Revolution for Dummies

by Bassem Youssef Narrated by Bassem Youssef

Overview

""The Jon Stewart of the Arabic World""-the creator of The Program, the most popular television show in Egypt's history-chronicles his transformation from heart surgeon to political satirist, and offers crucial insight into the Arab Spring, the Egyptian Revolution, and the turmoil roiling the modern Middle East.

Bassem Youssef's incendiary satirical news program, Al-Bernameg (The Program), chronicled the events of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, and the rise of Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi. Youssef not only captured his nation's dissent but stamped it with his own brand of humorous political criticism, in which the Egyptian government became the prime laughing stock.

So potent were Youssef's skits, jokes, and commentary, the authoritarian government accused him of insulting the Egyptian presidency and Islam. After a six-hour long police interrogation, Youssef was released. While his case was eventually dismissed, his television show was terminated, and Youssef, fearful for his safety, fled his homeland.

In Revolution for Dummies, Youssef recounts his life and offers hysterical riffs on the hypocrisy, instability, and corruption that has long animated Egyptian politics. From the attempted cover-up of the violent clashes in Tahrir Square to the government's announcement that it had created the world's first ""AIDS cure"" machine, to the conviction of officials that Youssef was a CIA operative-recruited by Jon Stewart-to bring down the country through sarcasm. There's much more-and it's all insanely true.

Interweaving the dramatic and inspiring stories of the development of his popular television show and his rise as the most contentious funny-man in Egypt, Youssef's humorous, fast-paced takes on dictatorship, revolution, and the unforeseeable destiny of democracy in the Modern Middle East offers much needed hope and more than a few healing laughs.

Editorial Reviews

The Ringer

An entertaining and eminently readable book about a Middle Eastern country written for Americans. If you have been bluffing your way through political conversations pretending to know the differences between Islamists and secular Muslims, Youssef’s book is an easy, painless way to rectify that error.

Jon Stewart

Hilarious and Heartbreaking. Comedy shouldn’t take courage, but it made an exception for Bassem.

Salon.com

A smart, refreshing and hilariously funny account.

From the Publisher

Hilarious and Heartbreaking. Comedy shouldn’t take courage, but it made an exception for Bassem.” — Jon Stewart

“A smart, refreshing and hilariously funny account.” — Salon.com

“An entertaining and eminently readable book about a Middle Eastern country written for Americans. If you have been bluffing your way through political conversations pretending to know the differences between Islamists and secular Muslims, Youssef’s book is an easy, painless way to rectify that error.” — The Ringer

If you want to understand the Arab Spring-even though it was really the African Spring, set off by a ‘small puny motherfucking country called Tunisia’-then this odd book is just the guide. — Kirkus Reviews

Library Journal

11/01/2016
Helping protestors during the Arab Spring in Cairo led heart surgeon Youssef to create The Program, political satire that became Egypt's most popular television show ever. Unfortunately, it also led to his arrest, the show's cancellation, and his flight from Egypt. Jon Stewart lent his support on The Daily Show. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Kirkus Reviews

2017-02-07
Egyptian comic Youssef, a doctor-turned-satirist-turned-international media sensation, recounts the revolution that brought down Hosni Mubarak in 2011.The author had his moment in the sun when, by long and careful design, he wangled an appearance on Jon Stewart's Daily Show, billed as Egypt's version of the American comic. He earned that designation, he writes here, by cosmic accident, having jumped in front of an American news camera to take over interpreting duties from a less-capable speaker of English during a demonstration in Cairo. The rest was history—if a very brief history, since Youssef fell from stardom just as quickly as he rose to it, his comedy show having fallen afoul of fundamentalists and government types alike. "My bleeped ‘profanity' under the Islamist regime was celebrated as a form of resistance," he writes, "but now everyone was a fucking prude." Chaste and self-censoring, the new Egyptian society that followed Mubarak found no room for Youssef's sensibilities, though he says, bitterly, that he was offered a show in exile but declined it for fear that he would be playing into his enemies' hands. Youssef's memoir often illustrates the old Belfast graffito that if you aren't confused, you don't know what's going on. His account of the rise of Mohamed Morsi, a supposed revolutionary fully implicated in the old regime, is a case in point, with a familiar denouement: "Sure enough, after he and the Brotherhood won, they did what they do best: screwed everyone over. Let the games begin!" Youssef is usually funny, though occasionally he slathers on the bile a little too thickly. The effect is often as if some shock comic—Doug Stanhope, say—were taking it to The Man (or, better, The Mullah). Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. If you want to understand the Arab Spring—even though it was really the African Spring, set off by a "small puny motherfucking country called Tunisia"—then this odd book is just the guide.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173783523
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/21/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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