Ambling Through Life - Softcover

Crook, Jay R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0983555230 ISBN 13: 9780983555230

Publisher: Jay R. Crook, 2015

Synopsis

Jay R. Crook has spent more than half of his adult life studying, working, and ambling throughout the Middle East and South Asia, with excursions into neighboring lands as well as Europe and elsewhere. The present volume is a kind of harvest of journeys shared with the reader. Attend a wedding in Sylhet and kite-flying in Dacca. Witness the bizarre fate of an eccentric artist in Manhattan and the tragedy of a Mughal princess in the Buriganga River. Follow an Iranian SAVAK agent seeking refuge in Mykonos and the trial of a man whose future may depend upon an ant. Join an expedition to the ruins of New York. Watch Indian, Pakistani, and American movies with the author and read his poetic musings scattered throughout this book. Peruse too his more recent writings, including an investigation into the death of John the Baptist. Let the ambling begin!

About this title

About the Author

Jay R. Crook was born in upstate New York, the second son of a clergyman, but spent his formative years on Long Island, NY. A chance acquaintance at his workplace awakened an interest in Islamic culture and civilization. After serving in the US Army (1952-54), he traveled to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) where he earned his BA at Dacca College. He wound up spending most of his working life after Pakistan in the Middle East, especially in Iran (1964-1980) and Saudi Arabia (1983-97) while traveling extensively in the region. A Peace Corps field representative in East Paki-stan (1962-63) and later in Iran, he finished his tour there as Deputy Director of the Iran program. He then enrolled in the Doctoral Program of Persian Literature for Foreigners at Tehran University and received his Ph.D. in 1978, just as the Iranian revolution was getting underway. His doctoral thesis, Moqayeseh-ye Qisas-e Quran-e Surabadi ba Ketab-e Moqaddas (A Comparison of the Quranic Stories of Surabadi With the Bible), two decades later became the core of his much-expanded English version, The Bible: An Islamic Perspective books. After leaving Iran in 1980, he taught English to foreigners in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia before returning to visit Iran twice in the late ’90s. He now resides in Tucson, Arizona, and has translated several major works from Persian into English, including Kashifi’s The Royal Book of Spiritual Chivalry and Ghazzali’s The Alchemy of Happi-ness. He has also edited and annotated two books about the Prophet Yahya (John the Baptist) by Agron Belica. He has published a novel, The Burnt City, with the Iranian Revolution as its background and is currently work-ing on several writing projects, including a novel set in pre-revolutionary Iran and a memoir about his experiences in East Pakistan.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jay R. Crook
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0983555230
• ISBN 13: 9780983555230
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 276