<DIV>&quot;The editors should be applauded for this diverse collection, their excellent translations of the Arabic articles, and their insistence that hegemonic culture and ideology be analysed deeply in Middle East studies.&quot;<i>Middle Eastern Studies</i></div> <DIV> Contents Foreword by Donald Quataert 1. Theorizing State Formation and Social Change in Arab Oil-Producing Countries, by Eric Davis 2.&nbsp; The Social Origins of the Authoritarian State in the Arab East, by Khaldoun Hasan al-Naqeeb 3. Legitimacy, Identity and the Writing of History in Libya, by Lisa Anderson 4. Social and Political Dimensions of the Historiography of the Arab Gulf, by Assem Dessouki 5. Statecraft,&nbsp; Historical Memory, and Popular Culture in Iraq and Kuwait, by Eric Davis and Nicolas Gavrielides 6. Power and Representation: Social Change, Gender Relations, and the Education of Women in Kuwait, by Noura al-Falah 7. Contemporary Trends in the Study of Folklore in the Arab Gulf States, by Muhammed Rajab al-Najjar 8. The Sociopolitical Context of the Iraqi Short Story, 1908-1968, by Muhsin Jassim al-Musawi 9. Economic Relations among Social Classes in Algerian Folk Proverbs, by Abdel-Malek Mortad</div> <DIV>&nbsp;</div>