Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women » (New Edition)

Marnia Lazreg is professor of sociology at the Graduate Center and Hunter College, City University of New York. Her books include "The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question" and "Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad" (Princeton).

"A wonderful read: well-written, well-constructed, well-argued, and highly significant. Lazreg addresses a controversial topic and takes intellectual risks. This little gem of a book is brilliant."--Sondra Hale, University of California, Los Angeles

"Clearly expressed and convincing, this book makes arguments and counters opposing views in a subtle, gentle, and imaginative way. Readers will find the book fascinating and will be drawn to its personal nature and elegant answers."--Judith Herrin, King's College London

Choice

Sociologist Lazreg, an authority on Algeria, has issued a call for frank and unmediated conversation among Muslim women. In a series of four letters that assert the major points of contention—modesty, sexual harassment, cultural identity, conviction, and piety—she lays bare the issues, apologetics, and real lives of veiled Muslim women in an unprecedented fashion. . . . A provocative text that demands a response.

Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1
Letter One: Modesty 15
Letter Two: Sexual Harassment 41
Letter Three: Cultural Identity 53
Letter Four: Conviction and Piety 67
Letter Five: Why Women Should Not Wear the Veil 97
Notes 133
References 147
Index 153