Nonfiction Book Reviews
Page Two of TwoScheherazade Goes West by Fatema Mernissi
Washington Square Press, March, 2002Trade paperback, 228 pages
ISBN: 0743412435
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
While the rage and grief that Americans experienced
after September 11, 2001, will be a
part of American history for a very long time, thoughtful
Americans have begun to
answer the haunting question of "why?" by trying
to learn about the Muslim point of view.
Fatema Mernissi, professor of sociology at the University
of Mahamed V in Rabat and widely considered the greatest
living scholar of the Koran, makes an outstanding guide
through this profoundly different point of view.
Professor Mernissi is not only a diligent scholar, but
she is also an Islamic feminist. The author of Beyond the
Veil and other books about the
Islamic woman, Professor Mernissi presents a
well-documented and researched comparison
of two types of harem: the Islamic harem and the
western harem, which is rarely recognized
for what it is.
One of the of the most striking points that Professor Mernissi makes is that the Koran clearly states that women are the equals of men and that when Muslim men do lock their women up it is because of their deep fear of that fundamental equality. Western men began to subscribe to the opinions of Kant, who stated that women should never study mathematics history or geography as this knowledge would destroy their beauty. Historically, powerful Muslim men have enjoyed the company of educated and witty women, and considered this to be seductive, while Western men have followed an opposite path. Professor Mernissi's comparisons of the two cultures give a balanced view and are thought-provoking. Ever since Alexis de Tocqueville allowed Americans to view themselves in a different mirror, we have been fascinated with how others see us. Professor Mernissi holds up a mirror to the Western democracies that readers will find illuminating as well as entertaining.
--Sarah Reaves White
Stonehenge by Robin Heath
Walker Books, April, 2002Hardcover, 58 pages
ISBN: 0802713858
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Stonehenge is a short, beautifully illustrated book
that is loaded with new research that
is not widely known. For instance, it is generally
taught in social studies courses that today's
Western culture (i.e., architecture, mathematics, etc.)
has gradually migrated from Egypt, Sumer and
then up through Greece and to Rome. In the late
1960s, however, studies at Stonehenge and other
sites pushed the dates of their construction to over
3,000 years ago, thus leading to the conclusion that
the structures and the accompanying
astronomy and mathematics that produced them
pre-dated the pyramids of Egypt. Stonehenge is
filled with engravings from rare books and from drawings
by the author that illustrate without a doubt that the prehistoric
culture of Britain was sophisticated enough to predict
geometry lunar eclipses, sun and moon positions
and even the state of sea tides. Stonehenge has only 56 pages, but
every page is packed with facts and illustrations that
most readers will find thought-provoking.
--Sarah Reaves White
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