Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar (Topics in World History) [Paperback]

Emily Ruete (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1989 | ISBN-10: 1558760075 | ISBN-13: 978-1558760073

This autobiography offers a rare inside look at the society surrounding a sultan's palace. Its author, a real-life princess in exile, recalls her vanished world of harems, slave trading, and court intrigues. The Midwest Book Review praised this book as "an engrossing memoir, offering a vivid portrait of 19th-century Arab and African life."

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ruete could be the subject of a thrilling romance. As Romero ( Life Histories of African Women ) explains, she was born in 1840 as Salme, princess of Oman and Zanzibar, and grew up privy to the machinations of her father's harem and of her scores of siblings. Following her father the sultan's death in 1856, Salme participated in one brother's unsuccessful coup to wrest the throne from another. Despite strictures confining Islamic women, she trysted with a German who is thought to have impregnated her, fled to Germany where she converted to Christianity, changed her name, married her lover, bore three children and was soon widowed. Ruete relates few of these escapades; instead she provides a disingenuous account of harmonious life at the palace. Despite the profusion of concubines, Ruete claims that Arabs predominantly practice monogamy; her father is a beneficent king--although Romero states that he attained power by murdering a cousin. The disparity between introduction and text, the latter translated from the German, generates a peculiarly successful tension, enhanced by carefully recorded details of court life. Illustrations not seen by PW .
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Set against a backdrop of political intrigue in the great age of European colonialism, Memoirs Of An Arabian Princess From Zanzibar is an engrossing memoir offering a vivid portrait of 19th century Arab and African life. Life not only in the palace, but in the city and plantations as well. Emily Ruete (born in 1840 as Salme, Princess of Zanzibar and Oman, fled to Germany in 1856, changed her name, married her Germany lover, bore three children, and then widowed) provides a comparison between a woman's life in Moslem society and the conditions within the 19th century European bourgeoisie. -- Midwest Book Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Markus Wiener Pub (November 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558760075
• ISBN-13: 978-1558760073
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > History > Africa > Tanzania

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book, February 25, 2005

By 

Al-Azri (Oman) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar (Topics in World History) (Paperback)

This book is written by Emily Ruete (formerly, Syiida Salma) who was the daughter of the most influential rulers of Oman and Zanzibar of all times. It was originally written in German and then translated into English and Arabic.

This book is excellent for the kind of readers who are fascinated by history and, Arab and Islam culture. Although the title suggests the author's autobiography, the book goes further to give a clear image on the political aspects and social life of the island of Zanzibar.

I am glad that she had some financial hardships that forced her to write such a book to sell it. It has delivered so much information about Zanzibar that we wouldn't know.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Description of Life in Zanzibar in 1800's, August 3, 2000

By 

Ed Gibbon www.congocookbook.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar (Topics in World History) (Paperback)

"Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar" by Emily Ruete (born Sayyida, Princess of Zanzibar) is a unique book, the only autobiography by a Zanzibari princess of the 19th century.

The author was born in Zanzibar in the mid-1800's. Long ruled by Omani Arabs, Zanzibar had achieved hegemony on the coast of Eastern Africa and had grown rich on the harvest of slaves and ivory from the continent and spices (especially cloves) from Zanzibar island itself. They had spread their influence and Swahili language as far west as Kisangani on the Congo river (the setting for V.S. Naipaul's "A Bend in the River"). Times were changing: European traders and missionaries were the harbingers of colonization for the continent, protectorate status for Zanzibar, and the crusade against the Eastern slave trade.

Sayyida eloped with a German and had to leave Zanzibar. She moved to Germany where she was eventually widowed and alone (her Islamic family in Zanzibar rejected her for marrying a European Christian.) She wrote this book for her children, to provide them a record of her history. In it she describes life in the Zanzibar royal palace and plantations: traditions, customs, palace intrigues and overthrows, the harem, slaves, festivals, manners, the status of women, and so forth. She compares her life in Europe to her life in Zanzibar. This book should be of value to anyone interested in Zanzibar or Eastern Africa, or Arab, Islamic, or Women's studies.

Please see my other reviews of books about Africa.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, January 5, 2001

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar (Topics in World History) (Paperback)

This book contains the memoirs of Emily (Sayyida) Ruete, a Nineteenth Century Arabian princess. It is a fascinating tale of childhood and living conditions within the harem in Nineteenth Century Zanzibar. The book is unique in that Sayyida was one of the very few princesses who learned to write, hence other princesses were not able to record their experiences. It is refreshing to read an insider's report of harem life rather than the strange misinterpretations of short-term foreign visitors. The book also contains firsthand accounts of political intrigue, which will be of interest to students of Zanzibari or Omani history.