Bright Levant

"Laurence Grafftey-Smith was an Arabist, and a member of the British government’s Levant Consular Service from 1916 to 1947. He lived in Egypt, really knew it and obviously loved it. This book tells us of the inner workings of the British government, by somebody on the spot who could manipulate people and events more easily than Whitehall or in some cases the ambassador. This is a consular view, not an ambassadorial view – it’s less pompous and more realistic. It paints a very good picture of both the luxury of Alexandria and the realities of Egypt at that time. It’s a very humorous and human account of Egypt. It’s a very well written memoir – an inside account. He has many wonderful Egyptian friends. He describes a lost Egypt which was destroyed by [Gamal Abdel] Nasser but which still has relevance today as the country comes out of the military rule it has suffered since 1952. Yes, he was. He was an imperialist in the sense that he believed Egypt benefited from British rule, but he was very sympathetic towards Arabs. That said, he was happy to use force to suppress riots in Alexandria."