In his engaging style, the distinguished critic Mahmoud Abdel Shakour presents a cultural and social biography of Egypt in the 1980s, seen through the eyes of a young man beginning his university life and independence from his family. He moves to the capital and immerses himself fully in culture in its various forms, including films, books, music, and more.
We read about life on campus, his early journalistic beginnings, the spread of Islamist groups, the events of the Central Security Forces, the tragedy of Baligh Hamdi, the emergence of the new youth song and its symbols, the hijacking of an Egyptian plane and an Italian ship, and other exciting events that many have forgotten, but others may be reading about for the first time.

This book complements what our critic began in his successful book "I Was a Boy in the Seventies," moving away from dry academic history to immerse the reader in the mind and emotions of an ambitious young man looking to the future in Egypt at the time. An indispensable book for the social history of Egypt, it cleverly connects the private and the public.