Widely held in contempt in the Middle East for their frivolity and occasional obscenity, The Arabian Nights have nevertheless had a major influence on European and American culture, to the extent that the story collection must be considered as a key work in Western literature. This book guides the reader into this labyrinth of storytelling. It traces the development of the stories, their translation and the ways in which they have been added to, plagiarized and imitated. Above all, it uses the stories as a guide to the social history and the counter-culture of the medieval Near East. The author also wrote The Limits of Vision, The Arabian Nightmare, The Mysteries of Algiers and The Middle East in the Middle Ages.