Circling the Square

July 20, 2015
Steavenson (Stories I Stole), the New Yorker's Egypt correspondent from 2011 to 2012, offers vivid, illuminating, if at times superficial impressions of the protests which overthrew Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime. Arriving in Cairo just after the "Day of Rage" (January 28) saw the police cede control of the streets, including massive Tahrir Square, Steavenson aimed to understand the various currents feeding, resisting, and transforming Egypt's popular democratic revolution. This account also draws heavily on the experiences of her acquaintances within the diverse opposition movement. The story culminates in the election of Egypt's first democratically elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, and his downfall a year later in another, even larger uprising that divides the revolution into two competing factionsâboth ultimately and violently superseded by the Egyptian military. Steavenson comes away with more questions than answers, and a rueful appreciation of history's complexity. Readers looking for in-depth political analysis or historical context will be disappointed. Nevertheless, the author's proximity to and resolute identification with the ordinary people and extraordinary spirit of possibility in Tahrir Square in those heady days conveys subtleties that can be missed by more erudite top-down analyses, and they make for a breathless ride into what was then an unfolding drama.

June 15, 2015

The Arab Spring erupted in Cairo's Tahrir Square where massive demonstrations began in January 2011. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered to oppose the decades old authoritarian regime, hopeful for change, freedom, democracy, and a more just society. Journalist Steavenson (The Weight of a Mustard Seed), who has years of Middle Eastern experience, conveys the excitement, fears, and confusion of the crowds mobilizing for revolution without a plan or a coherent idea of what might come next. The author roams the square and the city, watching and listening, conducting numerous interviews with street youth as well as educated activists. All are exuberant when the aging President Hosni Mubarak is finally forced from office. Two years later, when the constitutionally elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi is arrested by the army, the revolution is over, but the hopes and determination of the Egyptian people for a better life may revive. Steavenson brings these scenes to life and conveys the aspirations and frustration of a nation crushed by poverty and powerlessness yet undaunted in its dream of a better society. VERDICT A moving, empathetic portrayal of a central movement of our time: the brave Egyptian people's attempt to end repression without the tools or the leaders to succeed.--Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL

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