A Border Passage is not a typical autobiography. It has many elements of an autobiography, but it is also a book of well reasoned essays on some of the most difficult aspects of the history of Egypt and its culture. Essays on Islam, imperialism and on the identity and language of Egypt

Leila Ahmed recount of her childhood and upbringing in Cairo and Alexandria is beautifully written. Her complex relationship with and her views of her mother are an important theme in the first half of the book. Her analysis of the social impact of the colonial and post colonial on her own family and the events that surrounded her is particularly insightful.

In writing this book Leila Ahmed clearly has done a considerable amount of sole searching with objective detachment. She describes that process and articulates clearly her reasoning. You can actually sense the struggle and pain she went through to reach a particular conclusion. This is the work of a sensitive person with a superb analytical mind and an ability to reflect. I particularly enjoyed her pointing out of what was a recollection and knowledge in retrospect, in her process of understanding an issue or an emotion.

The book contains a very well researched and argued section on the "Arabization" of Egypt. Here, she presents why she is not an Arab, but rather an Egyptian, from a historical, cultural, linguistic and social viewpoint. She illustrates with significant historical substantiation Arabism in Egypt as a colonial invention. Yet, she appears to be willing to accept an Arab identity as well as an Egyptian one in the west, because of what she shares with Arabs in the west. She talks of two "Arabnesses", I think I understood her correctly, but I am not sure. If you are interested in the subject you will find this part very rewarding, and if you couldn't care less, it will still be fascinating. It is her search for an identity, and her willingness to accept an additional identity in the west so as not to see herself escaping, in vain, the negative connotations that she has dedicated her life to fight.

A Border Passage is remarkable in its political correctness. This, largely, comes across as natural political correctness, not forced or contrived. It comes across from Leila Ahmed's own suffering from racial, religious and gender discrimination. She tells of stories of a teacher giving her no grades, because he couldn't believe an Egyptian could do in English what she did. She tells of man a spitting in her face in England once he found out she is Egyptian not an Israeli. She also tells of American feminists not taking her seriously because she is a Moslem. As a result of her own experiences, she was very careful not to offend sensibilities particularly in the West.

This is a truly wonderful, sensitive, insightful, lyrical and brave book.

A courageous trip in search of identity of a woman's inter and intracultural challenges. Growing up in an affluent Egyptian family where the British and European culture was "fashionable", she was confronted by the changes of the revolution, political turmoil and nationalism and its confrontation to the European imperialism. Leila Ahmed is courageously and insightfully analysing changes that influenced a whole generation and challenged her to search for answers. She travels in time from Egypt to England and finally as an immigrant in the US. She objectively and sensitively tries to unwind the entangled conflicts of politics, religion, and culture, through her personal experiences. As an Egyptian immigrant woman, although from a different generation, I have learned from this book about the modern history of Egypt and identified with some of her experiences as well. This is an eloquently written book and a fascinating journey!

In this book Dr. Leila Ahmed present an intriguing account of various phases of her life beginning with her childhood in Cairo to her journey to the United States. As an immigrant faculty myself, I can sense her story sincerely. The story which comes from her heart and, will certainly, resides in the hearts of the readers.

Although the book is designed as an autobiography, she masterfully analyses the critical social and religious issues and incorporates them immaculately into the main story. Especially, her outright distinction between the "oral" Islam, practiced and passed on to her by the women around her, and the "official", textual, man-made, Islam is indeed creative. I believe Dr. Ahmed has earmarked on an important mission of repairing the prevailing militant view of Islam in the west by unveiling the face of a true, pacifist, Islam.

I love this book. It tells a story of a woman withstanding constant challenges in her life, her journey across different cultures in search of indentiy and a place in this world, the story of simplicity and real values, and the story of honesty and integrity. The breadth of knowledge demonstrated by the author and her command of the English language, as a non-native speaker, are quite extraordinary.

This one has been circulating for a while now, and I grabbed a copy recently. I have been studying the role of gender in traditional societies and have always been shocked at way in which modern scholarship approaches these issues from a relative moral position completely inaccessible to the social order they are studying. This title offers some good studies in the first two chapters of women in societies before Islam in and around the Middle East, but once she gets into Islam she starts stumbling. First off she takes everything she reads in the hadith literature at face value. While the hadith literature contributes greatly to the oppression of women in Islam, we must understand that this hadith literature was developed over several centuries (see Islam, Fazlur Rahman). In her acceptance of the hadith literature, with its glaring contradictory reports, she passes over subjects of debate with simplicity and charm. I was unmoved by this sort of approach and was expecting a bit more. I don't think that the author even has access to the Arabic sources.

This is a good book for anyone to read who doesn't know much about Islam. The author gives several chapters of in-depth history of the rise of Islam. It is interesting to read--not dry and boring like a lot of other detailed history books.

Leila Ahmed gives a brilliant and informative read about the history of women in Islam. Her book maintains both factual information along with anecdotal pieces which only enhance our understanding of the lives involved in the religion and politics of Islamic civilisations. While the book focuses on Egypt, it should be understand that Egypt is taken as a very typical regime with the exception of perhaps Morocco and Saudi Arabia as polar extremes. Ahmed clearly has a humanistic objective of equality in all her points, though never too harshly. The book carries a very clear picture of issues and can even help a lot of us consider what Western false concepts of female equality we truly have.