Reviews of books on Egypt: Bradley and Rutherford
Only two books have come out in the last few years describing Egypt in the late Mubarak era: John Bradley's journalistic Inside Egypt and the more academic Egypt After Mubarak by Bruce Rutherford.
I have looked through both (Rutherford's book I did not read in detail yet.) Although parts of Bradley's book are vividly written, I did not like it and found much of it over the top or too narrowly focused. I won't enter into a detailed critique here, but want to point out that Jason Brownlee (an Egypt expert at the University of Texas, Austin) has written a scathing review in Middle East Journal accusing Bradley of plagiarism:
Read the whole review here [PDF].
You can also read Robert Vitalis' review of Rutherford here [PDF], also in MEJ. I think the Rutherford book, from what I've read, even if quite dry at times makes a good contribution to the understanding of the judicial system in Egypt and a thought-provoking argument about liberalism and Islamism in contemporary Egyptian politics.
I have looked through both (Rutherford's book I did not read in detail yet.) Although parts of Bradley's book are vividly written, I did not like it and found much of it over the top or too narrowly focused. I won't enter into a detailed critique here, but want to point out that Jason Brownlee (an Egypt expert at the University of Texas, Austin) has written a scathing review in Middle East Journal accusing Bradley of plagiarism:
Read the whole review here [PDF].
You can also read Robert Vitalis' review of Rutherford here [PDF], also in MEJ. I think the Rutherford book, from what I've read, even if quite dry at times makes a good contribution to the understanding of the judicial system in Egypt and a thought-provoking argument about liberalism and Islamism in contemporary Egyptian politics.