Here is a brief selection of favorite, new and hard-to-find books, prepared for your journey. You will find below direct links to Amazon where you will be able to purchase the following recommended books in your preferred format.
Tahir Shah
The Caliph’s House, A Year in Casablanca
Shah’s entertaining account of the transformation of a spectacularly crumbled palace in Casablanca, abandoned for a decade. Shah is a marvelous writer and storyteller, interweaving Moroccan customs and history and deft portraits of neighbors, craftsmen and others. He captures the mix of old and new, absurd and moving, frustration and joy of Morocco. The house was not just crumbling but occupied by spirits.
Fatima Mernissi
Dreams of Trespass, Tales of a Harem Girlhood
This gentle memoir captures the hierarchy and decorum of growing up behind the door of a harem, which, as the author explains, is not necessarily a collection of wives, but rather a house in which all the women of a family are secluded. The work is also an engrossing portrait of Fez in the 1940s. Mernissi, a sociologist, brings to vivid and often hilarious detail the exploits of the various women in the house: her mother, fighting against the veil, her grandmother, clinging to tradition, and especially a divorced aunt, who teaches her much about rebellion. Surely the most charming feminist tract ever written.
Eyewitness Guides
Eyewitness Guide Morocco
Gorgeously illustrated and filled with excellent maps, this compact book is a thorough overview of Morocco, its history, traditions, cultures and sights. With hundreds of color photographs and illustrations.
Michelin Travel Publications
Morocco Map
A road map in the Michelin style, featuring city and town plans, as well as a full place name index. Tough cardboard cover. Scale 1:1,000,000. Two sides. 28×36 inches.
