Gamal Abdel Nasser, the larger-than-life Egyptian president who ruled for eighteen years from the coup d'etat he led in 1952, is best known for wresting the Suez Canal from the British and French empires and befriending such iconic revolutionaries as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Yet there is a darker side to Nasser's regime. He was a brutal authoritarian, whose legacy lies at the heart of the violent and repressive order that still prevails throughout the Arab world today. In We Are Your Soldiers, Alex Rowell focuses on seven countries – Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and Libya – to reassess Nasser's impact in the Arab sphere. Drawing on a deep reading of Arabic sources, extensive interviews, and material never before published in English, Rowell offers a radical reexamination of Nasser's rule and a new understanding of Middle Eastern politics.  

Gamal Abdel Nasser, the larger-than-life Egyptian president who ruled for eighteen years between the coup d’état he led in 1952 and his death in 1970, is best known for wresting the Suez Canal from the British and French empires and befriending such iconic revolutionaries as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Yet there is a darker side to Nasser’s regime. He was a brutal authoritarian, whose legacy, Alex Rowell argues, lies at the heart of the violent and repressive order that still prevails throughout the Arab world today. We Are Your Soldiers examines seven countries—Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya—weaving the epic tale of Nasser’s dramatic encounters with each to reassess his impact in the Arab sphere. These engagements were often drenched in blood and destruction, leaving deep scars that endure to the present. Rowell shows how the Nasser years were crucial to the formation of regimes as varied as Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, Muammar al-Gaddafi’s Libya, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi’s Egypt. Crushing democracy at home while launching wars and slaying opponents abroad, Nasser ushered in the long political winter from which the region is still yet to emerge. Drawing on a deep reading of Arabic sources, extensive interviews, and material never before published in English, Rowell offers a necessary reexamination of Nasser’s rule and a new understanding of the politics of the Middle East.

Abu Nuwas, the pre-eminent bacchic bard of the classical Arabic canon, was loved and reviled in equal measure for his lyrical celebration of Abbasid Baghdad's dissolute nightlife, his cutting satires of religion and the clergy, and the extraordinary range and virtuosity of his literary talent. 'Vintage Humour' contains approximately 120 translations, each replicating the monorhyme scheme of the originals, with commentary where appropriate, a brief history of the poet's life and times, and a glossary of the key themes, motifs, and running jokes of the poems themselves. Based on extensive research with both Arabic and English source materials, 'Vintage Humour' is an illuminating collection, of interest to both general and informed readers with an interest in Islamic studies, Arabic literature, and the history of Iraq and the Middle East.