Into the Hands of the Soldiers
Freedom and Chaos in Egypt and the Middle East
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR
David D. Kirkpatrick, a correspondent for The New York Times, was banned from Egypt for writing this book: the definitive account of the turn back toward authoritarianism in Cairo and across the Middle East.
Egypt has long set the paradigm for Arab autocracy. It is the keeper of the peace with Israel and the cornerstone of the American-backed regional order. So when Egyptians rose up to demand democracy in 2011, their thirty months of freedom convulsed the whole region.
Now a new strongman, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is building a dictatorship so severe some call it totalitarian. The economy sputters, an insurgency simmers, Christians suffer, and the Israeli military has been forced to intervene. But some in Washington—including President Trump—applaud Sisi as a crucial ally.
Kirkpatrick lived with his family in Cairo through the revolution, the coup and the bloodshed that followed. Then he returned to Washington to uncover the American role in the tragedy. His heartbreaking story is essential to understanding the Middle East today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When New York Times correspondent Kirkpatrick arrived in Egypt in late 2010, it seemed like an easy, almost idyllic assignment of studying Arabic and attending dinner parties; "the experts in Washington had all assured me that nothing else interesting would happen." It was not to be, and the resulting story is as much about the cluelessness of those so-called experts as about the Egyptians whose improbable revolution was overtaken by violence, sectarianism, and venality. Kirkpatrick recounts how dueling power centers and ideologies in the American government produced a "schizophrenia... so open that Egyptian generals complained about it to their Pentagon contacts." Although the Muslim Brotherhood had been Egypt's primary opposition for decades and quickly eclipsed the liberals who led the revolution, the U.S. embassy refused to meet with their leaders even after the White House ordered it to, "too anxious about being seen with the Brothers, and too unsure of which ones to call." In the end, Kirkpatrick musters little hope for Egypt, where the security services murder citizens indiscriminately and feel "they must put themselves above the law in order to save it." Though Kirkpatrick lacks the insight into Egyptian political life that many local writers have brought to this subject, this dark chronicle adeptly weaves his personal experiences of the tumult with criticism of the flatfooted American response.
Customer Reviews
Excellent and unbiased depiction of the fall of Egypt revolution
As an Arabic person who had great aspirations for justice and freedom, I had followed the events of the revolution in Egypt from 2011 to 2014. I found this book to give an excellent picture of what happened, it focuses on some of the key player with fair amount of back ground and details. There are some topics which were not mentioned at all or were mentioned with small details but maybe that was out of the scope of this book.
I stopped following Egypt news since few years and reading this book brought back some very sad memories, Egypt was the start of a great hope for millions of Arabs who for the first time saw a light at the end of the tunnel, saw an opportunity for better life for them selves and their children but crushing that revolution in that evil way crushed so many dreams and wishes.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of the Egypt revolution and how it came to and end and the ramifications of both the rise and the fall of this great event.
One of the best books I have read about 2011 Egypt
Well written book about the 2011 revolution. The author’s dug deeper when stereotypes and truisms about the region would have offered an easy way out.