cover image Cutting the Lion's Tail: Suez Through Egyptian Eyes

Cutting the Lion's Tail: Suez Through Egyptian Eyes

Mohamed H. Heikal, Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal. Arbor House Publishing, $18.95 (238pp) ISBN 978-0-87795-919-9

""Suez had many losers,'' writes the author, ``and two victorsNasser and America.'' He describes Britain's eclipse in the Middle East and the emergence of the United States as a substitute, a process conducted ``with almost indecent haste'' with the 1956 Suez crisis as its turning point. This study is a major attempt to reveal the Cairo side of a story usually told from the vantage points of London, Paris and Washington. Closely involved in the unfolding of the crisis, both as a newspaper editor and as a friend of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, Heikal traces that charismatic leader's doubts, deliberations and actions from his bold and dangerous decision to nationalize the Suez Canal to the withdrawal of forces from the Sinai, explaining from the Arab point of view the diplomatic, political and military maneuverings that led to the confrontation between Egyptian forces and those of Britain, France and Israel. (October)