Egypt was the first of the Arab-speaking Muslim countries to come into close contact with modern European states. The experience was not a particularly happy one. It resulted in political and economic subjugation and in the breakdown of her traditional culture and society: but it led also to her emancipation from the Ottoman Empire and to the eventual development of a modern and autonomous Egyptian identity. The central aim of this book is to trace the history of Egypt during this period of change, from Napoleon's invasion at the end of the eighteenth century to the Free Officer's Revolution...