This book tells a story of a Yemeni hereditary elite that was overthrown in the 1962 revolution in North Yemen, after enjoying exclusive rights to the leadership of the Imamate, the religiously sanctioned state for over a millennium. Rather than concentrating on recent political history, this book highlights the personal predicament of those targeted by the revolution. What is their sense of "past" and "self" in a transformed political setting where in some respects the mark of distinction has become a mark of disrepute? Focusing on the cultural politics of memory, the book explores how--in making sense of their current lives and formulating responses to adversity--members of the elite remember.

Gabriele vom Bruck lectures in the Anthropology of the Middle East, Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh.

"This highly original book offers fresh insight into how traditional ideas of person, society, and responsibility, reworked in the cauldron of revolution and rapidly changing economic and political conditions, remain central to understanding contemporary society and identity politics. Always clear and accessible, Vom Bruck integrates the perspectives of women and men, seamlessly showing how Yemenis of different generations and positions in society struggle to interpret what happened to the Yemen-and to themselves-in the past. This riveting account offers vital keys to understanding contemporary social, religious, and political trends in the Yemen and elsewhere."--Dale Eickelman, Dartmouth College