Standing on its own, this work is well written and easy to follow. Lia is able to delve into the mechanics of the organization on a social and political level in order to reveal just how it reached the amount heights of success that it did. The result is a picture that explains well why it was a model so extensively copied and exported throughout the Muslim world. If there is any comparison to be made to Mitchell's work, this would certainly be the proper feature to focus on. Overall, Lia gives a much more lucid, detailed account of the Muslim Brother as a social organization and makes a convincing case for the organization being the first grass-roots political movement in Egypt with its origins and leadership from the poorer classes [unlike the Wafd]. What is lost, however, is comprehensive picture of the whole-and this due partly to the limited time frame of the study-wherein the Brotherhood's other distinguishing features [e.g., its religiosity, transformation during political persecution, etc.] are obfuscated.

In a very impressive research effort into the early years of the Muslim Brothers, Lia (a Norwegian scholar) relies on new sources and deep knowledge of his subject to show convincingly just how well that movement does fit the new interpretation. He establishes that it organized in ways novel for Egypt and mobilized elements of the population hitherto neglected. But its greatest importance lay in developing an answer to the rampant European ideologies of the 1930s: in this, the Muslim Brothers began "a lasting process of renewal . . . in which religion was related to the modern age and all aspects of modern life." With justification, Lia concludes that the Muslim Brothers' "reinterpretation of Islam will remain the most far-reaching Islamic renewal this century."

Middle East Quarterly, June 1999

"This important book deepens our understanding of the influence of contemporary Islamism by providing the first definitive history of the meteoric rise of the mother organization of all modern Islamist movements, the Society of the Muslim Brothers.

Founded in 1928 by a young primary school teacher, Hasan al-Banna, the society rose to become the largest mass movement in modern Egyptian history in less than two decades, clashing with the ruling elite on a wide range of issues.

Brynjar Lia examines the socio-economic and cultural factors which facilitated the movement's expansion and analyses the keys to its success- its organization, internal structure, modes of action and recruitment techniques as well as its ideological and class appeal.

Drawing on a wealth of new sources which include British War Office and Foreign Office files, security files from the Egyptian National Archives and the Society's newspapers and internal publications from the 1930s and early 1940s, this book also makes extensive use of the memories and personal letters of Muslim Brother veterans. The author has spent many years in Egypt interviewing old and younger members of this influential society."

Palestine Times No.86 August 1998

"Lia's book provides a fresh reassessment of the growth of the Muslim Brothers. He does so by drawing on a wealth of recently discovered documents, including the Society's own internal publications from the 1930s and '40s, British intelligence reports and al-Banna's personal letters.

While touching on issues of ideology and anti imperialism, Lia places great emphasis on the Society's structure and its activities within Egypt to explain its early phenomenal growth. Rather than a reaction to modernity, he argues that the Society itself was a modern organization, open to new technologies and ideas. (..)

The violence and radicalism within the organization prove to be among the thorniest issues in the book. While the Muslim Brothers provided the organizational model for today's radical Islamic groups, to some extent they also provided the template of violence. Lia argues that the Society, while calling for an all-Islamic "struggle" on various occasions, was not inherently violent. The Muslim Brothers did have a military wing, the so-called Special Section, but this, he says, was a way to channel the radical energies of the more energetic younger members. This element of violence can be traced back to a split within the Muslim Brothers in 1939. As a reaction to al-Banna's accommodationist political activity, a group calling itself the Society of Our Master Muhammad's Youth split off from the main organization. Throughout the next decades, this group would continue to splinter, creating the network of violent Islamic groups which plagued Egypt today (..) Lia argues that the growing radicalism resulted from government efforts to shut these Islamic groups out of the Egyptian political system. Lacking a legitimate outlet for their energies, he argues, these groups can easily turn to the option of terrorism.

"The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt 1928-1942" is an important contribution to our understanding. If any complaint can be leveled it is at the circumscription of the book's time frame. Lia limits his study from the beginning of the Society until 1942 (..)Numerous issues of interst arose in the Society's history after this period from the involvement of the Muslim Brothers in the 1948 war against Israel to the 1949 assassination of al-Banna and Nasser's eventual outlawing of the Society. A wider study would further consider the development of violence within the Muslim Brothers and its splinter groups and offshots. One can only hope that Lia has plans for a companion volume"

Book review by Shai Tsur in Jerusalem Post December 1998