This essay addresses the challenges of teaching to myths and misperceptions through a discussion of two books that the author uses to frame her course on the history of women and gender in the modern Middle East: (1) Geraldine Brooks' "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women" (1995); and (2) Heather Raffo's "9 Parts of Desire" (2006). These two books provide examples of the most prevalent types of literature about Middle Eastern women in the modern era. Using these texts as bookends, at the beginning of the semester and at its end, helps structure a course that opens with the advent of European imperial presence in the region, replete with its powerful distortions of non-Western women's realities, narrates the relationship between the emergence of the modern nation-state and the position of women in Middle Eastern societies, and closes with women struggling to maintain a footing in period of vast challenges to Middle Eastern nation-states. The books demonstrate the connection between stereotypes and the interventions of outside powers, and highlight the importance of context for challenging myths and for producing accounts of women that reflect change over time. The essay examines each book's content and strategies, and discusses classroom activities associated with their use.