A dream come true
Written to mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Suez Canal, this book remains an excellent history of the canal for those who wish to know more about how a dream came true - its conception, construction, opening and running, especially as Egypt has announced plans to add a parallel lane to enable traffic to move in both directions. Although there are many similar works on the subject, this book should suffice to answer most readers' questions about the canal. The author served as a soldier and editor in the Middle East during the Second World War. He had first-hand knowledge of the Arab world and its politics and this is a well-researched account of the history of the Suez Canal, in many ways a story no less captivating than that of the ill-fated Titanic.
The publication of this book coincided not only with the centenary of its opening, but also with a new era in the life of the canal, after it was nationalised by President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt in 1956. The chapter on the events leading to the nationalisation and on the Suez crisis that followed is particularly interesting, Historians may look at this period differently, but Duff's straightforward account is eminently unbiased.
