Social historians of modern Egypt Abbas (1939-2008) and El-Dessouky (emeritus, Helwan U.) wrote two books during the 1970s that drew empirically from sources at the Egyptian National Archive that had not been used for scholarship before. The two have been combined for this translation and edition. Among their topics are the development of capitalist landownership in Egypt, the main components of the large landholding class, the relations of production in the countryside, and the large landowners and the social question. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)