Egypt is a nation in turmoil, caught in a cycle of revolution and counter-revolution. In The Egyptians: A Radical Story, Jack Shenker uncovers the historical roots of today's unrest and reveals a land divided between two irreconcilable political orders: authoritarian power and grassroots resistance. Challenging conventional analyses that focus only on the battle between Islamists and secular forces, he travels the Arab World's most populous country to explore other, far more important fault lines - the communities waging war against transnational corporations, the people subverting long-established gender norms, the workers seizing control of their factories, and the novelists, graffiti artists and back-alley DJs defying their repressive regime.
Showing that the revolution was no isolated episode but rather part of an ongoing struggle against state authority and economic exclusion, Shenker explains why recent events are so threatening to elites both inside Egypt and abroad. While Egyptian rulers seek to eliminate dissent, seeded within the politics of the young generation are forms of democracy, social justice and resistance that could yet change the world.
Jack Shenker is a journalist based in London and Cairo, whose reporting has spanned the globe. Formerly Egypt correspondent for The Guardian, his coverage of the Egyptian revolution received multiple prizes. In 2012, his investigation into the deaths of African migrants in the Mediterranean was named news story of the year at the prestigious One World media awards.
Show moreEgypt is a nation in turmoil, caught in a cycle of revolution and counter-revolution. In The Egyptians: A Radical Story, Jack Shenker uncovers the historical roots of today's unrest and reveals a land divided between two irreconcilable political orders: authoritarian power and grassroots resistance. Challenging conventional analyses that focus only on the battle between Islamists and secular forces, he travels the Arab World's most populous country to explore other, far more important fault lines - the communities waging war against transnational corporations, the people subverting long-established gender norms, the workers seizing control of their factories, and the novelists, graffiti artists and back-alley DJs defying their repressive regime.
Showing that the revolution was no isolated episode but rather part of an ongoing struggle against state authority and economic exclusion, Shenker explains why recent events are so threatening to elites both inside Egypt and abroad. While Egyptian rulers seek to eliminate dissent, seeded within the politics of the young generation are forms of democracy, social justice and resistance that could yet change the world.
Jack Shenker is a journalist based in London and Cairo, whose reporting has spanned the globe. Formerly Egypt correspondent for The Guardian, his coverage of the Egyptian revolution received multiple prizes. In 2012, his investigation into the deaths of African migrants in the Mediterranean was named news story of the year at the prestigious One World media awards.
Show moreThe essential book about Egypt and radical politics.
Jack Shenker is a journalist based in London and Cairo, whose reporting has spanned the globe. Formerly Egypt correspondent for The Guardian, his coverage of the Egyptian revolution received multiple prizes. In 2012, his investigation into the deaths of African migrants in the Mediterranean was named news story of the year at the prestigious One World media awards.
Refreshing... What distinguishes his writing from others' is his
presence in the slums, factories and homes where Egyptians first
began questioning their relations with their rulers. Mr Shenker
evokes despair at the economy of this badly run country, but also
surprising hope for its future, thanks to a young generation that
says it is "no longer prepared to put up with the old crap".
*Economist, Books of the Year*
I started reading this and couldn't stop. It's a remarkable piece
of work, and very revealing. A stirring rendition of a people's
revolution as the popular forces that Shenker vividly depicts carry
forward their many and varied struggles, with radical potential
that extends far beyond Egypt
*Noam Chomsky*
This superbly written book documents the great victories - and
terrible setbacks - of a people thirsting for democracy and social
justice. A courageous writer who gives voice to the hopes and fears
of the people of Egypt
*Owen Jones*
Meticulous, carefully researched and passionately argued... The
Egyptians is not just about the revolution, it is an act within
it
*Guardian*
Well-researched and absorbing... a people's history of the
revolution that avoids the drama of high politics to foreground
instead the activists and campaigners who laid the foundations for
Tahrir Square... A refreshing, original take on a country with an
uncertain future
*Daily Telegraph*
Shenker's book understands the Egyptian Spring, and the
counter-strikes against it, as a deeper social process that, far
from being over, will continue driving revolutionary upheaval in
the years to come. He reframes political events as the products of
social and technological change. And, above all, he refuses to give
up hope. This is the deepest and most comprehensive account of
Egypt's revolution in the English language, and it will set the
agenda for debate throughout the Arab world
*Paul Mason*
Jack Shenker cuts through the complacent clichés and
self-flattering illusions of foreign correspondents and experts to
produce an intimate and comprehensive portrait of contemporary
Egypt, which is as historically informed as it is politically
shrewd
*Pankaj Mishra*
Inspirational... [Shenker's] analysis is acutely clear-sighted,
given the chaos of recent events. The book mixes a hawk's eye view
of the forces of global capitalism as applied to Egypt with a vivid
worm's eye view of what it is like to be caught up in a revolution.
This is a passionate book, but not an unbalanced one... it tells
stories that need to be told, and which have been widely
ignored
*Independent*
Riveting and elegantly written... an immense and humane portrait of
the trials and aspirations of the Egyptian people -
*Literary Review*
Shenker has written what amounts to a contemporary history of
injustice... Shenker is a sensitive interlocutor; the stories he
relates comprise a stirring mise en valeur of a struggle for human
dignity
*TLS*
Shenker is one of the best observers of the current scene in
Egypt
*Khaled Fahmy, Professor of history at the American University in
Cairo*
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