Amir-Hussein Radjy
Best of Enemies
Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash that Shaped the Middle East
By Fawaz A Gerges
Princeton University Press 483pp £24.95
Gamel Abdel Nasser’s Philosophy of the Revolution (1955) is written in a charismatic style, though it is thin on substance – much like the man who purportedly penned this booklet. What is blatantly clear is Nasser’s belief in the Egyptian army. ‘Throughout my life I have had faith in militarism,’ the Egyptian leader declares. ‘The soldier’s sole duty is to die on the frontiers of his country.’ In the decades since Nasser wrote this, Egypt’s army, while lacking any strategic vision for the country, has proved itself tactically brilliant at dominating Egyptian politics, taking up and brutally dispensing with political allies on the Left and Right, secular and Islamist, as befits its interests. Nasser, before leading the July 1952 Free Officers coup that overthrew the monarchy and placed the army in control of Egypt, was briefly a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. As president, he lost every war he fought against Israel, but he succeeded in brutally crushing the Brotherhood.
What some see as Nasser’s faithlessness, others see as a maverick ability to govern a divided country. In Making the Arab World, Fawaz Gerges points out that Seyyed Qutb, whom many today consider the founding theorist of militant jihadism, was similarly eclectic in his ideological loyalties. Remarkably, Qutb
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Of the siblings Gwen and Augustus John, it is Augustus who has commanded most attention from collectors and connoisseurs.
Was he really the finer artist, asks Tanya Harrod, or is it time Gwen emerged from her brother’s shadow?
Tanya Harrod - Cut from the Same Canvas
Tanya Harrod: Cut from the Same Canvas - Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The Lives and Loves of Gwen and Augustus John by Judith Mackrell
literaryreview.co.uk
As Apple has grown, one country above all has proved able to supply the skills and capacity it needs: China.
What compromises has Apple made in its pivot east? @carljackmiller investigates.
Carl Miller - Return of the Mac
Carl Miller: Return of the Mac - Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee
literaryreview.co.uk
We are saddened to hear of the death of Edmund White.
We've lifted the paywall on Richard Davenport-Hines's 2014 review of White's Paris memoir.
Richard Davenport-Hines - Scenes from a Literary Life
Richard Davenport-Hines: Scenes from a Literary Life - Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris by Edmund White
literaryreview.co.uk