Whatever Happened to the Egyptians? ???? ??? ????????? [Arabic]

If you want to know how egypt changed socially and economically in the last 50 years this is the book to start from. It offers an entertaining as well as deep, board look and what happened to Egypt and how it slowly transformed to what it became now. One of the great features of Galal Amin in this book is that he maintains strict neutrality, neither supporting and attacking a certain side or group, he simply tries to relay to the reader what happened giving the reader a chance to decide for himself whether what happened was bad or good. For us young Egyptians who want to understand what the older folks are talking about when they ramble about the good old days, this is a must read. Truely entertaining.

This book, as well as "Whatever Else Happened to the Egyptians" inform, very entertainingly, about the dramatic Social and Economical changes that has taken place in Egypt since Nasser's era. They also show how in some situations the Egyptian society has been blindly moving in the direction of westernization. The book is divided into different articles, addressing different aspects of the society, eg. income, marriage, etc..., which makes it very easy and more interesting to read. I was one of Galal Amin's students in the American University in Cairo, and his very charming personality that always made his classes a joy to learn, vividly appears in his writings.

The social history of Egypt in the Middle Ages was well documented by the legendary historian Al Maqrizi who wrote volumes of fascinating history of Egyptians, their rulers, classes and habits. In the last few hundred years starting with Edward Lane writing the social history of Egypt became dominated by the Orientalists who brought their own baggage and prejudices and often supremacist attitudes to the task. Few rare exceptions such as Cairo City Victorious defy the traditional orientalist narratives. (This can be observed from the review of the former colleague of Amin who essentially says this is just good enough for the natives if not in so many words.) Galal Amin wrote a light hearted, mostly easy to read book about the massive changes that occurred in the Egyptian society since the 1952 military coup aka The Revolution. Amin attributes much of the change in Egypt's society to a massive expansion of the middle class started under Nasser but accelerated under Sadat with the Open Door policy and the massive demand for Egyptian workers (including unskilled and semiskilled) in the oil rich Arab countries. Amin used a number of personal but very interesting yard sticks to track the changes in the society. He contrasted his university professor salary with that of the house servant. The gap narrowed significantly after 1952 and much more so after 1972 and started to widen again in recent years. Amin also addressed the role of women in the society and contrasted the changes from his mothers, to his sisters to his daughter. Remarkable change has occurred and Amin's admittedly non scientific findings correlate closely with those of Leila Ahmed (Women & Gender in Islam). For many women in Egypt the headscarf serves a tool of liberation not oppression, a point almost always lost on many. Also interesting is Amin's demonstration of the reduced dependence on the state comparing the days of his father (the famous Egyptian Writer & Professor Ahmad Amin) to the generations of his kids and nephews and nieces. Overall it is a really nice easy to read book, it is a compilation of different articles and research papers that mostly mesh in nicely to form a reasonably coherent whole

I personally and professionally know Galal Amin. I was his colleague at the American University in Cairo for several years and have had the pleasure of socializing with him on many occasions. Though I disagree with him about 99 percent of the time, especially on his views of the West and of the economics profession (he seems to have contempt for both), I find him to be one of the most entertaining, charming, and articulate individuals I have ever met. This comes across very clearly in his work. His book is very readable and does indeed offer insights into Egyptian society, much the way Andy Rooney does of American society, and the rapid changes it has gone through. In a way this book, and the man himself, epitomize Egypt. To the Westerner, Egypt is a charming place full of contradictions which both seduces and exhausts the outsider. If one takes it too much to heart, the same can be said of Amin's work. It is best to keep in mind that this book is based on a series of articles that were written for an Egyptian audience. With that in mind, I highly recommend it.

This unbiased work provides a good overview of the societal changes that have occurred in Egypt during the last 50 years and the challenges that remain. It will prove particularly helpful for people who are planning to go to Egypt and/or deal with Egyptians on more than a superficial level, as well as for those who want to add some depth to their understanding of the Middle East generally. A good overview of a fascinating country.