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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
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Religion & beliefs

HEIRS TO FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS

Gerard Russell

Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East

The religions of ancient Assyria, of the Greeks and Romans, and even of the earliest Indo? European tribes, did not wholly die out. They have survived in various guises and mutations for thousands of years, scattered across the Middle East. Their view of religion is often radi? cally different from that of Western religions. But hardly anyone has ever heard of them.

They face extinction in our lifetimes, because of globalization, war, and oppression. Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms describes them while they still exist—their history, their beliefs, how they have survived, and how they are relevant today. This book explains the survival of the Zoroastrians from ancient Persia, the Ezidis in Iraq and Syria, the Copts in Egypt, the Samaritans in Israel, the Kalash in Pakistan, and the Mandaeans in Iraq. But it also shows how ignorance, war, and politics have hardened attitudes and are helping bring about the final demise of these ancient communities. Historically, wars have al? ways strengthened hardline religious attitudes. Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms will help Western readers to understand Islam better, at a time when all too often it is degraded by stereotypes which its own diversity disproves. It records the customs and culture of communities that are on the verge of extinction, while they still ex? ist. And it provides a rare insight into a hidden world that is overlooked by political analysts and inaccessible to those who do not speak their languages. Gerard Russell is fluent in both Arabic and Farsi, and was described as “the foremost expert on the Islamic world in his generation” by the British Foreign Office. After resigning from the UN in Afghanistan in 2009, he was based at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the JFK School of Government at Harvard. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, the New Re? public, the Huffington Post, and the Boston Globe, among others.

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Book Published 2014-11-01 by Basic Books

Comments

... Russell declares that his aim is to address three things that troubled him during his time in the Middle East: “Humanity’s collective ignorance of its own past, the growing alienation between Christianity and Islam, and the way the debate about religion has become increasingly the preserve of narrow-minded atheists and literalists.” He addresses all three with erudition, sensitivity, humour and aplomb: a remarkable achievement.

Russell penetrates the secret workings of these religions tolerated throughout the ages by Christian or Islamic rulers... A pertinent work of history and journalism. As armies again march in the Middle East, these communities are at new risk.

Bill Clinton recommended Gerard Russell’s book, HEIRS TO FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS, in his speech this week in Georgetown. We’ve cut the video directly to the very clear and emphatic mention ... Read more...

The book won a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction.

[A] highly topical study of Middle Eastern anomalies which is teaching me a lot, and should be read by all Western policy makers — those who do read.

UK: Simon & Schuster UK ; Arabian: Hindawi ; Italy: Adephi ; Japan: Aki Shobo ; Poland: Jagiellonian University Press ; Taiwan: Gusa Publishing : Turkey: Koc University Press

It is difficult to imagine a more timely book than Gerard Russell’s ‘Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East.’ Equal parts travelogue and history, Mr. Russell’s meticulously researched book takes readers into some of the region’s least-known minority communities: the Mandaeans of Iraq, the Copts of Egypt, the Zoroastrians, the Samaritans, and, yes, the Yazidis.

This important and enjoyable glimpse into little-considered religious dynamics of the Middle East deserves to be widely read and distributed.