The Liquid Continent Project at Alexandria

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, photograph by Michael Haag

In 2011 the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the new library at Alexandria in Egypt, will be hosting several events comprising the Liquid Continent project. One of these will be a writers' workshop on 16 February in which Michael Haag as author of Alexandria: City of Memory and Vintage Alexandria will be taking part. The Liquid Continent is the Mediterranean, and three cities in particular - Venice, Istanbul and Alexandria - have played major roles in shaping its history and its culture. But though the Mediterranean can be said to have bound together the peoples round its shores in the past, does it do so today? And do Venice, Istanbul and Alexandria have significant roles to play?

Templars UK eBook

The Templars: History and Myth is now available as an ebook on both sides of the Atlantic. Profile Books in Britain have published it as an ebook. The Templars was published as an ebook by Harper Collins in the United States last year.

Os Templários

Os Templários: História e Mito has been published in Brazil by Editora Prumo.

Esta é a primeira obra lançada após a aguardada publicação do Pergaminho de Chinon, documento mantido durante séculos no Arquivo Secreto do Vaticano, que inocenta os cavaleiros templários das acusações de heresia. Como ordem de monges guerreiros fundada após a Primeira Cruzada para proteger peregrinos rumo a Jerusalém, os templários se tornaram a entidade mais rica e mais poderosa do mundo medieval. Não deviam obediência a nenhum poder secular ou eclesiástico a não ser o próprio papa. Dois séculos mais tarde, os cavaleiros foram repentinamente presos, acusados de orgias, blasfêmia e heresia, a ordem foi extinta e os integrantes e dirigentes queimados. O dramático fim dos cavaleiros chocou seus contemporâneos e instigou a imaginação alheia, o que levou à invenção de inúmeros mitos a cerca da ordem. Segundo especulações, havia outro motivo para essa estrondosa ascensão e misterioso desaparecimento: os templários protegiam o segredo da genealogia da família com descendência direta de Jesus Cristo. Este livro aborda toda a história e mitos sobre os cavaleiros, desde as suas origens até hoje. De forma franca e com caráter histórico, a obra busca esclarecer todos esses aspectos.

Michael Haag's Many Alexandrias

Michael Haag's Many Alexandrias is an article that appears in Arion, a Journal of Humanities and the Classics.

'Michael Haag offers many Alexandrias—Cavafy’s, Forster’s, and Durrell’s—but his special contribution to this tradition may be his recovery and preservation of a great city’s past, before it becomes completely lost and forgotten. He has rescued what ought to be saved. He tells the stories of artists, individuals, and families in the mix and flux of events. His great theme is modern Alexandria. His achievement is both history and art.'

To read the entire article, click here.

The American University in Cairo Press Travel Guides

The American University in Cairo Press is now publishing Michael Haag's Egypt and his Cairo, Luxor and Aswan travel guides for the Middle East market. Cadogan continue to publish them for the rest of the world. Click on the covers to enlarge.

The Templars in Los Angeles

For an interview with Michael Haag in The Los Angeles Times about his book The Templars, click here.