I'm no economic historian, but this is a pretty excellent book. Cuno takes on Marxists, Wallersteins, and Eurocentric declinists to show that, in fact, Egypt had a pretty advanced, semi-capitalist economy well before the end-all, be-all mega penis Mehmet Ali took over. Cuno re-periodizes and gets rid of that stinky notion that "modern" Egypt was a product of Europe, Napoleon, and/or Mehmet Ali. He analyzes peasant land ownership patterns, trade networks, and other shit to give a welcome revision to some staid and rancid views of the Middle East.