Dutch Orientalist Hurgonje spent 1888-1889 living in the Arabian cities of Mecca and Jeddah, later producing a two-volume work describing, in the first volume, the history of the city's and their rulers and, in the second, examining the daily public and private life of Meccan society during the period of Ottoman rule. This book translates only that second volume (in the hopes that a favorable reception will allow for a translation of the first) and contains Hurgonje's descriptions of the educational system in the Great Mosque, marriage and funeral customs, and pilgrimage rites in the holies city of Islam. Also of interest is his examination of the Meccan immigrant community of the Jâwah, an Islamic community from the Dutch East Indies, an area about which he had already produced much scholarly work. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)