Growing up is a common adventure, however the particularities of place of birth, tradition, ethnicity, faith, kinfolk, etc make each adolescence particular. to provide Western readers perception into what becoming up within the heart East was once like within the 20th century, this booklet gathers thirty-six unique memoirs written through heart japanese women and men approximately their very own childhoods.

Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, a widely known author of books and documentary movies approximately girls and the kinfolk within the center East, has amassed tales of childhoods spent in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey. The bills span the full 20th century, a whole diversity of ethnicities and religions, and the social spectrum from aristocracy to peasantry. they're grouped by way of eras, for which Fernea presents a concise historic caricature, and contain a quick biography of every contributor. The creation by means of anthropologist Robert A. Fernea units the memoirs within the greater context of heart jap lifestyles and culture.

As a set, the memoirs supply an unparalleled chance to examine a similar interval in historical past within the similar sector of the area from various very diverse remembered reports. from time to time dramatic, funny, or tragic, and regularly deeply felt, the memoirs rfile the range and richness of people's lives within the glossy heart East.