This is a paperbound reprint of a 2006 book. The ongoing heated debate over whether Muslim women should remain veiled and their identity and rights, has a long history. Kamp (women's studies, U. of Wyoming) traces the tumult provoked by Communist Party efforts beginning in the 1920s to modernize women in the former Central Asian Soviet province of Uzbekistan. In a comparative study of this reform effort with similar ones in Turkey and Iran, she draws on courageous Uzbek women's writings of that period and on oral histories she conducted in the early 1990s. The book includes maps, a glossary, photos and other images. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)