Anwar Sadat has a lot to answer for. Sadat, says Hazem Kandil, was "the founder of the Egyptian dependent state, the nondeveloping, deindustrialized, and randomly liberalized state; Mubarak only followed in his footsteps."

Indeed the account of Sadat's presidency forms the compelling core of this fascinating book. For me it is a real page-turner and has added hugely to my understanding of his place and time in history.

In Hugh Roberts' review of this and three other books on Egypt (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n17/hugh-roberts/the-revolution-that-wasnt), he says that Kandil's suggestion of army involvement in Sadat's assassination is perhaps the "most controversial element" of his account—a claim that he is "unable to nail... all the way down" mind you. But there are many other fascinating revelations to be found here, including Sadat's interactions with the CIA, Jimmy Carter, and David Rockefeller.

Kandil is strong on the history of Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak, and perhaps only runs into difficulty in the final chapter about the recent revolution, where his prognostications about its outcome seem to be rendered out of date already by recent events, e.g the removal of Morsi from office.

For those who want an overview of modern Egyptian history that is focused productively and compelling on how things evolved to the present situation, I know of no book that I can recommend more highly. ( )