Morocco

Veteran journalist Marvine Howe’s book on Morocco is unique in its genre.Though she worked for Radio Maroc and as a stringer for the New YorkTimes and Time-Life in Morocco from 1951 to 1962, Howe has coveredseveral topics related to that country since and returned for a serious “Tourdu Maroc” with two old friends in 2001. Her book, with its countless interviewsof political and cultural personalities before and after her departure inthe 1960s, is more than simply journalism. Howe has invested a lifetime ofstudying Morocco and its people. This book, addressed to a general audience,reads like a comprehensive “state of the union” survey of Moroccotoday, in its variegated political, cultural, ethnic, religious, and economicaspects – all in a lucid and often elegant prose. Howe has kept upwith all of the majorworks onMorocco over the years,both in French and in English, fromJohnWaterbury’s The Commander of theFaithful (1970) to Fatima Sadiqi’s Women, Gender, and Language inMorocco (2002). Even the more recent book by Shana Cohen and LarabiJaidi, Morocco: Globalization and Its Consequences (2006), shares many ofher conclusions ...