Set along the Sahara's edge, Sijilmasa was an African El Dorado, a legendary city of gold. But unlike El Dorado, Sijilmasa was a real city, the pivot in the gold trade between ancient Ghana and the Mediterranean world. Following its emergence as an independent city-state controlling a monopoly on gold during its first 250 years, Sijilmasa was incorporated into empire—Almoravid, Almohad, and onward—leading to the "last civilized place" becoming the cradle of today's Moroccan dynasty, the Alaouites. Sijilmasa's millennium of greatness ebbed with periods of war, renewal, and abandonment. Today, its ruins lie adjacent to and under the modern town of Rissani, bypassed by time.
The Moroccan-American Project at Sijilmasa draws on archaeology, historical texts, field reconnaissance, oral tradition, and legend to weave the story of how this fabled city mastered its fate. The authors' deep local knowledge and interpretation of the written and ecological record allow them to describe how people and place molded four distinct periods in the city's history. Messier and Miller compare models of Islamic cities to what they found on the ground to understand how Sijilmasa functioned as a city. Continuities and discontinuities between Sijilmasa and the contemporary landscape sharpen questions regarding the nature of human life on the rim of the desert. What, they ask, allows places like Sijilmasa to rise to greatness? What causes them to fall away and disappear into the desert sands?

The Last Civilized Place: Sijilmasa and Its Saharan Destiny

History

Miller, James A.

Messier, Ronald A.

Africa

University of Texas Press

This world-regional text divides the world into two types of societies: the technological world and the developing world. Provides in-depth coverage of each region, based on a process approach--how each region has evolved is discussed in terms of its history, economy, culture, and geography. Includes mapscans and geolabs.

World Regional Geography: A Question of Place

English, Paul Ward

Travel

wiley

Running in Place: Inside the Senate

Drawing on his experience as aide to former Majority Leader Howard Baker, the author lays open the workings of the U.S. Senate in a chronicle of a typical week on Capitol Hill

Running in place: Inside the Senate

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Simon Schuster Trade

Drawing on his experience as aide to former Majority Leader Howard Baker, the author lays open the workings of the U.S. Senate in a chronicle of a typical week on Capitol Hill

Touchstone Books

In 1931, nine black youths were charged with raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. Despite meager and contradictory evidence, all nine were found guilty and eight of the defendants were sentenced to death--making Scottsboro one of the worst travesties of justice to take place in the post-Reconstruction South. Remembering Scottsboro explores how this case has embedded itself into the fabric of American memory and become a lens for perceptions of race, class, sexual politics, and justice. James Miller draws upon the archives of the Communist International and NAACP, contemporary journalistic accounts, as well as poetry, drama, fiction, and film, to document the impact of Scottsboro on American culture.
 The book reveals how the Communist Party, NAACP, and media shaped early images of Scottsboro; looks at how the case influenced authors including Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Harper Lee; shows how politicians and Hollywood filmmakers invoked the case in the ensuing decades; and examines the defiant, sensitive, and savvy correspondence of Haywood Patterson--one of the accused, who fled the Alabama justice system. Miller considers how Scottsboro persists as a point of reference in contemporary American life and suggests that the Civil Rights movement begins much earlier than the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955.
Remembering Scottsboro demonstrates how one compelling, provocative, and tragic case still haunts the American racial imagination.

Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial

Americas

Princeton University Press

In 1931, nine black youths were charged with raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. Despite meager and contradictory evidence, all nine were found guilty and eight of the defendants were sentenced to death--making Scottsboro one of the worst travesties of justice to take place in the post-Reconstruction South. Remembering Scottsboro explores how this case has embedded itself into the fabric of American memory and become a lens for perceptions of race, class, sexual politics, and justice. James Miller draws upon the archives of the Communist International and NAACP, contemporary journalistic accounts, as well as poetry, drama, fiction, and film, to document the impact of Scottsboro on American culture.
 The book reveals how the Communist Party, NAACP, and media shaped early images of Scottsboro; looks at how the case influenced authors including Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Harper Lee; shows how politicians and Hollywood filmmakers invoked the case in the ensuing decades; and examines the defiant, sensitive, and savvy correspondence of Haywood Patterson--one of the accused, who fled the Alabama justice system. Miller considers how Scottsboro persists as a point of reference in contemporary American life and suggests that the Civil Rights movement begins much earlier than the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955.
Remembering Scottsboro demonstrates how one compelling, provocative, and tragic case still haunts the American racial imagination.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Miller, James A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Miller, James A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Miller, James A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Last Civilized Place: Sijilmasa and Its Saharan Destiny

World Regional Geography: A Question of Place

Running in place: Inside the Senate

Running in Place: Inside the Senate

Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial

Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial

The Last Civilized Place: Sijilmasa and Its Saharan Destiny