The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

The Life Collection

You may have heard that since yesterday, Google has been hosting images from Life magazine, the classic American newsmagazine that defined modern photojournalism. You can just go to this Google page and search the archives, or just add the words "source:life" in your normal Google Search. Life appeared as a weekly between 1936 and 1972 (and as monthly thereafter until 2000), so it's a great resource for fantastic pictures from that era.

Here are a few I found this morning, focusing on Middle Eastern leaders and historic events. Captions come from Life, click on the picture to be taken to the page with full info.

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Fidel Castro (L) and Gamal Abdul Nasser at United Nation General Assembly, September 1960.


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King Hassan II sitting on the Royal Throne during the ceremony of his installation (coronation) as King of Morocco, 1961.

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Caliph of Spanish Morocco, Muley el Hassan (C) talking with the Spanish Duchess of Montpensie during the wedding banquet for his marriage to Princess Lal-la Fatima of French Morocco, June 1949.

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Ahmed Mohamed Hassanein (Pasha), First Chamberlain to the King of Egypt, 1940.

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Large group of Axis prisoners taken in the desert fighting in Libya are paraded through the city under armed escort of Scottish troops and mounted Cairo policemen, May 1942.


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Scottish Cameron Highlander and Indian troops marching past pyramids, part of Allied defense preparations against Italian attack during WWII.

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An explosion blasting a path in Jewish-held old city after Arabs carefully crept through gunfire to plant dynamite under walls during attack by Arab Legion, June 1948.


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Egyptian actress Om Kalthoum, singing on Cairo's "Voice of Arabs" radio show.