Why read The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit?

Book cover of The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World

Book description

In vivid and graceful prose, Lucette Lagnado re-creates the majesty and cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years between World War II and Gamal Abdel Nasser's rise to power. Her father, Leon, was a boulevardier who conducted business on the elegant terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, and later, in the cozy,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Andrea B. Rugh

Author

This book describes the rich multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual communities that co-existed peacefully in Alexandria and Cairo in the 1940s and early 1950s. They forged close ties in such public domains as commerce and schooling, while keeping their family and religious lives mainly private and marrying within the community. By the mid-50s as Arab-Israeli problems spread to Egypt, the Nasser government stoked animosity against the Jews and other non-Muslim communities, forcing many to migrate. The book shows graphically how even during normal times cultural communities distinguish between areas where it is safe to mingle with outsiders and those where it…

From Andrea's list on The best books on how culture influences Middle Eastern history and politics.