The writing of Nawal el Saadawi is essential to anyone wishing to understand the contemporary Middle East. Her dissident voice has stayed as consistent in its critique of the neo-imperialist international politics as it has of the oppression of women both in her native Egypt and in the world beyond. Saadawi is a figure of international significance and her work has a central place in the history and culture of the Arabic world of the last fifty years. This book, the first volume in "Zed's Essential Feminists" series, gathers a section of the whole range of Saadawi's writing together in one volume for the first time. From fiction - novellas and short stories - to essays on politics, culture, religion and sex, from extensive interviews to her work as a dramatist, from poetry to selections of her travel writing, this book will be essential to anyone wishing to gain a sense of the total range of Saadawi's work.