The subject of the representation of Islamic culture by non-Muslims is, no doubt, a thorny one. Generations of non-Muslim scholars, fiction writers, travelers, architects, and artists alike have received punitive—whether or not well-deserved—criticism for their narratives touching or focusing on Islamic culture. They have shared an interest in a “world” that is not their own and have allegedly misrepresented “the other.” Among such Orientalists were the commissioners and designers of the Islamic pavilions featured at world’s fairs in Europe and the United States through the second half of the nineteenth century, as described in Zeynep Çelik’s seminal monograph of 1992, Displaying the Orient.1 Interested readers had to wait until 2021 to hear a forcefully alternative, multifaceted, and authoritative voice on the subject, in this case focusing on Cairo Street, one of the Islamic sections of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.István Ormos’s new book builds on his two-volume comprehensive biography of the architect of Cairo Street and chief architect of the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l’Art Arabe in Egypt, Max Herz Pasha (1856–1919): His Life and Career.2 In Cairo in Chicago, Ormos analyzes Herz’s contribution to the Chicago Fair and also moves far beyond that to historically contextualize Herz’s buildings that imitated Cairene monuments, taking into consideration the various activities that occurred in and around them. Ormos demonstrates how captivating Cairo Street was for fairgoers, interpreting its reception in light of the entire fair. He examines from several angles the phenomenon of exhibiting Islamic architecture for an American audience, and in doing so, he establishes a new direction for further research on the broad subject of world’s fairs.Cairo in Chicago may be divided into five parts, each of which encompasses two to four chapters. The first part covers the subject of world’s fairs in general, including their representations of Muslims; the second part describes the Chicago Fair specifically, while the third is devoted to Cairo Street and its architecture. The fourth part of the book considers the activities at the Cairo Street exhibit, and the fifth narrates the closure, afterlife, reception, and photography of the Chicago Fair. The book contains numerous illustrations and reproduces a foldout map of Cairo Street from the time of the exhibition. The quality of the images is outstanding, as is the book’s overall presentation. Readers would have benefited, however, from the provision of an additional—that is, newly designed—map accurately matching the author’s descriptions of Cairo Street.Ormos opens the book with an overview of the basic concepts that informed world’s fairs in Europe and the United States through the second half of the nineteenth century, explaining how such fairs came about, what they were meant to achieve, and the scientific theories that lay behind them. He argues that the social Darwinism of the period played a crucial role in the ways in which different cultures—including their architecture—were represented in Chicago. Ormos further contextualizes this analysis by briefly summarizing European and, later, American interest in the world’s regions under Muslim rule, and by describing cross-cultural interactions through history, beginning with the Middle Ages. The core discussion focuses on the nineteenth century, with particular attention to the emergence of Islamic revival architecture in Europe. Then, moving closer to the book’s main subject, the narrative turns to the American reception of Islamic culture around the time of the Chicago Fair.After introducing the city of Chicago, the book’s second part considers the World’s Columbian Exposition, emphasizing the differences between the fair’s two major parts: the White City and the Midway Plaisance. The former, designed in a Beaux-Arts classical style, showcased modernity and industrial developments within formalized exhibition buildings. In contrast, the Midway Plaisance served as the fair’s display of ethnology, with various architectural styles assembled, including the neo-Mamluk style of Cairo Street. In addition to describing the Midway Plaisance’s main sections, Ormos demonstrates how the misbelief that we call “white supremacy” accorded with social Darwinism, and how it was manifested at the exhibition. Nevertheless, by bringing together a variety of wonders from around the globe, the fair’s organizers evidently succeeded in their foremost goal: that of creating a place of assorted entertainments for the fair’s visitors.In the third part of the book, Ormos explains in detail how Cairo Street came into existence. Under the direction of Sol Bloom and Frederick W. Putnam, many countries were invited to participate in the fair by building pavilions on the Midway Plaisance, an invitation that the khedive of Egypt, Abbas II, rejected for financial reasons. Although the Cairo Street project eventually became the private business of its commissioner, George Pangalo, the khedive allegedly approved it as a faithful representation of Cairo. Ormos highlights manifold, and hitherto unknown, textual sources about the commissioner, the participating designers, and the performers. The accomplished architecture of Cairo Street, designed by Herz, while comprising ephemeral structures, imitated important monuments of Cairo, most of which Ormos identifies. As suggested above, however, while the map provided in the book is useful, it at times contradicts the author’s descriptions. For instance, what it labels “Private Court” was, in fact, the mosque, while another area labeled “Court” was the location of the caravansary. Regarding the sabil-kuttab (fountain-school) reproduced as part of the mosque, Ormos implies that it was inspired by the Mamluk sultan Qayitbay’s funerary complex in northern Cairo; however, to this reviewer, it seems to bear a closer resemblance to the funerary complex of al-Ghawri in the center of the city. That is, the mosque’s gate followed one model, while the adjacent sabil-kuttab followed another. Such a merging of two historic models, as the author also points out in the case of the minaret in Chicago, was not without parallel in Herz’s designs.The fourth part of the book describes the atmosphere of Cairo Street, a place where Americans, many for the first time, encountered and interacted with Egyptians, who were recruited for the show. The activities included wedding processions, camel rides, concerts, haircuts at the barbershop, and special celebrations such as the mawlid (the observance of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday). The main attraction at Cairo Street—as well as a source of repeated outcries—was the belly dance, for which the American audience turned out to be unprepared. Many viewers deemed it outrageous, indecent, or even immoral, and indeed some demanded that it be shut down, yet visitors flocked to see it. Ormos investigates the reasons behind the negative reactions, discussing the contemporary American culture’s religious and social attitudes toward dance, the female body, and sexuality. He concludes that the disparagement emerged from the perception that “indecent” acts had invaded a societal context that was expected to be “decent.” The history of belly dance, especially in Egypt, also receives attention. Finally, the author offers an explanation for the overall success of Cairo Street, quoting several visitors who complimented the exhibition’s authenticity.The Chicago Fair closed on 30 October 1893, and the last part of the book explores events surrounding that date. In early 1894, the public was allowed to salvage the architecture of the Midway Plaisance, and relic hunters looted much of the site. Cairo Street, according to the numbers of visitors it attracted and the income it earned, turned out to be the most profitable private business of the entire fair. Ormos then enumerates less ambitious fairs inspired by the World’s Columbian Exposition and also assesses the afterlife of belly dance in the United States, including its relationship with other types of dance. Once again, the question of Victorian attitudes toward female sexuality and dance comes to the forefront, as the author contrasts the reactions to belly dance with the lack of outcry over the fair’s no-less-visual performances by the bodybuilder Eugen Sandow. The reception of Cairo Street by Arabs visiting the fair further tinges the general picture, even though the few Arabs who went to see Cairo Street made diverse comments on their experience: some were positive, some less so. For the final chapter, which discusses the photography of the fair, Ormos examined dozens of albums of photos depicting its architecture and performers. Although such a study might seem somewhat detached from the rest of the book, it exemplifies the author’s holistic approach to his subject and sheds additional light on some of the previously encountered topics.Ormos defines Cairo in Chicago as “first and foremost a philological work” (5), a description that I find somewhat at odds with his predominant narrative. The book that I have read is mostly about cultural history (including exhibition, performance, architecture, and reception), conforming with today’s judicious call for understanding such cultural products through contemporary sources. What the author presumably means by “philological work” is that the book is very much text based, synthesizing a comprehensive plethora of information from sources in a variety of languages. The reader will surely find the amount of detail, often based on unpublished archival materials, simply impressive. In addition, the book’s perspective constitutes a noteworthy shift from previous scholarship on the subject of world’s fairs. Rather than viewing the Chicago Fair from the expected postcolonial perspective, Ormos is interested primarily in how the visitors of 1893 perceived the show, tirelessly quoting many of their words.Nowadays, when identity politics tend to divide more than unite, the author’s sober viewpoint may well constitute a particularly fruitful and forward-looking contribution, especially since it also discloses contemporaries’ contrasting views. Many quotations from visitors to Cairo Street are likely to evoke sympathy from today’s readers, whereas other comments will appear colonialist, sexist, racist, or otherwise outrageous. Ormos readily admits the latter type. The emerging picture is thus carefully balanced, multifaceted, and, in some cases, even controversial. Perhaps the main lesson that one can take away from reading this exemplary book is how refreshing and eye-opening the nuanced understanding of a cultural product might be.