The Egyptians: A Radical Story Paperback – 21 Jan 2016

Review

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 (Ahdaf Soueif Guardian)

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)

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, author of PostCapitalism)

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 (Sameer Rahim Daily Telegraph)

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 (George Arney Independent)

Jack Shenker pulls no punches in his examination of the post-Nasser Egyptian establishment and its venal and murderous ways... It is stirring stuff, compellingly reported and powered by a tenacious empathy for the underdog in a country where the rich have taken - in many cases plundered - almost everything from under the noses of the poor... (Justin Marozzi Sunday Times)

Riveting and elegantly written... an immense and humane portrait of the trials and aspirations of the Egyptian people (Gerald Butt Literary Review)

The real story [of Egypt's revolution] is more confused and more complicated, and, as Shenker presents it in this detailed, meticulous and fascinating book, more hopeful... A historical long view is just one of the things that makes this book stand out (Anthony Sattin Observer)

Truly astonishing... painstakingly researched, moving, engaging and engaged, the most articulate and comprehensive account of the revolution I have read to date (Mariam Ali Open Democracy)

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 (Maria Golia TLS)

A sparky and resolutely cliche-free look at the struggle for democracy in 21st century Egypt (Rachel Cooke, Best nonfiction for 2016 Observer)

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, author of From the Ruins of Empire)

The Egyptians belongs in the bookshelf next to George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia and John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World. This is revolutionary journalism at its finest (Simon Assaf Socialist Review)

Essential reading for those who want to go beyond the conventional wisdom and understand the real causes of upheaval in the Arab world (Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News and author of Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution)

Shenker is one of the best observers of the current scene in Egypt (Khaled Fahmy, Professor of history at the American University in Cairo)

An immensely readable, nuanced, intelligent, and thought-provoking history of the Egyptian uprising... Shenker marries a thoughtful macro-analysis of the political and socioeconomic conditions and contexts with compelling micro-portraits of people and places whose lives are irrevocably transformed by repression, resistance and revolt (Laleh Khalili Red Pepper)

About the Author

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.