The 23rd of July, commemorates the anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, marking the establishment of the modern republic of Egypt and the end of monarchical rule.
This date is pivotal in Egypt’s contemporary history and is celebrated as the largest secular public holiday, known as Egypt’s National Day.
To explore more about this significant era, AUC Press offers a selection of books that explore various aspects of Egyptian history from that time. Whether your interest lies in non-fiction or fiction, you will find books that suit your preferences.
Looking back at the post-1952 period from a post-2011 perspective. This essential book explores the early years of military rule following the Free Officers’ coup of 1952. Enriched by interviews with actors and observers of the events, Nasser’s Blessed Movement shows how the officers’ belief in a quick reformation by force was transformed into a vital, long-term process that changed the face of Egypt. Under Gamal Abdel Nasser, the military regime launched an ambitious program of political, social, and economic reform. Read more.
The Story of Gamal Abdel Nasser, through the eyes of his beloved wife. Gamal Abdel Nasser, architect of Egypt’s 1952 Revolution, president of the country from 1956 to 1970, hero to millions across the Arab world since the Suez Crisis, was also a family man, a devoted husband, and father who kept his private life largely private.
In 1973, three years after his early passing at the age of 52, his wife Tahia wrote a memoir of her beloved husband for her family. Read more.
A gripping memoir by one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated Middle East journalists. Eric Rouleau was one of the most celebrated journalists of his generation, a status he owed to his extraordinary career, which began when Hubert Beuve-Méry, director of Le Monde, charged him with covering the Near and Middle East. In 1963, Rouleau was invited by Gamal Abd al-Nasser to interview him in Cairo, a move which was not lost on the young Rouleau—going through him, a young Egyptian Jew who had been exiled from Egypt in late 1951, shortly before the Free Officers coup, was a means to renew diplomatic ties with de Gaulle’s France. Read more.
An enchanted ring brings good fortune to an Egyptian oud player in this compelling novel combining elements of magical realism with political history
Can one man or a mere ring alter the events of one’s life and the history of a country? Combining elements of magical realism with momentous history, Suleiman’s Ring poses these questions and more in a gripping tale of friendship, identity, and the fate of a nation. Read more.
Written by iconic Egyptian novelist Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, this classic of love, desire, and family breakdown smashed through taboos when first published in Arabic and continues to captivate audiences today. It is 1950s Cairo and 16-year-old Amina is engaged to a much older man. Despite all the excitement of the wedding preparations, Amina is not looking forward to her nuptials. And it is not because of the age gap or because of the fact that she does not love, or even really know, her fiancé. No, it is because she is involved with another man. Read more.
A landmark in women’s writing set during the struggle for Egyptian independence called “a must-read set in Cairo” by Electric Literature
February 1946: Cairo is engulfed by demonstrations against the British. Layla’s older brother Mahmud returns, wounded in the clashes, and the events of that fateful day mark a turning point in her life, an awakening to the world around her. Read more.
An updated paperback edition that contains new material on the 25 January Revolution, the rise and fall of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the new era of President Sisi. This cohesive account of Egypt’s millennia-long past offers readers a sure guide through the corridors of Egypt’s past, from the mysterious predynastic kingdoms to the nation-state of the twenty-first century. The author addresses central issues such as how Egyptian history can be treated as a whole and how the West has shaped prevailing images of it, both through direct contact and through the lens of Western scholarship. Read more.
Jewish women exiled from Egypt to New York share glimpses of a lost world, by the author of Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories. Between 1948 and 1957, a period that witnessed two wars between Egypt and Israel, 60,000 members of Egypt’s 75,000-strong Jewish population left the country, compelled by growing hostility to them because of their presumed links to Zionism, economic insecurity, and after 1956, overt expulsion. Decades later, during the 1980s and 1990s, the personal reminiscences of eight Egyptian Jewish women, presently residents of New York who had left Egypt, were meticulously collected by Nayra Atiya. Read more.
