Too Rich - Softcover

William Stadiem

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1898259410 ISBN 13: 9781898259411

Publisher: Parkway Publishers, 2009

Synopsis

William Stadiem's biography of King Farouk of Egypt is a sympathetic portrait of the penultimate King of Egypt which takes into consideration the diplomatic pressures he was subjected to during the time of his reign.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

A sympathetic, if somewhat bifurcated, portrait of the deposed Egyptian playboy king. Stadiem (A Class by Themselves, 1980) seems unsure of how to approach his subject, as long stretches of straightforward history alternate with the type of tittle-tattle usually found at checkout counters. He traces Farouk's ouster and his subsequent career as a buffoonish jet-set celebrity back to the treatment accorded him by the colonial British. The chief instrument of British imperialistic policy was, according to Stadiem, Sir Miles Lampson, Britain's ambassador to Egypt and a man bent on having the young monarch--the immensely handsome and popular Farouk came to the throne at 17--toe the line and ``be a good boy'' by acceding to British wishes in the Mideast. British influence in Egypt, Stadiem points out, was in fact one of the major factors in the rise of Egyptian nationalism as envisioned by such figures as Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar el- Sadat; it was this nationalism that eventually toppled Farouk. Though this argument is somewhat simplistic, Stadiem buttresses his position with some convincing data. He is less successful when interviewing Farouk's intimates, ranging from many of the women he bedded to his son Ahmed Fuad, who was briefly king of Egypt until the monarchy was abolished. And an inordinate amount of space is devoted to the king's sexual escapades, which, for good or ill, seem to have been fairly humdrum. Prolix and frequently repetitious, and vacillating from the scholarly to the snickering: a disappointing portrait of a potentially fascinating subject. (Photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal

King Farouk was the last of the dynasty begun by Mohamed Ali, an Albanian tobacco merchant who assumed power over Egypt in 1805 under the protective wing of the occupying French. Becoming king in 1920 at the age of 16 under the mindful control of various domestic Egyptian groups and the dominating power of Great Britain, Farouk ruled during a turbulent time in Egyptian and Middle East history that was marked by the creation of the Arab League, the first Arab-Israeli conflict, and heated nationalist opposition to the British . Instead of being the shrewd political leader that Egypt needed, Farouk was a materialistic womanizer and corpulent spendthrift whose outrageous lifestyle eventually led to his downfall. Deposed in 1952 after a military coup d'etat led by Gamal Abdul Nasser, he went into exile, dying in Rome in 1965 under suspicious circumstances, according to the author. Best supplemented by Peter Batty's video "Farouk: Last of the Pharaohs" (Peter Batty Productions, 1970), it is recommended as an optional purchase for most collections.
- Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Parkway Publishers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1898259410
• ISBN 13: 9781898259411
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 409