Generation Revolution: On the Front Line Between Tradition and Change in the Middle East

by Rachel Aspden

In 2003, Rachel Aspden arrived in Egypt as a 23-year-old trainee journalist. She found a country on the brink of change. Of Egypt's 80 million citizens, two-thirds were under 30. The new generation were stifled, broken and frustrated – caught between a dictatorship with nothing to offer them and autocratic parents still clinging to tradition and obedience after a lifetime of fear.

In January 2011, the young people’s patience ran out. They thought the revolution that followed would change everything for them. But as violence escalated, the economy collapsed and as the united front against Mubarak shattered into sectarianism, many found themselves wavering, hesitant to discard the old ways.

What happens when a revolution unravels?

Why is a generation raised on Hollywood movies and global brand names turning to religion?

How do you choose between sex and tradition, consumerism and faith?

Why would people who once chanted for freedom support a military state?

And where will the next generation take the Middle East?

Following the stories of four young Egyptians – Amr the atheist software engineer, Amal the village girl who defied her family and her entire community, Ayman the one-time religious extremist and Ruqayah the would-be teenage martyr – Generation Revolution unravels the complex forces shaping the lives of young people caught between tradition and modernity, and what their stories mean for the future of the Middle East.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Middle East, Egypt

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2016

Reviews

[Mohamed Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one book you need to read if you want to get informed about Egypt, young Egyptians, and the Middle East in the midst of the Arab Spring

[Greynomad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part was good............went bad afterwards

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible book about the experiences of young Egyptians caught up in years of political turmoil. Worth reading to learn of their experiences and their bravery in trying to change their circumstances in intolerable circumstances. Made me feel gratitude for the relative ease of my own life.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and current story.

[Zora O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good portraits of young Egyptians, and welcome nuance on the different Islamic movements there. The framing of the book (title, etc) is a bit political-wonky, but really these are just interesting people to get to know, and the book is written in a very accessible way.