Takes a new approach by exploring the role of'culture' in intelligence analysis of the region and the notion of a'cultural divide'between East and West. A unique and previously unavailable insight into how the British and American intelligence communities regarded Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar el Sadat. Consults Arabic published sources to incorporate the usually absent Arab perspective. The first book to take Western intelligence assessments back to the indigenous political elite through a series of high-level interviews conducted in 2006. Interview subjects include: Hoda Abdel Nasser, President Nasser's daughter, and Hassanein Heikal, Nasser's closest confidante, unofficial biographer and the most prolific Arabic author of this period.

Have Western experts fundamentally failed to understand the dynamics, leaders and culture of the Middle East? Dina Rezk analyses 8 case studies, culminating in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar el Sadat on live television on 6 October 1981, Drawing on declassified documents, interviews and multi-archival research, she explores how the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world have been so notoriously caught off guard in post-WWII Middle East.