4.5 stars

The outdated cover doesn't do this book justice. It was one of the more interesting memoirs I've read as of late.

Fernea details her time living with a rural tribe in Iraq in the late 1950s. Her husband is studying for a doctorate as an anthropologist, and she helps him by relating the stories of the tribe's women and their customs.

I enjoyed learning of the cultural differences between this tribe and my own society. It was also nice to see some similarities. I do wonder how much has changed in Iraqi culture in the 60 years since the events in the book took place.

Worth a read! ( )

First of all this book was written in 1958. I was fooled by the cover which made it look more contemporary. But this is my fault since I never checked the publication date until the author mentioned that Faisel was the head of Iraq, and Faisel preceded Sadam Hussein. This not an ethnographic study; it is a memoir of a woman's life in a Shiite tribal settlement in Southern Iraq. This is not to diminish it. The book is quite moving particularly in the parts in which the author must navigate the female culture in this conservative outpost where the veil is always worn and a woman would never even be seen by a man unless covered or found in the company of an unmarried man. In the end there is a poignant moment in which the author makes a mistake and with a local friend goes for a ride in the vehicle driven by a man and returning realizes that the woman could be killed for this. There is no choice but to lie. There was a very moving moment also when she is first introduced and understands very little Arabic but enough to know she is being disparaged, only to be rescued by the Sheik's favorite wife. Of course, I had presumed that this book would deal with the conflict between cultures through the prism of the recent disastrous war and occupation, but it doesn't. Still the book cuts to the core of how common humanity given time, patience and a lot of compassion can create bonds between people with very very different backgrounds. It is not an ethnographic study because the kind of distant analysis of the cultural differences is rarely touched upon. What we get instead is a memoir of the interactions. Lastly the book does a terrific job giving us the play by play of the core Shiite holy ceremonies surrounding the martyrdom of Hussein, the 7th Iman, and the seismic emotion these rituals hold of the Shiite people. You get a bird's eye view of how swept up people are by the story. ( )

I read this as a freshman in college and it has never been more relevant. It is an ethnography of the women of an Iraqi village named El Nahra. At the time it was written, the author was not an anthropologist but the wife of one of the men in the village. In fact, she was a newlywed!

I wish I knew where my copy of this book was. I'd like to read it again. ( )

This book looks at what rural Iraqi village life was like in 1956-1958, through the eyes of an American woman. As a newlywed, she accompanied her husband to Iraq and lived there with him for two years as he conducted his ethnographic research. For a detailed review, see my web site at http://www.shira.net/books/breviews/fernea-guestsofsheik.htm ( )

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2007/07/guests-of-sheik.html ( )