Amazing characters

"e;Here, the great journalist Salah Issa reviews, through the chapters of his important book (Personalities of Wonder), vital features of the events of our modern contemporary history. Through 50 figures from the Egyptian political, cultural, and artistic elite who played a role on the public stage during the second half of the twentieth century, he presents us with a broad panoramic view that encompasses both the "e;"e;great"e;"e; and the "e;"e;scoundrels."e;"e;For example, the author asks whether King Farouk's attempt, after his defeat in 1948, to summon a German military commander to retrain and rearm the Egyptian army was behind the conspiracy by Israel and its allies to depose him. And what is the extent of the Muslim Brotherhood leader Hassan al-Banna's responsibility for the terrorist operations carried out by the Brotherhood's special apparatus?The picture also includes, in its various aspects, those of the right and the left, Wafdists, Nasserists, Muslim Brotherhood members, communists, democrats, and terrorists. It is as if the author, with his skillful pen and exceptional ability to read and observe events between the lines, has captured highly personal portraits of figures who are truly remarkable in a time that is itself remarkable, as he puts it."e;