I enjoyed the short article by Judith W. Shanks, “A Plea for the Bedoul Bedouin of Petra,” BAR 07:02. It was a refreshing personal article that took me back to my many years in the Middle East. It’s a pity that her husband, Hershel, cannot write half as refreshingly and interestingly as Judith.

Philip Hammond’s “New Light on the Nabataeans,” BAR 07:02, was extremely interesting to one who has visited Petra as an ordinary uninformed tourist.