Egypt has been the starting point of all major political and cultural trends in the Arab world in recent decades, from Arab nationalism to the thought behind Al Qaeda and ISIS. Into the Hands of Soldiers (Viking) is the former New York Times’ Cairo bureau chief David Kirkpatrick ’92’s firsthand account of Egypt during these tumultuous decades, from Tahrir Square, to the presidencies of Hosni Mubarak and General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and how the Obama administration struggled to respond to these developments.