Inside Egypt: The Road to Revolution in the Land of the Pharaohs by John R. Bradley

This review will be biased as I tend to favour Western journalists living in the Middle East for their relatively objective views of the culture. John is a great example, check out the second page where Egypt is summarised in one sentence, ' This country from which almost all the young people long to escape, their last hope for a better future to leave their loved ones and travel in search of work and dignity.' Not only does this concise sentence describe Egypt, it all epitomises the miasma prevalent in most Islamic countries (like Pakistan). Egyptian army in colluding with the Islamic Brotherhood is following the example of Pakistan in the 1980's, where the army came to an understanding with the Islamists for power sharing. It was only after sustained efforts by the politicians and death of at least one of them (Benazir Bhutto) did Pakistan saw the completion of one full term of a civilian government followed by a smooth transfer of power. Unfortunately, the failure of Arab Spring is exactly due to its much vaunted reason of leaderless success. 

The various chapters explaining ordinary life in Egypt were superb, the only weak one was the one on politics of the country. It didn't seem to rhyme with the rest of the book for me. The chapter on male prostitution was the best for me. The Arabs have somehow discovered to use their charming personalities to woo older Western, mostly British women into short term and long term marriages. In fact not only women but men are also serviced as long as they are not the passive partners. What a combination of male chauvinism coupled with Middle Eastern charm. 

All in all, this book is the best book on Egypt I have come across this far.