Why read Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt?

Book cover of Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt: Female Adolescence, Jewish Law, and Ordinary Culture

Book description

Much of what we know about life in the medieval Islamic Middle East comes from texts written to impart religious ideals or to chronicle the movements of great men. How did women participate in the societies these texts describe? What about non-Muslims, whose own religious traditions descended partly from pre-Islamic…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Uriel Simonsohn

Author

Krakowski's Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt offers not only offers a sophisticated critique of scholarship on medieval kinship arrangements, but also casts light on the social agency of young women during the few years between the age of their formal maturity and their matrimonial engagement.

Krakowski's wonderful achievement is made possible thanks to her exceptional familiarity with the documents of the Cairo Geniza and her ability to take a step back and observe the broad social picture they reflect.

From Uriel's list on women in medieval Near Eastern history.