Nine parts of desire - Moé for Solarpunk Books

255 pages

English language

Published Sept. 24, 1996 by Anchor Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-385-47577-8
OCLC Number:: 33992379

(1 review)

With a New Afterword. As a prizewinning foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Geraldine Brooks spent six years covering the Middle East through wars, insurrections, and the volcanic upheaval of resurgent fundamentalism. Yet for her, headline events were only the backdrop to a less obvious but more enduring drama: the daily life of Muslim women. Nine Parts of Desire is the story of Brooks' intrepid journey toward an understanding of the women behind the veils, and of the often contradictory political, religious, and cultural forces that shape their lives. Defying our stereotypes about the Muslim world, Brooks' acute analysis of the world's fastest growing religion deftly illustrates how Islam's holiest texts have been misused to justify repression of women, and how male pride and power have warped the original message of a once liberating faith. From the Trade Paperback edition.

3 editions

Denis reviewed Nine parts of desire by Geraldine Brooks

Great intro into the inner world of Middle East countries

5 stars

For those interested in learning a little more about the abuse of women under the guise of religious traditions in some Middle East countries, I highly recommend this book. The book is written by a Wall Street Journal journalist who spent several years in the late 80s in the Middle East, covering events in the Arab world of those years, including the Iran-Iraq War, how life in Iran changed after the Islamic Revolution, the dramatic history of women in Gaza, Iraqi Kurdistan, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, up until the Gulf War of 1991. It also explains the differences between the Shiite and Sunni movements and the history of Arab countries in the second half of the 20th century, when they switched to more dogmatic versions of Islam, along with a short but very capacious excursion into that part of the Quran and stories from the life of the Prophet, …

For those interested in learning a little more about the abuse of women under the guise of religious traditions in some Middle East countries, I highly recommend this book. The book is written by a Wall Street Journal journalist who spent several years in the late 80s in the Middle East, covering events in the Arab world of those years, including the Iran-Iraq War, how life in Iran changed after the Islamic Revolution, the dramatic history of women in Gaza, Iraqi Kurdistan, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, up until the Gulf War of 1991. It also explains the differences between the Shiite and Sunni movements and the history of Arab countries in the second half of the 20th century, when they switched to more dogmatic versions of Islam, along with a short but very capacious excursion into that part of the Quran and stories from the life of the Prophet, which became the basis for the rules of conduct for women in Islamic countries. I dare say that the book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how the Islamic world works from the inside. Once you start reading, it's hard to stop.

Subjects

Muslim women
Muslim women -- Social conditions