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This book is one of the best books ever written on Middle Eastern Dance. It's focus is on the history and development of the dance. I think it's very well researched and it explains several different theories as to the origins of the dance. I especially like that she didn't accredit the origins of the dance to any one country. She explores the idea of the dance as an ancient ritual developing in many countries to the idea of Gypsies carrying and influencing the dance throughout the Middle East. She explores her own, as well as mankind's fascination with the dance. She goes into great detail on how it influenced art through French Orientalists, and theater with Mata Hari and Collete and in Hollywood through films. She talks about how, in turn, Hollywood influenced Middle Eastern Dance and theater with such dancer's as Sama Gamal, Tahia Carioca, Suhair Zaki, and Fifi Abdo, staring in movies and introducing for the first time chorography to the Middle East. It talks about how these dancers and many others have influenced the dance and how the dance is viewed and performed today. It takes you from ancient to modern on a magic carpet ride of words and pictures that intice and inspire. This book is a must for every dancer and history buff.