Book Reviews : Egypt's Liberation: The Philosophy of the Revolution. By PREMIER GAMAL ABDUL NASSER. (Washington: Public Affairs Press. 1955. Pp. 119. $2.00.)

• Published date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900130
• Author: Halford L. Hoskins
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

196

Vichy.

Fascism

and

Maurrasian

conservatism

are

only

two

of

the

many

ideologies

which

have

opposed

liberal

democracy.

Furthermore,

as

Mr.

Farmer

points

out,

many

of

the

Vichy

leaders

were

opportunists

whose

first

loyalty

was

to

themselves

rather

than

to

an

ideal.

By

comparison

with

Mr.

Farmer’s

book,

Histoire

de

Vichy

is

a

detailed

report

of

the

events

in

France

between

1940

and

1944.

Robert

Aron

and

Georgette

Elgey

begin

their

account

with

the

meeting

of

the

Council

of

Ministers

at

Cang6

on

June

12,

1940,

to

discuss

the

condition

of

France

and

the

future

of

her

government;

and

they

end

the

narration

with

the

re,entry

of

P6tain

into

France

on

April

26,

1945.

The

back

contains

much

which

provokes

further

thought.

For

example,

Mr.

Farmer

describes

in

three

pages

the

departure

in

1940

of

the

&dquo;Massilia&dquo;

for

Casablanca

with

a

num-

ber

of

deputies

aboard

and

calls

it

&dquo;one

of

the

more

obscure

episodes

in

this

chaotic

period.&dquo;

Aron

and

Elgey

devote

eight

pages

to

an

account

of

the

intrigues

which

accompanied

the

&dquo;Massilia’s&dquo;

departure

and

reproduce

a

statement

by

Raphael

Alibert,

then

under-secretary

of

state

and

a

sup,

porter

of

P6tain,

which

discloses

Alibert’s

duplicity

in

the

affair

and

makes

more

precise

its

importance

in

raising

P6tain

to

power.

Aron

and

Elgey’s

narration

is

never

dull.

By

reproducing

in

full

or

in

part

many

of

the

state-

ments,

speeches,

documents,

and

other

publications

of

the

period

they

give

the

principals

in

the

drama

of

Vichy

some

opportunity

to

tell

their

own

stories;

and

the

addition

of

nonpartisan

character

portraits a la

Tocqueville

does

much

to

make

the

narration

absorbing

and

credible.

Of

the

two

books,

Histoire

de

Vichy

contains

the

better

bibliography.

Lehigh

University.

WILLARD

ROSS

YATES.

Egypt’s

Liberation

:

The

Philosophy

of

the

Revolution.

By

PREMIER

GAMAL

ABDUL

NASSER.

(Washington:

Public

Affairs

Press.

1955.

Pp.

119.

$2.00.)

While

this

is

a

collection

of

personal

jottings

originally

not

intended

for

publication,

we

have

in

this

small

volume

a

remarkably

comprehensive

history

of

the

motivation

entering

into

the

Egyptian

revolution

of

July

1952.

This

treatment

of

the

philosophy

of

the

revolution

is

authentic,

for

it

springs

from

the

very

fountainhead

of

the

revolutionary

movement.

Here

are

exposed,

against

the

essentials

of

historical

and

geographical

back,

ground,

the

wrongs,

frustration,

loyalties

and

aspirations

which

bore

fruit

in

the

overthrowing

of

a

decadent

and

corrupt

monarchy

and

in

the

dis-

illusionments

that

have

since

followed

the

military

coup

itself.

This

is

a

moving

human

account,

the

product

of

a

conscientious

and

troubled

mind.

Nasser

and

his

colleagues

had

thought

that,

as

revolu,