviously deep-set interest in Tripoli's history and after what would seem to have been exhaustive research. Hats off to Seton, the Dearden family strikes again! (I also recommend reading some from Seton's uncle, Harold Dearden). Seton's second wife, Ann Dearden, wrote about her knowledge of Jordan in a book titled Jordan (oddly enough) from her experiences and studies in that country through her many years living there. A Nest of Corsairs heads the Dearden family published list through its descriptions of everyday life in the court and on the streets of Tripoli back when ships were made of wood and men were made of steel. Well done Seton!

This is a excellent book that is well-written and full of insight and wisdom. Tim Niblock draws on his extensive experience in the Middle East to provide an informed and accurate assessment of the political economies of Iraq, Libya, and Sudan. In the process, he presents a skillfully constructed and cogently argued assessment of the impact of sanctions on the governments and peoples of Iraq, Libya, and Sudan. He emphasizes the limited impact of sanctions regimes as a means to modify public policy in general and to create a stable international environment in particular. This book should be mandatory reading for the bureaucrats, politicians, and diplomats involved in imposing sanctions regimes around the world.

While most states of the Middle East region have pursued policies that more or less approached the prescriptions of the Modernization type meta-theories, there has been the general perception, from within and without, that the region as a whole has failed to live up to the promise of social and economic welfare that modern development was supposed to generate. The political advancement of the Region toward more pluralistic or democratic forms of government that was supposed to proceed as the inevitable result of economic and industrial transformation has been even more disappointing and lagged far below material achievements. In The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya 1830-1980 Lisa Anderson has rejected the mainstream meta-theoretical approaches to the study of the nature of development in the Middle East. Through a process of historical analysis of the socio-economic mechanisms that have characterized the nature of Libya and Tunisia's different paths of social and political transformation, Anderson has emphasized the study of state formation processes and the particular nature of a peripheral's state integration in the world capitalist system.Anderson has challenged both of the principal development meta-theories that became popular in the decades after WWII. She has contested Modernization theory's interpretation of development moving in a linear pattern through predictable stages to inevitably culminate in the establishment of a democratic capitalist state modeled on the pattern of the West. She has noted that development is not achieved without cost and that social conflict is a necessary outcome as the State balances its monopoly of authority as it coerces and encourages different social and economic actors to achieve a relative degree of stability and equity. In order to achieve this and promote a real degree of social transformation an efficient bureaucracy and public administration are crucial. Accordingly, her study has shown the contrasting development patterns of Libya and Tunisia. In the former, Anderson has stressed the persistence of kinship based societal relations and null bureaucratic development during the period of Italian colonization and the perpetuation of this pattern after independence. Oil rents made it possible for the Libyan administration to rely almost exclusively on its distributive capacity to prevent the establishment of efficient institutional and bureaucratic machinery; consequently, society and political development have not progressed toward the formation of a modern state in the Weberian sense.

The Roman ruins of Libya have been seen by very few Westerners in recent decades. They are in a remarkable state of preservation. The enormous basilica of Septimus Severus at Leptis Magna, while a ruin, looks like it could easily be put back together to it's former glory. The excellent state of preservation is due both to the desert climate and to the near complete absence of tourism. Eric Newby writing in "On the Shores of the Mediterranean" describes the difficulties he went through in arranging a visit under the Quadaffi government. This book was produced by Italian archaeologists who remarkably have been able to continue their field work during Libya's current international isolation. The book is marred by the poor reproduction of the photos. The pictures are almost all underexposed with muddy shadow areas, flat highlights and an overall lack of contrast. A pity but the book is still worthwhile for a look at sites that most people will never be able to see.

This book is magnificent.The first 180 pages are devoted to the western province of Tripolitania, where ruins of the Roman cities of Sabratha, Oea(present-day Tripoli),and Leptis Magna are located along the North African coastline in the Gulf of Sirte. The next 50-odd pages cover the eastern province of Cyrenaica toward Egypt where the Greco-Roman cities of Cyrene, Apollonia, and Ptolemais are found.

The photographs of these cities are without a doubt some of the finest in existence.Heretofore,I have only seen random scenes of these ancient cities, but nothing organized in a book like this.

Unless one has been to Lybia,as I have,it is difficult to imagine the splendor of these ruins.Greco-Roman ruins in Europe pale in comparison.A primary reason for their preservation is the dry climate,and their burial for 1000 years by the shifting sands of the Sahara from the 9th century A.D. Excavations began in the early 20th century.

The Italian authors are experts in archeological research of the Roman era,specifically in North Africa where they have conducted many missions. Their knowledge of the rise and fall of these wealthy,elegant,and powerful cities and their importance to Rome is well presented in the text throughout the book. The writers describe what life must have been like in these cities,and provide accurate maps and reconstructions of their original dimensions where still buried by sand.

For anyone interested in the period of history when these cities flourished-7th century B.C. to about the 4th century A.D.-this book is a must. If you don't like to read-just look at the pictures.

This is a beautiful book showing some of the extensive Roman ruins left in North Africa. Highly recommended for enthusiasts and browsers.

The book is pretty large, and the pictures are clear and give you a good sense of the urban spaces pictured.

I lived in Libya for two years and worked as a UNDP officer there. Having had first hand knowledge of this country I have found few books better than Vandewalle's Libya since Independence. Not only is it an informative text about Libya's socio-economic development it is also a study of the distributive State and the very negative consequences that oil wealth can generate if mishandled. Vandewalle deals with Libya since its independence in 1949 and the political, social and economic transformation that occurred from then to the present. The text notes that the regime that was established as a result of the 1969 revolution has made great efforts to distribute the wealth accumulated from oil production among the population while promoting large scale development projects in infrastructure, education and ISI industrial development. By far the largest single development effort has been the multi-billion dollar Great Man Made River (GMMR) project designed to facilitate irrigation for agricultural production along the Libyan coastline. According to the UNDP adequate standards of living have existed for the majority of the population as a result of an extensive program of welfare spending that has included the provision of state provided basic services and subsidies for many consumer products.
Although significant, Libya's development, both before and after the Fatih Revolution, has been almost entirely patronized by the state. Whereas the government intervened in all sectors of the economy, including import and distribution, there has recently been an effort to transfer some of that responsibility to the private sector. The sharp decline of crude oil prices in the mid 1980's hurt the State's distributive capacity and made it necessary to curtail spending and adopt a measure of economic reforms to stimulate greater private sector involvement in the economy. However, the reforms have only effectively served to retract the distributive network welfare system of subsidies and services that had been one the Government's principal sources of legitimacy with the population, while economic liberalization has not contributed to the creation of a viable and productive private sector. The failure of these reforms has highlighted the institutional shortcomings of the regime that enacted them.

We just used Libya since Independence in one of my middle east classes at NYU, and I just loved it. I never knew much about Libya except for what I read in the newspaper, and this was quite an eye opener. Deepened my interest in the Middle East immeasurably. And the opening line--a Libyan proverb--is astonishing in its simplicity and farsightedness. Great book.

A remarkable piece of work. Libya remains one of the countries in the Middle East we know little about, and Vanderwalle's account is one of the best ever. It pretty much replaces whatever has been written about the country during the last 10-15 years in most academic and popular publications. It is scrupulously honest about Kaddafi's politics, and shows as no other previous account how the current Libyan leader extended many of his predecessor's policies. Well written and accessible, despite somewhat a somewhat daunting theoretical chapter. A definitive analysis of Libya since independence.