Israel Gershoni

Egyptian Liberalism in an Age of 'Crisis of Orientation': al-Risala's Reaction to Fascism and Nazism, 1933-39

The 1930s are generally represented as a decade of crisis in Egypts liberal experiment. In this conventional interpretation, a clear and acute expression of the crisis can be found in the intellectual discourse. The transition of Egyptian intellectuals to the large-scale production of Islamic literature (islāmiyyāt), books and texts dealing with classical Islamic themes and heroes, particularly biographies of the Prophet and al-Khulafā⊂ al-Rāshidun, is presented as “the crisis of orientation.” This intellectual crisis is depicted as a general abandonment of the Western modernist project by intellectuals who, until that time, had advocated a progressive, rational, and liberal orientation and had assumed that the adoption of European ideas, values, and practices en masse was essential for the modernization of Egypt and its formation into a modern nation-state. Now, in the early 1930s, by enthusiastically embracing Islamic themes, the intellectuals were carrying out a “complete retreat on all these fronts.”

The Nile: Histories, Cultures, Myths

Contributors, consisting of historians and other scholars from Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europe, Israel, Sudan, and the US, trace the complex intercultural relations that have revolved around the Nile River throughout recorded history. The volumes 20 articles focus on four themes: peoples and identities in medieval times; the Nile as seen from a distance (such as from Europe and as a gateway for missionary activity); mid-century perspectives; and contemporary views including the Aswan High Dam and revolutionary symbolism in Egypt.

A Fabian in Egypt : Salāmah Mūsá and the rise of the professional classes in Egypt, 1909-1939

The first book-length analysis of Salamah Musa (1889o1958), who provoked and astounded Egypt for decades with his trenchant criticism of the nations social order. The book demonstrates that underlying Musas ideas was his advocacy of the interests of an emerging technical and administrative elite which attempted to carve a niche for itself in Egypts agrarian society.