As the most visible Black American Muslim organization of the 20th century, the Nation of Islam (NOI) has been the subject of significant research over the past 50 years. Less attention has been paid to the women of the NOI, so this book is a welcome addition to a necessary conversation. Based on long-term ethnographic and oral history work, the book explores the experiences of NOI women between 1955 and 2000 within a framework of Black activism that is attentive to feminist critiques of the patriarchal nature of the organization. West also recognizes the agency of NOI women as they negotiated gender norms, sexual propriety, leadership models, education, and family building as a Black national project. In the book’s seven thematic chapters West offers insights on education, gender rules, ideological formations, and what she calls the “politics of protection” (chapter 7). The book shines when West shares the stories of the women, she interviewed to then offer her careful analysis. Interestingly, the book is theoretically embedded in Black studies rather than Islamic studies or the study of American religions, thereby laying claim to the NOI and its women as central to Black communities and histories. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
— Choice Reviews