# Mary-Jane Deeb

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mary-Jane_Deeb
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mary-Jane_Deeb.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary-Jane_Deeb
> Source revision: 1355944692
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

American Middle East expert, librarian and novelist

Mary-jane Deeb reading at the Library of Congress

**Mary-Jane Deeb** is an American Middle East expert, librarian and novelist. Deeb worked at the [Library of Congress](/source/Library_of_Congress), where she succeeded [George Atiyeh](/source/George_Atiyeh) as Chief of the African and Middle Eastern Division.[1]

## Life

Deeb's mother was Slovenian and her father was a Levantine from Egypt. She grew up in [Alexandria](/source/Alexandria), where she spoke French at home and English at a school run by Irish nuns.[2]

Deeb gained her MA from the [American University in Cairo](/source/American_University_in_Cairo) in 1972, with a thesis on the [Khazin family](/source/Khazin_family).[3] She gained her doctorate at the [Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies](/source/Paul_H._Nitze_School_of_Advanced_International_Studies) at [Johns Hopkins University](/source/Johns_Hopkins_University). She then taught for a decade at the [American University](/source/American_University) in Washington, and was Director of the Omani Program there. During the [Lebanese Civil War](/source/Lebanese_Civil_War) she spent four years in [Beirut](/source/Beirut), working for international organizations including the [United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia](/source/United_Nations_Economic_Commission_for_Western_Asia), the [United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund](/source/United_Nations_International_Children's_Emergency_Fund) (UNICEF), [America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, Inc.](/source/America-Mideast_Educational_and_Training_Services%2C_Inc.) (AMIDEAST), and the [US Agency for International Development](/source/US_Agency_for_International_Development).[4]

From 1995 to 1998, Deeb was editor-in-chief of *[The Middle East Journal](/source/The_Middle_East_Journal)*.[5] She was also director of the Algeria Working Group at [The Corporate Council on Africa](/source/The_Corporate_Council_on_Africa). She was a UN observer for the [1997 Algerian parliamentary election](/source/1997_Algerian_parliamentary_election).[4]

In 1998, Deeb joined the Library of Congress as Arab World Area Specialist. She became Head of the Near East Section, and in 2005 became Chief of the African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED). She retired from the Library of Congress in February 2019.[4]

## Works

### Non-fiction

- (with Marius K. Deeb) *Libya since the revolution : aspects of social and political development*. Praeger, 1982. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0275907808](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0275907808)

- 'Militant Islam and the Politics of Redemption', *Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Sciences*, No. 524 (Nov. 1992)

- (ed. with Mary E. King) *Hasib Sabbagh: from Palestinian refugee to citizen of the world*. Lanham, Md. : Middle East Institute/University Press of America, 1996.

### Novels

- *Cocktails and Murder on the Potomac*. [Philadelphia] : Xlibris Corp., 2000.

- *Murder on the Riviera*. Brewster, Mass. : Paraclete Press, 2004.

- *A Christmas Mystery in Provence*. Brewster, Mass. : Paraclete Press, 2004.

- *Death of a Harlequin*. North Charleston, SC : CreateSpace, 2012.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Cutler, Isabel (2001). *Mysteries of the Desert: A View of Saudi Arabia*. Rizzoli. p. 7.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Goitom, Hanibal (September 21, 2011). ["An Interview with Dr. Mary-Jane Deeb, Chief of the African and Middle Eastern Division"](https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/09/an-interview-with-dr-mary-jane-deeb-chief-of-the-african-and-middle-eastern-division/). *Library of Congress*. Retrieved 2024-07-06.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Deeb, Mary Jane (1972). [*The Khazin Family: A Case Study of the Effect of Social Change on Traditional Roles*](https://fount.aucegypt.edu/retro_etds/188/) (Thesis). American University in Cairo.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-LOC_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-LOC_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-LOC_4-2) Hoh, Anchi (February 26, 2019). ["Mary-Jane Deeb, AMED Chief, Is Retiring"](https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2019/02/mary-jane-deeb-amed-chief-is-retiring/). *Library of Congress*. Retrieved 2024-07-06.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Dunn60Years_5-0)** [Dunn, Michael Collins](/source/Michael_Collins_Dunn) (Winter 2007). ["Editor's Note: Sixty Years of *The Middle East Journal*"](https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/119/article/441207/pdf). *The Middle East Journal*. **61** (1): 1–. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [4330353](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4330353).

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF National United States Other IdRef Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mary-Jane Deeb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary-Jane_Deeb) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary-Jane_Deeb?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.