We Are Your Soldiers

The Best of The Economists Middle East coverage in 2024A searing exploration of authoritarianism in the Middle East through the legacy of Gamal Abdel Nassers years in power in Cold Warera Egypt.Gamal Abdel Nasser, the larger-than-life Egyptian president who ruled for eighteen years between the coup dtat 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 Nassers 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 countriesEgypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and Libyaweaving the epic tale of Nassers 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-Assads Syria, Muammar al-Gaddafis Libya, Saddam Husseins Iraq and Abd al-Fattah al-Sisis 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 Nassers rule and a new understanding of the politics of the Middle East.