Millions of Egyptian men, women, and children first experienced industrial work, urban life, and the transition from peasant-based and handcraft cultures to factory organization and hierarchy in the years between the two world wars. Their struggles to live in new places, inhabit new customs, and establish and abide by new urban norms and moral and gender orders underlie the story of the making of modern urban life--a story that has not been previously told from the perspective of Egypt's working class.

Reconstructing the ordinary urban experiences of workers in al-Mahalla al-Kubra,...

Millions of Egyptian men, women, and children first experienced industrial work, urban life, and the transition from peasant-based and handcraft cultures to factory organization and hierarchy in the years between the two world wars. Their struggles to live in new places, inhabit new customs, and establish and abide by new urban norms and moral and gender orders underlie the story of the making of modern urban life--a story that has not been previously told from the perspective of Egypt's working class.

Reconstructing the ordinary urban experiences of workers in al-Mahalla al-Kubra,...