In our childhood, they taught many of us that Al-Andalus was the center of a grand golden era of Arab civilization. As we lament the current state of Arab civilization, we were also taught that European civilization benefited immensely during this period. These notions are self-evident in the realm of music since, to this day, there is a highly popular genre of Arab music attributed to Andalusian heritage. Do these notions have the historical support needed for academic research, or do they remain mythological?

“Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal,” a collection of 19 essays edited by Michael W. Suleiman, Suad Joseph and Louise Cainkar, provides a moving and appropriate tribute to the seminal work of the late Michael Suleiman. A public intellectual whose important contributions like his book, “Arabs in America” and founding of the Association of Arab American University Graduates (AAUG), Suleiman vastly broadened Arab American studies. The collection offers essays for both the interested lay reader and the serious scholar and Suleiman’s immense founding contribution to the field of Arab American Studies can easily be seen in the frequency he is cited in the articles’ references.