Two-thirds of Egypt’s 80 million people were under 30 as the new millennium dawned, children of an autocratic generation of parents clinging to tradition, ruled by an ageing, ineffectual dictatorship. The longed-for change came suddenly in 2011 but was gone by 2013. Aspden, a London journalist who learned Arabic and has lived in Egypt, tells the story of how the upheaval affected the lives of a number of young Egyptians. The “revolution” did not achieve the hoped-for changes. Mubarak was gone “but another crop of patriarchal figures – religious, bureaucratic and military – had sprung up to take [his] place”. Many of Aspden’s acquaintances have emigrated but she is optimistic for Egypt’s future. This important book offers a balanced, constructive insight – from a Western, yes, but also from a sympathetic viewpoint – into the last 15 years in Egypt.
