Max Rodenbeck is a British/American journalist and author based in London . [1] He is Culture Correspondent for The Economist magazine, where he has written on international affairs for over 20 years. [2] He was previously The Economist's Berlin Bureau Chief in Berlin, South Asia Bureau Chief in New Delhi from 2016-2022 and Middle East Bureau Chief in Cairo from 2000-2015. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Cairo: The City Victorious, regarded as one of the best single-volume biographies of the city available, and is a contributor to the New York Review of Books , [3] the New York Times [4] and Foreign Policy magazine. [5] He has been described as "one of the foremost experts on today’s Middle East". [2]
Max Rodenbeck was born in Charlottesville, Virginia to a British mother and American father. [6] His family moved to Cairo when he was 2 years old, and he was raised between Egypt, Britain and the US. [7] Following boarding school in Massachusetts, he studied Arabic and Islamic History at the American University in Cairo.
Rodenbeck began covering Egypt and the Middle East as a stringer for The Economist, while also writing as a freelancer for the Financial Times, Middle East International, The Cairo Times and numerous other publications. In 2000 he was appointed Middle East Bureau Chief for The Economist, covering the region from Iran to Morocco. [8] During his 15 [9] years in the post he covered events ranging from the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the US occupation of Iraq, [10] to the failed revolutions of 2009 in Iran, [11] and the Arab Spring in 2011. [12] Notably, Rodenbeck's reportage in 2010 correctly predicted the eruption of the Arab Spring. [13] Since January 2016 he has been South Asia Bureau Chief for The Economist, based in Delhi.
Rodenbeck's historical portrait of Egypt's capital, Cairo: The City Victorious, was first published by Picador in the UK, and Alfred A. Knopf in New York, where it met wide critical acclaim. The work "traces the life of Cairo from birth...through the heights of medieval splendor, and on to the present day". [14] In its review of the book, The Washington Post Book World described 'Cairo' as "an enormously entertaining read… Rodenbeck's lively and affectionate portrait…veers easily between past and present, personal and historical." [15] The book was cited as "a book to read" by the New York Review of Books, [16] as one of the five best travel books of the year by The Sunday Times, and "the most authoritative and entertaining read on the convoluted and picturesque 1000-year history of the Egyptian capital” by Lonely Planet. [14] Cairo: The City Victorious has since been translated into eight languages.
Rodenbeck has been interviewed on Charlie Rose, [17] with Christiane Amanpour on CNN, [18] on National Public Radio (NPR), [19] The Wire (India), [20] as well as The Economist Radio, and podcasts such as The Arabist. [21] Rodenbeck has also been a regular panelist at the annual Jaipur Literary Festival in Rajasthan, India, and was a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC in 2015. [22]
The American University in Cairo is a private research university in New Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a continuing education program.
Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt Jr. was an American intelligence officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services during and following World War II. A grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, Roosevelt went on to establish American Friends of the Middle East and then played a lead role in the CIA's efforts to overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Majlis-appointed prime minister of Iran, in August 1953.
Miles Axe Copeland Jr. was an American musician, businessman, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) founding member best known for his relationship with Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and his public commentary on intelligence matters. Copeland participated in numerous covert operations, including the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état and the 1953 Iranian coup d'état.
Richard Engel is an American journalist and author who is the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News. He was assigned to that position on April 18, 2008, after serving as the network's Middle East correspondent and Beirut bureau chief. Before joining NBC in May 2003, Engel reported on the start of the 2003 war in Iraq for ABC News as a freelance journalist in Baghdad.
Ahmed Hassanein Pasha, KCVO, MBE was an Egyptian courtier, diplomat, politician, and geographic explorer. Hassanein was the tutor, Chief of the Diwan and Chamberlain to Farouk, the king of Egypt from 1936 to 1952, and also represented Egypt in the 1924 Summer Olympics in fencing.
Ethar El-Katatney is a Saudi Arabian-born Egyptian journalist.
Francis Joseph Ricciardone Jr. is a former President of the American University in Cairo. Ambassador Ricciardone was the United States ambassador to Turkey between 2011 and 2014. Previously he was Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was also on leave from the U.S. Department of State as a guest scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has served as U.S. Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt (2005–2008), the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Palau (2002–2005). As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he received U.S. government and other organization awards for his work in foreign policy and program management, political reporting and analysis, and peacekeeping.
Wolfgang G. Schwanitz is a German-American Middle East historian. He is a specialist in comparative studies of modern international relations between the United States, the Middle East, and Europe. Schwanitz is known for his research on relations between Arabs, Jews, and Germans, and on the history of German relations with the Middle East.
Babak Dehghanpisheh is a Senior Reporter with Reuters covering the Middle East. He was formerly Newsweek magazine's Baghdad Bureau Chief and Beirut Bureau Chief and covered Syria for The Washington Post. In Iraq, Dehghanpisheh reported on events ranging from Saddam Hussein's capture to the rise of Shiite clerics and Iraq's first elections. He was embedded with one of the first Marine units that invaded Falluja in late 2004 and was also one of the few journalists who got inside Abu Ghraib prison shortly after the scandal broke.
The American University in Cairo Press is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East.
Sherif Sonbol was an Egyptian photographer specialising in architecture, scenic fine arts, and photojournalism.
Leila Fadel is a Lebanese American journalist and the cohost of National Public Radio's Morning Edition, a role she assumed in 2022. She was previously the network's Cairo bureau chief. Fadel has chiefly worked in the Middle East, and received a George Polk Award for her coverage of the Iraq War. She is also known for her coverage of the Arab Spring.
Hossam el-Hamalawy is an Egyptian journalist, blogger, photographer and socialist activist. He is a member of the Revolutionary Socialists and the Center for Socialist Studies.
Issandr El Amrani is a Moroccan-American political analyst, journalist and commentator who writes about Egypt and the Middle East for British, American and Middle Eastern publications.
Karim Alrawi is a writer born in Alexandria, Egypt. He has taught at universities in the UK, Egypt, US and Canada. He was an International Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa and taught creative writing at the university's International Writing Program.
Ibrahim Aslan was an Egyptian novelist and short story writer.
Al-Monitor is a news website launched in 2012 by the Arab-American entrepreneur Jamal Daniel. Based in Washington, D.C., Al-Monitor provides reporting and analysis from and about the Middle East. Al-Monitor is the recipient of the International Press Institute's 2014 Free Media Pioneer Award.
David D. Kirkpatrick is a writer for The New Yorker. From 2000 to 2022, he was a correspondent for The New York Times, based in New York, Washington, Cairo and London. From 2011 through 2015, he served as the newspaper's Cairo bureau chief and a Middle East correspondent. He has received three Pulitzer Prizes as part of various teams at The New York Times.
Hassan Abdullah is an Egyptian financier. He is the current governor of the Central Bank of Egypt. He previously held the chief executive officer position of the Arab African International Bank (AAIB), a regional financial services institution that was Egypt's first Arab multinational bank. Abdullah first joined the AAIB in 1982 and became its CEO in 2002. He is also a board member at the American University in Cairo (AUC). In August 2022, Abdullah was appointed as the new acting governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) by presidential decree.
Rania A. Al-Mashat is an Egyptian economist who is currently the country's Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation. She previously served as the country's Minister of International Cooperation from December 2019 to July 2024 and former Minister of Tourism from 2018 until December 2019. She previously held high level positions at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC and at the Central Bank of Egypt.
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