In the summer of 2021, I began compiling a comprehensive list of memoirs written by historical figures from the Middle East and North Africa. Working alongside fellow scholars, we have assembled over 100 titles to date, all housed in the ongoing Google Sheets document linked below. This project is designed as an open-access, collaborative resource across disciplines for researchers, educators, and students working on the region.
Each entry includes the individual’s name, a brief description, the title(s) of their memoirs, and information on availability. When possible, titles are linked to WorldCat to guide researchers to physical copies. Importantly, this repository is not limited to political figures—it includes novelists, poets, artists, and other figures whose personal writings shed light on the region’s social, cultural, and political history.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first effort to systematically gather information on MENA memoirs, and it has already been used in classrooms at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Edinburgh. By centralizing this information, the project alleviates the challenge of locating memoirs and provides a practical tool for research and teaching. I encourage contributions from all scholars—if you know of additional memoirs, please feel free to add them to the document to expand and enrich this shared resource.
Link to the Memoir List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PKlxxnI5SFqadK-iFgo7g7vdQcPRFeByTyoUQLFZ_so/edit#gid=0
Salah Ben Hammou, Ph.D. 