Synopses & Reviews
A vibrant portrait of the talented and entrepreneurial women who defined an era in Cairo.
One of the world’s most multicultural cities, twentieth-century Cairo was a magnet for the ambitious and talented. During the 1920s and ’30s, a vibrant music, theater, film, and cabaret scene flourished, defining what it meant to be a “modern” Egyptian. Women came to dominate the Egyptian entertainment industry — as stars of the stage and screen but also as impresarias, entrepreneurs, owners, and promoters of a new and strikingly modern entertainment industry.
Raphael Cormack unveils the rich histories of independent, enterprising women like vaudeville star Rose al-Youssef (who launched one of Cairo’s most important newspapers); nightclub singer Mounira al-Mahdiyya (the first woman to lead an Egyptian theater company) and her great rival, Oum Kalthoum (still venerated for her soulful lyrics); and other fabulous female stars of the interwar period, a time marked by excess and unheard-of freedom of expression. Buffeted by crosswinds of colonialism and nationalism, conservatism and liberalism, “religious” and “secular” values, patriarchy and feminism, this new generation of celebrities offered a new vision for women in Egypt and throughout the Middle East.
Review
"An utterly unique book, teeming with vividly recounted stories, at times hilarious and at times tragic. These were true feminists avant la lettre who defied the societal norms and authorities of their time, both in Egypt and abroad. This inspiring gem of a book gripped me from beginning to end."
Hanan al-Shaykh, author of Women of Sand and Myrrh
Review
"Important, insightful, and fascinating….Cormack highlights an important period in Egypt’s modern history—almost unknown in the West — when its cosmopolitan culture was characterized by a tolerance of all races and religions….This is a must-read." Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building
Review
"Beguiling and original — an unexpected story of powerful women and their no less powerful voices — on stage and behind the scenes." Marina Warner, coeditor of Scheherazade’s Children: Global Encounters with the Arabian Nights
About the Author
Raphael Cormack is an award-winning editor and translator and has written on Arabic culture for the London Review of Books and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.