This paper is part of a History Compass conference cluster tracing the formation of national culture in Egypt. Guest editor, Walter Armbrust, here introduces the cluster of articles which were originally part of a conference in Oxford on January 1213, 2007, organized by Walter Armbrust, Ronald Nettler, and Lucie Ryzova, and funded by the Middle East Centre (St. Antony's), The Faculty of Oriental Studies, The Khalid bin Abdullah Al-Saud Professorship (Professor Clive Holes), and The Centre for Political Ideologies. The cluster is made up of the following articles: Guest Editor: Walter Armbrust The Formation of National Culture in Egypt in the Interwar Period: Cultural Trajectories, Walter Armbrust, History Compass 6 (2008), DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00571.x Repackaging the Egyptian Monarchy: Faruq in the Public Spotlight, 19361939, Matthew Ellis, History Compass 6 (2008), DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00572.xHow Zaynab Became the First Arabic Novel, Elliott Colla, History Compass 6 (2008), DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00573.x Women in the Singing Business, Women in Songs, Frederic Lagrange, History Compass 6 (2008), DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00574.xLong Live Patriarchy: Love in the Time of Abd al-Wahhab, Walter Armbrust, History Compass 6 (2008), DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00575.x Football as National Allegory: Al-Ahram and the Olympics in 1920s Egypt, Shaun Lopez, History Compass 6 (2008), DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00576.x The Professional Worldview of the Effendi Historian, Yoav Di-Capua, History Compass 6 (2008), DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00577.x
