Nasser, His Life and Times, Anne Alexander, Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2005. pp186 Let us imagine for a moment that an Egyptian journalist offered Harvard University Press a manuscript for publication on the life and times of J.F. Kennedy. This journalist's credentials are possibly impeccable, albeit a bit thin. He/she has visited the United States on and off and compiled a slim volume out of mainly secondary sources, enhanced by a couple of interviews. He/she has nothing new to present, having been content to summarise what others have said before him/her. Would Harvard University Press consider publishing the work? I think not. This begs the question of why the American University in Cairo Press has decided that Anne Alexander's Nasser, His Life and Times deserved the attention it has accorded it. Was there a pressing need to present a potted version of the 1952 Revolution? Even considering its all-encompassing title, the book does not purport to be an introduction to the life of Nasser or his politics, which would have been acceptable and maybe useful to include in undergraduates' readings. Nor is it presented as a slightly modified MA dissertation, which it unavoidably brings to mind. Instead, the book's title allows us to expect a fully fledged analysis of the life and times of a ruler who has left an indelible mark on the Middle East in general and on Egypt in particular. It may be too early fully to assess Gamal Abdel-Nasser's rule and form a definitive opinion on his influence on the course of Middle Eastern politics, and the far-reaching consequences of the socialist reforms he instituted in Egypt. Nasser's legacy is still undergoing revision in official history and in public memory. The long-term effects of the land reform, the repression of the press and destruction of the workers' syndicates, the politics of nationalisation, the importance given to the public sector and its performance, the capital and brain drain that occurred between 1952 and 1970, the overcrowding of the education system, and the repercussions of the 1967 defeat on people's spirits are all questions that have not yet been fully documented and reevaluated. So far, and quite rightly, few scholars have attempted to produce the "definitive Nasser". On the other hand, now is the time to gather personal information from Nasser's contemporaries, actors in, or spectators of a period that was crucial in Egyptian history. These people are passing on fast: to be convinced of this fact one can turn to the list of interviewees who spoke to Joel Gordon in the 80s and 90s when he was writing Nasser's Blessed Movement (the paperback edition was published in 1996 by the American University in Cairo Press) to discover that many are no longer with us. It is also the time to examine newly released, or overlooked archival material. Moreover, after Nasser's death, a plethora of personal histories and political memoirs have been published which reveal a great deal about life during that period. Unfortunately, Ms Alexander has not drawn on living memory or first-hand sources, contenting herself with interviewing Fathallah Mahrous (trade union activist imprisoned by the Free Officers in the 1950s), Rifaat El-Said (now leader of the left-wing Tagammu' Party, once active in the Democratic Movement of National Liberation) and Ahmed Hamroush (one of the Free Officers with previous links to the Democratic Movement of National Liberation). Their reliability is certainly not in question and their testimony is indeed invaluable, but they represent such obvious and limited choices that any serious investigative journalism would have benefited more from meetings with other witnesses as well presenting other, more controversial points of view. Today's scholarship depends on the number and variety of first-hand sources to lend it credibility and tends to discount a narrative based mainly on already published information. There is no intention here to criticise the author since it is impossible to know the motives that prompted Ms Alexander to give her work to the AUC press. Since no foreword or acknowledgements are present, we may assume that the book was commissioned or that it was part of an academic project. Whatever the case may be, while this book is a commendable effort, being clear, concise and with few factual errors, it needs life to be breathed into it to make it readable. By Fayza Hassan
