Keddie presents the history of the lives of Middle Eastern women since the rise of Islam. Positioning women within their individual economic situations, identities, families, and geographies, she examines the experiences of women in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, in Iran, and in all the Arab countries.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Book 1. Women in the Middle East : a history -- Introduction. Issues in studying Middle Eastern women's history -- Regional background and the beginnings of Islam -- From the pious caliphs through the dynastic caliphates -- From the Turkish and Mongol invasions to 1798 -- Change in the long nineteenth century 1798-1914 -- 1914-45 : nationalism and women's movements -- 1945-today : new states and trends, women's activism, and the rise of Islamism -- Conclusion -- Notes to book one -- Bibliography of books -- Book 2. Approaches to the study of Middle Eastern women -- Shifting boundaries in sex and gender -- Scholarship, relativism, and universalism -- Women in the limelight : recent books on Middle Eastern women's history since 1800 -- Problems in the study of Middle Eastern women -- Sexuality and Shiʹi social protest in Iran (coauthored with Parvin Paidar [Nahid Yeganeh]) -- Book 3. Autobiographical recollections -- Autobiographical interview -- Supplement to the interview -- Bibliography of works by Nikki R. Keddie since 1995.