Dr Hussam R. Ahmed’s new book The Last Nahdawi: Taha Hussein and Institution Building in Egypt was published by Stanford University Press in June 2021. The book offers the first biography of Taha Hussein (1889–1973), one of Egypt’s most iconic figures, in which his intellectual outlook and public career are taken equally seriously. Ahmed examines Hussein's actions against the backdrop of his complex relationship with the Egyptian state, the religious establishment, and the French government, revealing modern Egypt's cultural influence in the Arab and Islamic world within the various structural changes and political processes of Egypt’s parliamentary period (1922-1952). Ahmed offers both a history of modern state formation, revealing how the Egyptian state came to hold such a strong grip over culture and education—and a compelling examination of the life of the country's most renowned intellectual.
For more on the book and to order a copy, visit: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31834