By Scott Waalkes
The 2011 Tahrir Square uprising and its toppling of the Hosni Mubarak regime marked a fundamental political shift in Egypt. After an interim period culminating in a July 2013 counter-coup, the minister of defense, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, began to consolidate power. As part of that consolidation, al-Sisi resigned as defense minister and won the presidential election in June 2014. Even before then, he began restructuring the Egyptian media industry to favor the military over the business elites previously favored under Mubarak, culminating in a “military monopoly over the TV drama business” (in Hamoud’s words). The Economist aptly summarized the result: “Sexual innuendo is out. Heroic depictions of soldiers are in.” Sadly, this particular story is not cited in the book, and the prose is not as punchy. However, it is still clearly written and composed of seven concise chapters, five of which provide background on the pre-Sisi era. In developing this narrative, Hamoud (Ghent Univ., Belgium) employs a “Critical Political Economy” approach based on interviews with key players and reviews of Egyptian media coverage in Arabic. Both political science and communication scholars studying Egypt would benefit from perusing this volume, particularly the sixth chapter and the conclusion.
This article is originally published by the American Library Association.