Abstract

From the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, Greeks comprised one of the largest and most influential minority groups in Egyptian society, yet barely two thousand remain there today. This painstakingly researched book explains how Egypt’s once-robust Greek population dwindled to virtually nothing, beginning with the abolition of foreigners’ privileges in 1937 and culminating in the nationalist revolution of 1952. It reconstructs the delicate sociopolitical circumstances that Greeks had to navigate during this period, providing a multifaceted account of demographic decline that arose from both large structural factors as well as the decisions of countless individuals.

Angelos Dalachanis is a fellow of the French School at Athens. He received his doctorate from the European University Institute, Florence. He has taught at the Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée University and was a post-doctoral fellow at Aix-Marseille University and the Center for Hellenic Studies at Princeton University.

“A clear and well-researched book…The Greek Exodus from Egypt is straightforward, offering an erudite study that is painless to follow and digest for students and scholars alike… Well beyond the historiography of Greeks and the Greek diaspora alone, Dalachanis’s compelling arguments reach an audience interested in diaspora and migration studies throughout Mediterranean Europe and North Africa… a remarkable contribution to studies of migration and nationalism.” • HISTORY: Reviews of New Books

“The research in this outstanding study is of the highest order, unmatched by any other scholar working on the subject. With Dalachanis’s magnificent work, the Greeks now have a full account of their activities in modern Egypt.” • Robert L. Tignor, Princeton University

“This is an excellent, richly documented study of the final phase of the history of the Greeks in Egypt, the largest ethnic group in that country and one of the most important Greek diaspora communities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is conceptually and methodologically well-crafted, and ultimately persuasive.” • Alexander Kitroeff, Haverford College