Scheherazade goes west : different cultures, different harems

Fatema Mernissi, the world-renowned Islamic feminist, has shed unprecedented light on the lives of women in the Middle East, in works hailed as ”enchanting” ”(The New York Times Book Review), ” ”exuberant” ”(Elle), ” and ”remarkable” ”(The Washington Post Book World).” Now, in ”Scheherazade Goes West, ” Mernissi reveals her unique experiences as a liberated, independent Moroccan woman faced with the peculiarities and unexpected encroachments of Western culture. Her often surprising discoveries about the conditions of and attitudes toward women around the world — and the exquisitely embroidered amalgam of clear-eyed autobiography and dazzling meta-fiction by which she relates those assorted discoveries — add up to a deliciously wry, engagingly cosmopolitan, and deeply penetrating narrative.