Book excerpt: As the Arab states come to grips with new realities in the Middle East - the shifts in political and economic power in the region, the growing ascendency of fundamentalist Islam over Nationalist and pan-Arab ideologies of the past and the changing dynamics of the Palestinian problem - the course that Mubarak charts for Egypt has become a factor of key importance. In this book, a career Foreign Service officer examines the changes that are taking place in Egyptian attitudes and policies toward the Arab world from three perspectives - the ways in which Egypt pursued its regional interests under Nasser and Sadat, the policy constraints imposed by political, economic and social forces within Egypt, and the dynamics of Egyptian-Arab relations since the October War.