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Table of Contents
About The Book
‘A gripping account. Essential reading to understand the roots of the 2011 Arab Spring and the conflicts that have devastated so much of the region' EUGENE ROGAN, author of The Arabs: A History
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President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who ruled Egypt for eighteen years from the coup d'etat of 1952, is best known in the West for wresting the Suez Canal from the British and French empires. He was a larger-than-life figure, loved by his followers for his nationalist ideals and for heralding a period of social change and modernisation. Yet there is a darker side to Nasser’s regime.
We Are Your Soldiers examines Nasser’s influence on the politics of seven countries – Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya. Rowell argues that Nasser played a crucial role in the formation of authoritarian regimes as varied as Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, Muammar al-Gaddafi’s Libya and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. His encounters with each country were often drenched in blood and destruction, leaving deep scars that endure to the present. Crushing democracy at home while launching wars and slaying opponents abroad, Nasser ushered in the long political winter from which the region is still yet to emerge.
Drawing on extensive interviews and material never before published in English, Alex Rowell presents a thrilling and eye-opening work of history that radically reexamines Middle Eastern politics.
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‘In 400 blood-soaked pages, [Rowell] traces Nasser’s toxic influence from one Arab capital to another, from plots in officers’ club rooms via palace coups and well-equipped torture chambers. Rowell is an eloquent writer, weaving the intrigue into the region’s wider history’ TELEGRAPH
‘Sweeping . . . entertaining’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘A rollicking and revelatory tour of today’s Middle East . . . a masterful reassessment of history' THANASSIS CAMBANIS, author of Once Upon a Revolution: An Egyptian Story
______________________________________________
President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who ruled Egypt for eighteen years from the coup d'etat of 1952, is best known in the West for wresting the Suez Canal from the British and French empires. He was a larger-than-life figure, loved by his followers for his nationalist ideals and for heralding a period of social change and modernisation. Yet there is a darker side to Nasser’s regime.
We Are Your Soldiers examines Nasser’s influence on the politics of seven countries – Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya. Rowell argues that Nasser played a crucial role in the formation of authoritarian regimes as varied as Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, Muammar al-Gaddafi’s Libya and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. His encounters with each country were often drenched in blood and destruction, leaving deep scars that endure to the present. Crushing democracy at home while launching wars and slaying opponents abroad, Nasser ushered in the long political winter from which the region is still yet to emerge.
Drawing on extensive interviews and material never before published in English, Alex Rowell presents a thrilling and eye-opening work of history that radically reexamines Middle Eastern politics.
______________________________________________
‘In 400 blood-soaked pages, [Rowell] traces Nasser’s toxic influence from one Arab capital to another, from plots in officers’ club rooms via palace coups and well-equipped torture chambers. Rowell is an eloquent writer, weaving the intrigue into the region’s wider history’ TELEGRAPH
‘Sweeping . . . entertaining’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘A rollicking and revelatory tour of today’s Middle East . . . a masterful reassessment of history' THANASSIS CAMBANIS, author of Once Upon a Revolution: An Egyptian Story
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (November 23, 2023)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9781398514232
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Raves and Reviews
In 400 blood-soaked pages, he traces Nasser’s toxic influence from one Arab capital to another, from plots in officers’ club rooms via palace coups and well-equipped torture chambers. Rowell is an eloquent writer, weaving the intrigue into the region’s wider history.
– Telegraph
'A gripping account of Egypt’s 1952 Revolution and Gamal Abdel Nasser’s legacy on the Arab world as a whole. Alex Essential reading to understand the roots of the 2011 Arab Spring and the conflicts that have devastated so much of the region down to the present. A brilliant book'
– Eugene Rogan, author of The Arabs: A History
'Gamal Abdel Nasser is the most consequential Arab leader of the twentieth century, and with every major event in the region it becomes necessary to revisit his legacy. Alex Rowell has produced an essential piece of work on Nasser’s legacy in light of the historic Arab uprisings and the advent of social media that have laid bare many of our sacred cultural icons. We Are Your Soldiers is a scholarly book written with journalistic flair, a beautiful narrative, and compelling research'
– Hassan Hassan, coauthor of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror
'Alex Rowell takes us on a rollicking and revelatory tour of today’s Middle East, casting new light with a masterful reassessment of history. He peers beneath the familiar tumult of revolt and repression, and finds Gamal Abdel Nasser, a titanic and charismatic figure whose hand seems, from beyond the grave, to still steer events across the Arab world'
– Thanassis Cambanis, author of Once Upon a Revolution: An Egyptian Story
'In this richly documented book, Alex Rowell offers a fascinating account of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rise in Egypt and his decades-long influence on politics, policies, and political culture in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya. Intense and thrilling, We Are Your Soldiers is a journey through tumultuous moments and events that shaped the contemporary history of the Arab world'
– Ziad Majed, Elliott E. Burdette Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, American University of Paris
'Entertaining . . . a sweeping account of the Egyptian leader’s role in shaping his country and the wider region — and his continuing influence today'
– Financial Times
‘Dismantles the Egyptian leader’s image as an anti-colonial hero’
– Foreign Affairs
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