This study sheds new light on Egypt's socialist experience in the 1960s. It charts the evolution of ideology in Nasser's regime from the inarticulate and inconsistent experiments of the early 1950s to the detailed and systematic formulations of the 1960s. It appraises the accommodation between the official declarations and their practical implementation. The book explores the interrelationship between ideology and statecraft and examines the concrete role that Arab socialism played in the Nasserist state. The author has chosen to concentrate on the seminal figure Lutfi al-Khuli - a leading member of the foremost intellectual circle associated with the Nasserist regime whose significant contribution has been neglected in the literature.

Extensive use is made of primary sources such as books, essays and articles by al-Khuli as well as personal interviews with him. Newly declassified Arabic and Russian sources have also been used in order to elucidate the Egyptian socio-political context and the ideological structure of Nasser's Arab socialism.