Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East

Rating:
Summary: Coherent and concise
Review: This book presents a coherent and concise overview of women in the Middle East. Although written for young people, the language and facts are not dumbed-down in the least. Much recent research by such well-known authors as Fatima Mernissi, Bouthaina Shaaban, and Valentine Moghadam is presented in a form accessible to high school or even advanced middle school readers. Numerous pictures throughout the book help to support the authors' observations of how much variety there is in the conditions of women's lives in the region. Although the authors are both Americans, they have obvious deep connections to the Middle East, and their writing is neither strictly from the outside nor the inside- -it truly bridges cultures. The book is highly informative- -by spending just an hour or two reading this book, an adult reader could get a crash course in all of the main issues and major writers in this field. Recommended reading for anyone, young or old, travelling to the Middle East.