A few months ago, the memoirs of the deposed President Hosni Mubarak by Abdallah kamal Kelmet al-Serr (The Password) were out in every bookshop around Cairo. If you were looking forward to Mubarak’s memoirs about his 30 years as Egypt’s ruler then, I guess you will have to wait. The Password is a thorough documentation of the events of Egypt’s defeat in 1967, the rebuilding of the army under the reign of President Sadat that led to the October victory.

The book touches lightly on Mubarak as a person; it simply tells the story of a military officer during war; the language is tough and at some point, it drags a bit. I could not get through the entire book but I am happy I bought it as it is a written documentation of the path to victory.