This essential book explores the early years of military rule following the Free Officers’ coup of 1952. Enriched by interviews with actors in 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. Egypt became a leader in Arab and non-aligned politics, as well as a model for political mobilization and national development throughout the Third World. Although Nasser exerted considerable personal influence over the course of events, his rise as a national and regional hero in the mid-1950s was preceded by a period in which he and his colleagues groped for direction, and in which many Egyptians disliked—even feared—them. Joel Gordon analyzes the goals, programs, successes, and failures of the young regime, providing the most comprehensive account of the Egyptian revolution to date. This edition includes a new Introduction that looks back at the post-1952 period from a post-2011 perspective.
Nasser’s Blessed Movement
Egypt’s Free Officers and the July Revolution
This essential book explores the early years of military rule following the Free Officers’ coup of 1952. Enriched by interviews with actors in and o
16.95
Joel Gordon is professor of history and director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arkansas. He teaches and writes about political change, intersections of popular and public culture, historical memory and nostalgia, and religious and secular crosscurrents, with emphases on cinema, music and mass media.
