Drawn from original documents in the author's family archive, this work tells the story of his family, the Mashghara residents, and the region as a whole through the use of carefully assembled primary sources.

al-Balda wa al-mazāri / The region and the farms --Lamḥa tārīkhīya / A glance at history -- Nushu' wa taṭawwur wa inḥilāl malikīya 'aqqārīya / Growth, development, and the dissolution of ethnic property -- al-Maḥsūbīya aw al-tabādul al-mutfāwit lil-khidmāt / Nepotism, or, the uneven exchange of services -- Namaṭ hayyāt wajīh maḥallī / A local noble's way of life -- Aṭwār niẓām al-maḥsubīya al-jadīda / The stages of the new system of nepotism.