Search - Globe Trekker: Middle East (Double DVD) on DVD

Good Shows

M. Higgins | DEAVER, WY USA | 12/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've got individual copies of Israel and the Jordan, Syria, Lebanon tape. Generally they are very good. I would have liked to have seen some footage on Amman, Jordan. I am occassionally troubled by the attitude of Justine Shapiro who is the host of the Israel tape. She can come off as sarcastic and condescending to other cultures. Ian Wright, on the other hand has fun with other cultures without putting them down. Overall I'd recommend these DVD's for teachers. I've not seen the DVD in the set with Megan McCormick."

Video tours of Middle Eastern countries

Kim Boykin | New York, NY | 02/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a set of two DVDs containing four programs (about 50 minutes each) from the "Globe Trekker" TV series:
(1) "Syria, Jordan and Lebanon" with Ian Wright;
(2) "Israel and Sinai" with Justine Shapiro;
(3) "The Arab Gulf States" (includes Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman) with Megan McCormick; and
(4) "Short History of the Middle East," which incorporates numerous clips from other Globe Trekker programs, including the others in this set.

Our youngish British and American guides take us on interesting and informative tours of countries that I for one will probably never visit in person. I enjoyed my armchair travels (and I now have a much better grasp of Middle Eastern geography).

As I'd hoped, the programs include a number of brief segments that I might use in teaching world religions: on the Wailing Wall, Masada, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, a kibbutz, Mount Sinai, the Dead Sea, the Via Dolorosa, Roman ruins in Ephesus, the first Christian monastery (in Egypt, founded by St. Antony), the Dome of the Rock, the Hagia Sophia, and the Sultan Ahmet Mosque in Istanbul. And the "Short History" program includes a one-minute history of the major empires in the Middle East, with a nifty animated map showing their expansion and decline."