Egyptian writers of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th were confronted with a range of contradictory political and intellectual movements, which arose as a result of rapid changes in the relations between Egypt and Western Europe and between Egypt and the other Arab region in the Ottoman Empire. Advocates of reform along secular lines were opposed by conservatives who wanted to assert the Islamic identity of Egypt and preserve its preindustrial social order.

Louis Awad illuminates the evolving debate between reformers and traditionalists by translating excerpts from the major works of seventeen leading Arabic writers.