"Praise for previous editions: "[A] timely, well-researched and written analysis of popular and private life that is too often underestimated or overlooked yet which constitutes the majority of human existence in a region too often viewed from the narrow constraints of the state and its unrepresentative elites." —John Entelis "The broadening of Islamic studies (or regional studies on Islam) to include study of ordinary people, their daily lives, and popular cultures has been long overdue. [An] extremely interesting and innovative study which, in its own way, successfully challenges the pervasive misperception of the Middle East simply as a conflict-prone region." —Journal of Islamic Studies ". . . provides useful background reading for introductory courses to everyday history of the Middle East." —Journal of Palestine Studies "presents a grassroots look at what it is like to actually live in the Muslim Middle East . . . from Aghanistan and Iran to Morocco. [It] shows how religion is an important part, but not the sole part, of these people's lives." —Middle East Insight "This book is a welcome addition to the literature. . . ." —The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences"—

"What makes this book special is that so many of its contributors really are able to get inside what is going on in the Muslim Middle East, the so-called Arab 'street'. Most of them have actually lived close to those they write about and speak the local language. . . . For those serving in one of our 'fortress' embassies in the Middle East, where getting to know those beyond the elite is difficult, this book should be a must-read."—The Foreign Service Journal