Memoir of an Iraqi Woman Doctor

Book excerpt: As a girl of thirteen in Baghdad, Saniha Amin Zaki, whenever she was outside her house was covered, head to foot, with a black robe and was accompanied by a member of her family. But at sixteen she was enrolled in the Medical College, not wearing the veil and attending classes with male students. Six years later, she was Iraq's first Muslim female doctor. This courageous break with cultural tradition was the first independent step in her long rich life. This is the fascinating personal account of a woman who grew up in Iraq in the 1920's, the early years of the country's freedom from the Ottoman Empire and British Mandate rule. She lived through the unsettled years of Iraq's development into a modern state, with all its opposing factions and political upheavals, plots and betrayals. We learn of the intense discussions that took place within her circle of liberal-minded young friends, deeply concerned with social issues and the political status quo; among her friends were those who were tempted by the easy answers offered by Communism. Because the men of her family were part of the ruling class and the intelligensia, she is able to give us unique insights into the growing clash between the British-backed monarchists and the underground communists who fomented the discontent that led to the murder of the royal family during the military coup of 1958. Seldom has such a fateful progression of a country from freedom to tyranny been revealed from this intimate point of view. Iraq's struggle to emerge from an almost medieval past to the optimistic and vibrant 1950's makes a riveting and immensely informative tale, rich with cultural and historical detail. It is written with honesty and special sensitivity by an extraordinary woman who was at the forefront of the emergence of Arab women into modern public life.