On March 18, AUC Press celebrated the book launch of Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s Witness to War and Peace: Egypt, the October War, and Beyond, published in English translation by the AUC Press (2018), at AUC Tahrir Campus.
“AUC Press has published over two thousand books during its many years and over those years we have had the honor of launching many of those titles here, on our Tahrir Campus, featuring a wide range of writers and topics from books on Egypt’s greatest ancient treasures to modern fiction from across the Middle East,” said Trevor Naylor, AUC Press associate director, sales and marketing, in his opening statement. “In my thirteen years with AUC Press, I do not recall many events quite like this however. Such an array of guests and dignitaries coming together to celebrate and appreciate one man’s life and career. . . It is an honor and privilege to be publishing and selling this book.”
The son of a fighter pilot, raised in an air force barracks, Ahmed Aboul Gheit was privy to the confidential meetings, undisclosed memoranda, and battle secrets of Egyptian diplomacy for many decades. After a stint at military college, he began his career at the Egyptian embassy in Cyprus before later going on to become permanent representative to the United Nations and eventually, Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs under Hosni Mubarak. In Witness to War and Peace: Egypt, the October War, and Beyond, Aboul Gheit, the current secretary general of the Arab League, looks back on the 1973 October War and the diplomatic efforts that followed it, revealing the secrets of his long career for the first time
AUC president Francis J. Ricciardone Jr., who introduced the author, described Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s book as “not just a good book but an important book.” He referred to the author as “a friend, if I may, but also a mentor in my own former career as an American diplomat.”
The event, held in Oriental Hall, was attended by Egyptian diplomat Amre Moussa, former secretary general of the Arab League and former Egyptian minister of foreign affairs, ambassadors, professors, intellectuals, and close friends and family of the author. Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s talk was followed by a book signing and reception in the Fountain Area, outside Oriental Hall.
Click below to watch the full event.
