Al Jadid, a review and record of Arab culture and arts, features original essays, book and film reviews, interviews, poetry and much more. In the new issue, Georgine Ayoub examines the evolution of the Arabic language ("Odyssey of Words: Evolution of the Arabic Language in the 20^th Century"). The author looks into the major forces influencing the evolution of a language spoken by more than 250 million people. Recent events have generated interest in Arabic literature, primarily the novel: Andrea Shlal-Esa reports ("The Arab Novel: Visions of Social Reality")on a two-day conference devoted to the Arab novel. George Tarabishi, finds George Corm's "East-West: The Imagined Fracture" to be fascinating, especially in tracing a history and a typology of "dualities" between East and West, dualities said to have been imaginary but with a caveat: that the recent events have the potential of transforming what was once imaginary into reality.

Edmund Ghareeb writes on the early Arab press in Latin America, documenting in exceptional detail generations of publications in that region. D. H. Melhem examines one not often explored facet of Gibran Kahlil Gibran: that despite his popularity,Gibran continues to be rejected by mainstream critics in America.

The plight of the forgotten in the Middle East is covered in Muhammad Abdul Wali's "They Die Strangers," reviewed by Silvia Chelala. Jordan Elgrably’s reading of Bahaa Taher's "Love in Exile" illustrates this point as well. Susan Muaddi Darraj examines the plight of another forgotten group, the adopted children of Muslim societies as covered in "The Orphans of Islam." Samir Mattar ("A Gathering of Shades") writes on a different immigrant experience, that of Lebanese immigrants in New York, as chronicled by Eugene Nassar through his "Wind of the Land" and a "Walk Around the Block."

In the film section, Malek Abisaab looks at the highly publicized video ("Islam: Empire of Faith") which became even more popular after September 11 and observes certain limitations, despite scores of positive reviews. Pamela Nice reviews Mai Masri's "Frontiers of Dreams and Fears," a documentary that distinguishes itself by combining a political and the personal perspective on the experiences of young Palestinian girls.

Paul Sullivan reads Roland Jacquard's book, "In the Name of Osama Bin Laden." Lynne Rogers revisits the Arab-Israeli conflict, not from a historical and political angles, but rather from an aesthetic and architectural perspective, examining the relationship between physical structures and political struggle as covered by Daniel Bertrand Monk, "Aesthetic Occupation."

John Naoum Tannous offers a special, psychological reading of Emily Nasrallah's novel "Al Jamr al-Ghafi" (Dormant Embers.) Sabah Zwein speaks with the Kuwaiti novelist Leila al-Othman on censorship, opportunists and Islamists. Through her reading of Joseph Massad's "Colonial Effects: The Making of the National Identity in Jordan," Serap Bozkent-Franco highlights the "cultural" role the colonizer played in Jordan, a role whose effects last till today. Pauline Homsi Vinson reads Sonallah Ibrahim's "Zaat," a dark comedy that probes Egyptian society under Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak.

The issue also includes an interview with qanun player Hicham Chami, conducted by Cindy Infantino; a new poem, by Peggy Garrison; a report on an exhibition of Arab Americans in New York by Ema Shakelton; and Faisal Tbeileh reviewing "Acre: The Rise And Fall of a Palestinian City, 1730-1831" by Thomas Philipp and "Modernity and Culture: From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean," edited by Leila Tarazi Fawaz and C.A. Bbayly.