The Fall of the Tyrants

“The Fall of the Tyrants” is comprised of the narratives and eyewitness accounts from the Arab Spring of 2011/13. On the political seismograph, the world registered a civil uprising of extraordinary magnitude, a tremor that spread from Tunisia to Egypt, Libya and Syria.Never before in the history of the Middle East have so many Arab countries revolted to overthrow their rulers. Dictators and presidents were deposed or were murdered and new constitutions were drafted. But it was not the demands for democracy that topped the agenda. It was rather the concepts of Freedom and Dignity - and, of course, Islam.The choice between Islam and democracy - or the lack of choice - is the focus of this book. With the rise and fall of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the jihad invasion in Syria, Islam has indeed become a core issue.The schism between secular and Islamic thoughts stands as the major challenge to anyone who is concerned with current developments in the Arab world.“I do recommend this book for all Western readers who want to understand the Arab Spring. Jens Nauntofte presents an intelligent, accurate and well-written analysis of the Arab societies. In this book, he simply answers the question: Why were the Arab Revolutions inevitable?”Alaa al-Aswany, author of “The Yacoubian Building ”-----February 2011: Journalist Jens Nauntofte is standing on Tahrir Square in Cairo, jammed amidst a throng of people packed like sardines in a tin can. President Mubarak has just fallen from power and the Arab Spring has come into full blossom. North Africa is on the move. The people, the feelings and the political hopes are flourishing. Theres certainly going to be a bill to pay, some time later on, but right now its time for revolution!“The Fall of the Tyrants” is a sharp and in-depth account of the Arab Uprisings, written by the seasoned reporter and Middle East expert, Jens Nauntofte. It is a personal and historical account that brings the reader close to what happened in the Arab capitals when the political tsunami turned everyones life upside down - for a while. In this book, the reader meets some of the important players in the revolution. From Tunis to Tripoli and similarly from Cairo and Damascus, the reader is pulled into the drama that transpired during the spring of 2011.But, as we now know, the revolution failed to run its full course. As time rolled by, it proved to be something else. The writer has gone back to the Middle East to cover what happened to President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013, when Morsi and most of the other leaders of the Brotherhood were arrested in a counter-coup that put the military right back into the position it had occupied before the revolution began.A “must read” book!“With 50 years of traveling and reporting in the Middle East behind him, Jens Nauntofte lets us hear many authentic voices which give reality to the maelstrom of clashing ideas and values - “democracy", Islam, salafism - unleashed as the dams of decades-old dictatorships were broken. Jens Nauntoftes book helps us understand the mutating themes, as the dramas continue to be played out in their different ways. ” Jim Muir, Middle East correspondent, BBC