The Politics of the Veil Book

It raises good points but they were not conveyed as clearly or succinctly as they could have been.

Edit: In retrospect, I appreciate this book enough to raise to 3 if not 4 stars. For one thing, it gives direct quotes from different women living in France about why they do or don't choose to wear a hijab. Secondly, it gives an excellent explanation of laïcité, while also offering clear evidence of how its champions have in practice become hypocritical, if not racist.

Another interesting nuance from this book involves Iranian immigrants to France whose children see the hijab as a chance to rebel again their parents, or a chance to exercise agency in building an identity as bicultural, 1st gen immigrants. And the parents are sometimes very opposed to this due to associating the hijab with compulsion under Iranian law. What a complex situation'and how rarely are all these facets considered in the discourse one typically hears regarding the hijab, Islam, and women's rights.