First published in 1987. A simple record of the author's travels in the Middle East over a period of twenty years, it is intended faithfully to reflect the region as a catalyst to the development of his own life from carefree youth to maturity and marriage.

This concise history of Islamic censorship examines the turbulent question of freedom of expression in Islamic societies. The book ranges from the ancient Arabians, to Muhammad's charter offering freedom of expression to Muslims, to modern history, when control of communication shifted to the secularists. Trevor Mostyn's incisive book culminates in an analysis of the current political direction of censorship, and the control of freedom of expression.

Egypt's "belle epoque" was a period of incredible extravagance during which the Khedive Ismail's Cairo became the mirror image, both architecturally and socially, of decadent Paris. The glamour and hedonism of the era reached its peak during the magnificent celebrations for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Kings and emperors, artists, writers and Europe's most sophisticated flocked to the dazzling new Cairo of sumptuous palaces and Parisian gardens, where Verdi's "Aida" premiered at the new opera house and glittering parties were held on the banks of the Nile. But the splendour was short-lived. Only a year after the Suez Canal opened, the Second Empire in France collapsed and the Khedive's excesses plunged Egypt into crippling debt. Ismail was eventually forced to abdicate, leaving Cairo to the British who occupied Egypt in all but name. This is a riveting account of an extraordinary moment in the history of both France and Egypt.

First published in 1987. A simple record of the author's travels in the Middle East over a period of twenty years, it is intended faithfully to reflect the region as a catalyst to the development of his own life from carefree youth to maturity and marriage.