Doris Behrens-Abouseif’s book on Cairene Mamluk architecture has been eagerly anticipated. Well worth the wait, it is informed throughout by an encyclopedic knowledge of the sources, both from contemporary chronicles and waqf (endowment) documents, allied to a lifetime’s acquaintance with the monuments and to art-historical expertise of the highest order. The book is essentially divided into two parts: the first focuses on a variety of historical and art-historical topics; the second examines key buildings. The...