With the protests in Egypt turning violent as detractors and supporters of Hosni Mubarak battle for power, a forgotten victim has emerged. As the future of Mubarak's reign lays in wait, few seem to be concerned about a group sure to be heavily impacted by the crisis.
By way of generalization, Hosni Mubarak biographers are an educated bunch. But don't let that fool you into thinking that they have a variety of skills. They don't. They know about one subject- expertly so- and that's Hosni Mubarak.
"Whether or not a person is in power when you make a contract to write a book amounts to a $10,000 difference with regards to the advance," says Mubarak biographer Mahmoud Ahmed. Ahmed believes that the advance for his next book on Mubarak, his fifth on the subject, will be significantly less if Mubarak should be ousted from power.
"If Mubarak is no longer in charge of Egypt, who will care that he had two scrambled eggs, a piece of rye toast, and pulpy orange juice for breakfast on November 16, 1986? No one. It would become irrelevant," says another Mubarak biographer, James Kennedy, "And that's what my next book was supposed to be about! All 823 pages of it."
The most dire case of all Mubarak biographers belongs to Jessica Al-Farooq-Berg. Her first book on Mubarak is due out this coming Tuesday. "If he's still in power next Tuesday, my kids will eat, because people will still be interested." Al-Farooq-Berg continues, "If he's gone by then, my family's doomed, because no one will care about Mubarak anymore. He'd be yesterday's news."
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