Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952

Download Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691113785
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952 by : Mine Ener

Download or read book Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952 written by Mine Ener and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2003-10-12 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utilizing materials from Egyptian & British archives, Ener examines transformations in poor relief policies, changing attitudes toward the public poor, the entrance of new state & private actors in the field of charity, & the poor's uses of institutions & programmes in the 19th & early 20th centuries.

Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952

Download Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691113784
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (137 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952 by : Mine Ener

Download or read book Managing Egypt's Poor and the Politics of Benevolence, 1800-1952 written by Mine Ener and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2003-10-12 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This richly textured social history recovers the voices and experiences of poor Egyptians--beggars, foundlings, the sick and maimed--giving them a history for the first time. As Mine Ener tells their fascinating stories alongside those of reformers, tourists, politicians, and philanthropists, she explores the economic, political, and colonial context that shaped poverty policy for a century and a half. While poverty and poverty relief have been extensively studied in the North American and European contexts, there has been little research done on the issue for the Middle East--and scant comprehensive presentation of the Islamic ethos that has guided charitable action in the region. Drawing on British and Egyptian archival sources, Ener documents transformations in poor relief, changing attitudes toward the public poor, the entrance of new state and private actors in the field of charity, the motivations behind their efforts, and the poor's use of programs created to help them. She also fosters a dialogue between Middle Eastern studies and those who study poverty relief elsewhere by explicitly comparing Egypt's poor relief to policies in Istanbul and also Western Europe, Russia, and North America. Heralding a new kind of research into how societies care for the destitute--and into the religious prerogatives that guide them--this book is one of the first in-depth studies of charity and philanthropy in a region whose social problems have never been of greater interest to the West.

Re-envisioning Egypt 1919-1952

Download Re-envisioning Egypt 1919-1952 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : American Univ in Cairo Press
ISBN 13 : 9789774249006
Total Pages : 552 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (49 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Re-envisioning Egypt 1919-1952 by : Arthur Goldschmidt

Download or read book Re-envisioning Egypt 1919-1952 written by Arthur Goldschmidt and published by American Univ in Cairo Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Re-Envisioning Egypt, 1919-1952 presents new and often dismissed aspects of the constitutional monarchy era in Egyptian history. It demonstrates that many of the domestic and regional sociopolitical and cultural changes credited to the 1952 revolutionaries actually began in the decades before the July coup. Arguing against the predominant view of the pre-revolutionary era in Egypt as one of creeping decay, the volume restores understandings of the 1919-1952 years as integral to modern nation-state formation and social transformation. The book's contributors show that Egypt's real revolutions were long-term processes emerging over several decades prior to 1952. The leaders of the 1952 coup capitalized on these developments, yet earlier changes in Egyptian society fundamentally facilitated their actions and policies. This volume includes revisionist discussion of domestic political issues and foreign policy; the military, education, social reform, and class; as well as popular media, art, and literature. By introducing new approaches to these under-appreciated categories of analysis through exploration of untapped sources and by re-examining the political context of the time, Re-Envisioning Egypt, 1919-1952 proposes innovative methodologies for understanding this crucial period in Egyptian history, casting these years as fundamental to the country's twentieth-century trajectory. Contributors: Tewfik Aclimandos, Malak Badrawi, Andrew Flibbert, Nancy Gallagher, Arthur Goldschmidt, Mervat Hatem, Misako Ikeda, Amy J. Johnson, Anne-Claire Kerboeuf, Samia Kholoussi, Hanan Kholoussy, Fred Lawson, Shaun T. Lopez, Scott David McIntosh, Roger Owen, Lucie Ryzova, Barak A. Salmoni, James Whidden, Caroline Williams.

Gender, Religion and Change in the Middle East

Download Gender, Religion and Change in the Middle East PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1845207289
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (452 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Gender, Religion and Change in the Middle East by : Inger Marie Okkenhaug

Download or read book Gender, Religion and Change in the Middle East written by Inger Marie Okkenhaug and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2005-03-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complicated link between women and religion in the Middle East has been a source of debate for centuries, and has special resonance today. Whether religion reinforces female oppression or provides opportunities for women - or a combination of both - depends on time, place and circumstance. This book seeks to contextualize women's roles within their religious traditions rather than through the lens of a dominant culture. Gender, Religion and Change in the Middle East crosses boundaries and borders, and will appeal to a global audience.This book provides a comprehensive survey of women in Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities in the Middle East during the last two centuries. The authors consider women's defined roles within these religious communities, as well as exploring how women themselves develop and apply their own strategies within religious societies. The wide-ranging accounts draw on case studies from Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon since 1800. Throughout, the authors challenge our understanding of patriarchy to offer a more nuanced account.Taking a balanced look at the issues of religion, gender and change in the Middle East, this unique interdisciplinary study gives new insight to the theme of women and religion in the Middle East.

Interpreting Welfare and Relief in the Middle East

Download Interpreting Welfare and Relief in the Middle East PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004164367
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (41 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Interpreting Welfare and Relief in the Middle East by : Nefissa Naguib

Download or read book Interpreting Welfare and Relief in the Middle East written by Nefissa Naguib and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on different problematic and methodological perspectives and new sources, this book's contributions lie in the close study of welfare beyond the religious divides, codifications and indoctrinations. The time span - from 1850 to the present day - represents moments of colonisations, occupations, wars and conflicts which resulted in un-met needs and broken down institutions. What are the stories behind health care, schools, orphanages and vocational schools, maternity homes and hostels? The collection of chapters examine different involvements in welfare activities not only as contextualised in stable communities and nations, but also as they emerge in vulnerable states and disintegrating societies. Furthermore, this volume brings forth the historical and contemporary voices of those who provide relief and the beneficiaries of such efforts. At the core of this book are themes concerned with humanitarianism in relation to people's unique experiences, state and non-governmental organisations, gender and modernity.

Gender and the Representation of Evil

Download Gender and the Representation of Evil PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1315531550
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (155 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Gender and the Representation of Evil by : Lynne Fallwell

Download or read book Gender and the Representation of Evil written by Lynne Fallwell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-07-28 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection examines gendered representations of "evil" in history, the arts, and literature. Scholars often explore the relationships between gender, sex, and violence through theories of inequality, violence against women, and female victimization, but what happens when women are the perpetrators of violent or harmful behavior? How do we define "evil"? What makes evil men seem different from evil women? When women commit acts of violence or harmful behavior, how are they represented differently from men? How do perceptions of class, race, and age influence these representations? How have these representations changed over time, and why? What purposes have gendered representations of evil served in culture and history? What is the relationship between gender, punishment of evil behavior, and equality?

Egypt

Download Egypt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 159884234X
Total Pages : 529 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (988 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Egypt by : Mona L. Russell Ph.D.

Download or read book Egypt written by Mona L. Russell Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook provides an overview of the society, culture, geography, history, and politics of contemporary Egypt. While such historic monuments as the pyramids at Giza, the Karnak Temple, and the Valley of the Kings draw visitors to Egypt each year, the country is today a large and varied collection of some 79 million people. An important political and cultural force in the Middle East and home to one of Africa's most advanced economies, Egypt is rapidly becoming a major player in the 21st-century world. This comprehensive text examines all facets of life in Egypt, including its land, history, politics, and culture. It is written in a manner that makes the subject accessible and engaging for readers with little prior knowledge about the country, but also provides a critical analysis of the latest research for students and scholars familiar with Egypt and its people. Special attention is given to the historical period following the rise of Islam to enable a greater understanding of Egypt's contemporary government, religious practices, popular culture, and current events.

Unknown Past

Download Unknown Past PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 1503629783
Total Pages : 398 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (36 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Unknown Past by : Hanan Hammad

Download or read book Unknown Past written by Hanan Hammad and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-10 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of the "Cinderella" of Egyptian cinema—the veneration and rumors that surrounded an unparalleled career, and the gendered questions that unsettled Egyptian society. Layla Murad (1918-1995) was once the highest-paid star in Egypt, and her movies were among the top-grossing in the box office. She starred in 28 films, nearly all now classics in Arab musical cinema. In 1955 she was forced to stop acting—and struggled for decades for a comeback. Today, even decades after her death, public interest in her life continues, and new generations of Egyptians still love her work. Unknown Past recounts Murad's extraordinary life—and the rapid political and sociocultural changes she witnessed. Hanan Hammad writes a story centered on Layla Murad's persona and legacy, and broadly framed around a gendered history of twentieth-century Egypt. Murad was a Jew who converted to Islam in the shadow of the first Arab-Israeli war. Her career blossomed under the Egyptian monarchy and later gave a singing voice to the Free Officers and the 1952 Revolution. The definitive end of her cinematic career came under Nasser on the eve of the 1956 Suez War. Egyptians have long told their national story through interpretations of Murad's life, intertwining the individual and Egyptian state and society to better understand Egyptian identity. As Unknown Past recounts, there's no life better than Murad's to reflect the tumultuous changes experienced over the dramatic decades of the mid-twentieth century.

The Copts of Egypt

Download The Copts of Egypt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857736329
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Copts of Egypt by : Vivian Ibrahim

Download or read book The Copts of Egypt written by Vivian Ibrahim and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-12-02 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coptic Christians of Egypt have traditionally been portrayed as a 'beleaguered minority', persecuted in a Muslim majority state and by the threat of political Islam. Vivian Ibrahim offers a vivid portrayal of the community and an alternative interpretation of Coptic agency in the twentieth century, through newly dicovered sources. Dismissing the monolithic portrayal of this community, she analyses how Copts negotiated a role for themselves during the colonial and Nasserist periods, and their multifaceted response to the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood. She examines reform within the Church itself, and how it led to power struggles that redefined the role of the Pope and Church in Nasser's Egypt. The findings of this book hold great relevance for understanding identity politics and the place of the Coptic community in the fast-changing political landscape of today's Egypt.

Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa

Download Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1838603980
Total Pages : 439 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (386 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa by : Stephanie Cronin

Download or read book Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa written by Stephanie Cronin and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-28 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of the 'dangerous classes' was born in a rapidly urbanizing and industrializing nineteenth century Europe. It described all those who had fallen out of the working classes into the lower depths of the new societies, surviving by their wits or various amoral, disreputable or criminal strategies. This included beggars and vagrants, swindlers, pickpockets and burglars, prostitutes and pimps, ex-soldiers, ex-prisoners, tricksters, drug-dealers, the unemployed or unemployable, indeed every type of the criminal and marginal. This book examines the 'dangerous classes' in the Middle East and North Africa, their lives and the strategies they used to avoid, evade, cheat, placate or, occasionally, resist, the authorities. Chapters cover the narratives of their lives; their relationship with 'respectable' society; their political inclinations and their role in shaping systems and institutions of discipline and control and their representation in literature and in popular culture. The book demonstrates the liminality of the 'dangerous classes' and their capacity for re-invention. It also indicates the sharpening relevance of the concept to a Middle East and North Africa now in the grip of an almost permanent sense of crisis, its younger generations crippled by a pervasive sense of hopelessness, prone to petty crime and vulnerable to induction as foot soldiers into drug and people smuggling, petty gangsterism and jihadism.

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Egyptian History

Download The Oxford Handbook of Modern Egyptian History PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190072741
Total Pages : 601 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Modern Egyptian History by : Beth Baron

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Modern Egyptian History written by Beth Baron and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 601 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this Oxford Handbook rethink the modern history of one of the most important and influential countries in the Middle East--Egypt. For a country and region so often understood in terms of religion and violence, this work explores environmental, medical, legal, cultural, and political histories. It gives readers an excellent view of the current debates in Egyptian history.

A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East

Download A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136220178
Total Pages : 418 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (362 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East by : Linda T. Darling

Download or read book A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East written by Linda T. Darling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From ancient Mesopotamia into the 20th century, "the Circle of Justice" as a concept has pervaded Middle Eastern political thought and underpinned the exercise of power in the Middle East. The Circle of Justice depicts graphically how a government’s justice toward the population generates political power, military strength, prosperity, and good administration. This book traces this set of relationships from its earliest appearance in the political writings of the Sumerians through four millennia of Middle Eastern culture. It explores how people conceptualized and acted upon this powerful insight, how they portrayed it in symbol, painting, and story, and how they transmitted it from one regime to the next. Moving towards the modern day, the author shows how, although the Circle of Justice was largely dropped from political discourse, it did not disappear from people’s political culture and expectations of government. The book demonstrates the Circle’s relevance to the Iranian Revolution and the rise of Islamist movements all over the Middle East, and suggests how the concept remains relevant in an age of capitalism. A "must read" for students, policymakers, and ordinary citizens, this book will be an important contribution to the areas of political history, political theory, Middle East studies and Orientalism.

The Orphan Scandal

Download The Orphan Scandal PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804792224
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Orphan Scandal by : Beth Baron

Download or read book The Orphan Scandal written by Beth Baron and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-09 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a sweltering June morning in 1933 a fifteen-year-old Muslim orphan girl refused to rise in a show of respect for her elders at her Christian missionary school in Port Said. Her intransigence led to a beating—and to the end of most foreign missions in Egypt—and contributed to the rise of Islamist organizations. Turkiyya Hasan left the Swedish Salaam Mission with scratches on her legs and a suitcase of evidence of missionary misdeeds. Her story hit a nerve among Egyptians, and news of the beating quickly spread through the country. Suspicion of missionary schools, hospitals, and homes increased, and a vehement anti-missionary movement swept the country. That missionaries had won few converts was immaterial to Egyptian observers: stories such as Turkiyya's showed that the threat to Muslims and Islam was real. This is a great story of unintended consequences: Christian missionaries came to Egypt to convert and provide social services for children. Their actions ultimately inspired the development of the Muslim Brotherhood and similar Islamist groups. In The Orphan Scandal, Beth Baron provides a new lens through which to view the rise of Islamic groups in Egypt. This fresh perspective offers a starting point to uncover hidden links between Islamic activists and a broad cadre of Protestant evangelicals. Exploring the historical aims of the Christian missions and the early efforts of the Muslim Brotherhood, Baron shows how the Muslim Brotherhood and like-minded Islamist associations developed alongside and in reaction to the influx of missionaries. Patterning their organization and social welfare projects on the early success of the Christian missions, the Brotherhood launched their own efforts to "save" children and provide for the orphaned, abandoned, and poor. In battling for Egypt's children, Islamic activists created a network of social welfare institutions and a template for social action across the country—the effects of which, we now know, would only gain power and influence across the country in the decades to come.

Nation and Translation in the Middle East

Download Nation and Translation in the Middle East PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131762064X
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Nation and Translation in the Middle East by : Samah Selim

Download or read book Nation and Translation in the Middle East written by Samah Selim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Middle East, translation movements and the debates they have unleashed on language, culture and the politics and practices of identity have historically been tied to processes of state formation and administration, in the form of patronage, policy and publishing. Whether one considers the age of regional empires centered in Baghdad or Istanbul, or that of the modern nation-state from Egypt to Iran, this relationship points to the historical role of translation as a powerful and flexible tool of cultural politics. "Nation and Translation in the Middle East" focuses on this important aspect of translation in the region, with special emphasis on translation movements and the production of modernity in a historical context defined by European imperialism, enlightenment universalism, and globalization. While the papers assembled in this special issue of "The Translator" each address specific translation histories and practices in the Middle East, the broader questions they raise regarding the location and the historicity of translation offer a fruitful intervention into contemporary debates in translation studies on difference, fidelity and the ethics of translation. The volume opens with two essays that situate translation at the intersection of national canons, post colonial cultural hegemonies and 'private' market or activist-based initiatives in Egypt and Turkey. Other contributions discuss the utility of translation paradigms as a counterweight to the dominant orientalist historiography of modern print culture in the Arab World; the role of the translator as political agent and social reformer in twentieth-century Egypt; and the relationship between language, translation and the politics of identity in the multi-ethnic and multilingual Islamicate contexts of the Abbasid and Mughal Empires. The volume also includes a general bibliography on translation and the Middle East.

Medicine and Morality in Egypt

Download Medicine and Morality in Egypt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857737724
Total Pages : 267 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Medicine and Morality in Egypt by : Sherry Sayed Gadelrab

Download or read book Medicine and Morality in Egypt written by Sherry Sayed Gadelrab and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-22 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Middle Eastern and Islamic societies, the politics of sexual knowledge is a delicate and often controversial subject. Sherry Sayed Gadelrab focuses on nineteenth and early-twentieth century Egypt, claiming that during this period there was a perceptible shift in the medical discourse surrounding conceptualisations of sex differences and the construction of sexuality. Medical authorities began to promote theories that suggested men's innate 'active' sexuality as opposed to women's more 'passive' characteristics, interpreting the differences in female and male bodies to correspond to this hierarchy. Through examining the interconnection of medical, legal, religious and moral discourses on sexual behaviour, Gadelrab highlights the association between sex, sexuality and the creation and recreation of the concept of gender at this crucial moment in the development of Egyptian society. By analysing the debates at the time surrounding science, medicine, morality, modernity and sexuality, she paints a nuanced picture of the Egyptian understanding and manipulation of the concepts of sex and gender.

Histories of the Jews of Egypt

Download Histories of the Jews of Egypt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317624211
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Histories of the Jews of Egypt by : Dario Miccoli

Download or read book Histories of the Jews of Egypt written by Dario Miccoli and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-03-24 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Up until the advent of Nasser and the 1956 War, a thriving and diverse Jewry lived in Egypt – mainly in the two cities of Alexandria and Cairo, heavily influencing the social and cultural history of the country. Histories of the Jews of Egypt argues that this Jewish diaspora should be viewed as "an imagined bourgeoisie". It demonstrates how, from the late nineteenth century up to the 1950s, a resilient bourgeois imaginary developed and influenced the lives of Egyptian Jews both in the public arena, in institutions such as the school, and in the home. From the schools of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Cairo lycée français to Alexandrian marriage contracts and interwar Zionist newspapers – this book explains how this imaginary was characterised by a great capacity to adapt to the evolutions of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Egypt, but later deteriorated alongside increasingly strong Arab nationalism and the political upheavals that the country experienced from the 1940s onwards. Offering a novel perspective on the history of modern Egypt and its Jews, and unravelling too often forgotten episodes and personalities which contributed to the making of an incredibly diverse and lively Jewish diaspora at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East, this book is of interest to scholars of Modern Egypt, Jewish History and of Mediterranean History.

Composing Egypt

Download Composing Egypt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804799210
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Composing Egypt by : Hoda A. Yousef

Download or read book Composing Egypt written by Hoda A. Yousef and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-22 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this innovative history of reading and writing, Hoda Yousef explores how the idea of literacy and its practices fundamentally altered the social fabric of Egypt at the turn of the twentieth century. She traces how nationalists, Islamic modernists, bureaucrats, journalists, and early feminists sought to reform reading habits, writing styles, and the Arabic language itself in their hopes that the right kind of literacy practices would create the right kind of Egyptians. The impact of new reading and writing practices went well beyond the elites and the newly literate of Egyptian society, and this book reveals the increasingly ubiquitous reading and writing practices of literate, illiterate, and semi-literate Egyptians alike. Students who wrote petitions, women who frequented scribes, and communities who gathered to hear a newspaper read aloud all used various literacies to participate in social exchanges and civic negotiations regarding the most important issues of their day. Composing Egypt illustrates how reading and writing practices became not only an object of social reform, but also a central medium for public exchange. Wide segments of society could engage with new ideas about nationalism, education, gender, and, ultimately, what it meant to be part of "modern Egypt."