🐻 Cornell Near Eastern Studies unofficial reading list, fall 2026
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Freshman level
Elementary Modern Hebrew I HEBRW 1101
- Shalom 1: A Beginners Comprehensive Course in Modern Hebrew by Shoer & Shoer
Elementary Arabic I ARAB 1201
- Arabiyyat al-Naas, Part 1: An Intro. Course in Arabic by Younes et al.
Intermediate Arabic I ARAB 1203
- Arabiyyat al-Naas, Part 2: An Intermediate Course in Arabic by Younes et al.
Elementary Persian-Farsi I PERSN 1320
- Modern Persian, Elementary Level: beh farsi begoo by Iago Gocheleishvili
Elementary Turkish through TV Series I TURK 1330
- Yedi İklim Türkçe A1
Introduction to the Ottoman Empire NES 1561
- A Short History of the Ottoman Empire by Renée Worringer
- The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk
Sophomore level
Arabic for Heritage Speakers ARAB 2201
- Riḥla ilā Bilād al-‘Arab: A Comprehensive Intro. Course for Arabic Heritage Speakers by Munther Younes
The History & Politics of Modern Egypt NES 2670
- Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern Nation through Popular Culture by Ziad Fahmy
- Modern Egypt: The Formation Of A Nation State by Arthur Goldschmidt Jr.
Junior level
Minorities of the Middle East NES 3655/6655
- The Baghdad Eucharist by Sinan Antoon
- The Weight of Paradise by Iman Humaydan
History of Christianity NES 3695
- Confessions by Augustine
- A Brief History of Christianity by Carter Lindberg
- Secrets of God: Writings of Hildegard of Bingen by Sabina Flanagan
Senior level
Moses Maimonides NES 4540/6540
- Epistles of Maimonides: Crisis & Leadership Abraham S. Halkin
- A Maimonides Reader by Isadore Twersky
- Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker by Sarah Stroumsa
- Maimonides: The Life & World of One of Civilization’s Greatest Minds by Joel L. Kraemer
- The Guide of the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides
Contesting Identities in Modern Egypt NES 4605/6605
- Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture & Politics in Egypt by Niloofar Haeri
- Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern Nation through Popular Culture by Ziad Fahmy
- Karnak Café by Naguib Mahfouz
- A Border Passage: From Cairo to America – A Woman’s Journey by Leila Ahmed
- Industrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization & Social Transformation in Egypt by Hanan Hammad
- An Incurable Past: Nasser’s Egypt Then and Now by Mériam N. Belli
- Egypt in the Future Tense: Hope, Frustration, and Ambivalence before & after 2011 by Samuli Schielke
- Identifying with Nationality: Europeans, Ottomans & Egyptians in Alexandria by Will Hanley
- Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian Culinary History of the Tomato by Anny Gaul