cooke’s writings have focused on the intersection of gender and war in modern Arabic literature and on Arab women writers’ constructions of Islamic feminism. Her more recent interests have turned to Arab cultural studies with a concentration on Syria, and to the networked connections among Arabs and Muslims around the world.

She is the author of several monographs that include The Anatomy of an Egyptian Intellectual:  Yahya Haqqi (1984); War’s Other Voices: Women Writers on the Lebanese Civil War (1988); Women and the War Story (1997); Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic Feminism through Literature (2001); Dissident Syria: Making Oppositional Arts Official (2007), Nazira Zeineddine: A Pioneer of Islamic Feminism (2010), Tribal Modern: Branding New Nations in the Arab Gulf (2014), and Dancing in Damascus (2017). She has co-edited several volumes, including Opening the Gates. A Century of Arab Feminist Writing (1990/ 2005 with Margot Badran); Gendering War Talk (1993 with Angela Woollacott); Blood into Ink: 20th Century South Asian and Middle Eastern Women Write War(1994 with Roshni Rustomji); Muslim Networks from Hajj to Hip Hop (2005 with Bruce Lawrence); Mediterranean Passages: from Dido to Derrida(2008 with Erdag Goknar and Grant Parker).

She has also published a novel, Hayati, My Life (2000).

Three of her books (Women Claim Islam; Women and the War Story and The Anatomy of an Egyptian Intellectual:  Yahya Haqqi) were named Choice Outstanding Academic Books. Several books and articles have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch and German.