Description: Examines the ways that political leaderships in Egypt and Algeria have used national stories--about a state's origins, identity, and bases of unity--as part of broader strategies to assert and retain power in the face of political and economic crises.
Review Quotes: "[Laurie A. Brand's] book provides us with the valuable findings of enterprising and careful research and will be read with profit by all students of Middle Eastern and North African politics and history, and not only Egypt and Algeria specialists. If, as is likely, it provokes debate, so much the better and, if it leaves work for others to do, it should also encourage some of them to do it."--Hugh Roberts, Middle East Journal