Loosely based on the author's experiences in Cairo, immediately following the 1967 war, this engaging story follows a group of American students sent to Egypt to learn Arabic. During the course of their stay, the students experience conflict between their, often romanticized, images and the reality of life in Cairo as they learn to survive during the last days of the Nasser regime and the end of Egypt's golden age. This book provides an alternative view of Egypt and the Middle East as its protagonist, an imaginary James Bond, studies, shops, haggles and defends his self-identity in a foreign culture.