Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk [Hardcover]

William Stadiem (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Egypt's King Farouk (1920-1965), organizer of the Arab League which attacked Israel in 1948, often regarded as a corrupt, sybaritic, hypersexed autocrat, is grossly misperceived in the West, maintains Stadiem in this glitzy, unconvincing biography. Farouk has been unfairly portrayed as a friend of the Third Reich, claims the author, arguing that the king's German sympathies were strictly a function of Anglophobia, not of anti-Semitism, and pointing to Farouk's many Jewish friends, advisers and mistresses. Stadiem ( Marilyn Monroe Confidential ) limns Farouk as a genuinely popular ruler, "a smiling blond god, a pharaoh whom the masses . . . could genuinely like and want to . . . serve." He illuminates the CIA's role in abetting the Nasser-led officer coup that toppled the king in 1952. He also presents suggestive evidence that Farouk's assassination in exile was the work of Egypt's secret service with the complicity of the Italian government. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

King Farouk was the last of the dynasty begun by Mohamed Ali, an Albanian tobacco merchant who assumed power over Egypt in 1805 under the protective wing of the occupying French. Becoming king in 1920 at the age of 16 under the mindful control of various domestic Egyptian groups and the dominating power of Great Britain, Farouk ruled during a turbulent time in Egyptian and Middle East history that was marked by the creation of the Arab League, the first Arab-Israeli conflict, and heated nationalist opposition to the British . Instead of being the shrewd political leader that Egypt needed, Farouk was a materialistic womanizer and corpulent spendthrift whose outrageous lifestyle eventually led to his downfall. Deposed in 1952 after a military coup d'etat led by Gamal Abdul Nasser, he went into exile, dying in Rome in 1965 under suspicious circumstances, according to the author. Best supplemented by Peter Batty's video "Farouk: Last of the Pharaohs" (Peter Batty Productions, 1970), it is recommended as an optional purchase for most collections.
- Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 409 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (May 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881846295
• ISBN-13: 978-0881846294
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,804,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Farouk lost much time in idle searching, October 12, 2006

By 

Mr Bassil A MARDELLI "Antoun" (Riad El-SOLH , Beirut Lebanon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk (Hardcover)

A few months before 23 July 1952 coup d'etat, king Farouk examined the possibility to form a military cabinet composed of the `loyal' elements in the Army and the `clean' Civilians. The Cabinet was to be headed by Mustapha el Maraghi.
The King initially was thinking to bring General Fouad Sadik to head the cabinet, but Sadik-who fought in Palestine, 1948- could not give him the necessary confidence because he had talkative habits, implying readiness to engage in talk -with the Divan- to enjoy conversation with those `no need to know'.
General Mohamed Najib was suggested but the King refused him on suspicions that the General was `believed' to have had contacts with the young Free Officers movement - in the palace parlance often referred to as `an insignificant movement of reckless and over enthusiastic boys'. In fact King Farouk twice refused General Najib, when 1) Ahmad Naguib Hilali Pasha and 2) Hussein Serri Pasha, proposed Najib's candidacy to come as minister of defence.
King Farouk confided his plans to the Brazilian Ambassador to Egypt and told him he wanted to make a `White Coup' in October 1952 the moment he came back from vacationing in Europe during the summer.
King Farouk's plan was one a) to form strong `Palace' cabinet composed of a group of trusted military and civilian individuals of high calibre and `clean' records b) Mustapha el Maraghi - a dynamic man of experience as Mayor and Internal Security administrator - was to head the new cabinet c) to suspend the constitution for two years d) to postpone any parliamentary elections for two years e) the King would be the virtual power behind the new cabinet to be able to institutionalize all essential and long standing reforms like Land Distribution - including large tracts owned by the King - to the Fellaheen, Taxation, Education and many other welfare - equal opportunities - projects to improve the decaying standard of living of a population that was rapidly increasing.
The King decided to do all the above in October 1952 after returning from vacation in Europe.
Time ran him out and he was forced to abdicate in July 1952...

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, well researched bio of the man and modern Egypt, July 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk (Hardcover)

This is a book you can't put down! A well written biography of a man most Eqyptians do not want to talk about, even today. I travel frequently to Egypt and have met some of the Free Officers and Islamic Brotherhood who helped bring down Farouk. Some have read the book and feel it is a very accurate picture presented without bias - just the facts! I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern Eqyptian history

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The biography of King Farouk, December 28, 2008

By 

Reader "Reader" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk (Hardcover)

This is one of 3 books in English that are devoted to the life of King Farouk of Egypt (1920--1965). The other two are McBride's "Farouk of Egypt: A biography", and McLeave's "The Last Pharaoh: Farouk of Egypt 1920--1965". There is also Adel Sabit's "A King Betrayed", which was translated from Arabic to English, but that is very hard to find. I understand that there are other biographies in Arabic and also in French that are not available in English.

The book was written in the late 80's (published in 1991), just in time to interview certain key people who knew King Farouk on a personal level and who died soon after (I have Irene Guinle particularly in mind).

Farouk became King of Egypt and Sudan upon the death of his father, King Fuad I, in 1936 at the age of 16. He was extremely good looking, truly loved by the Egyptian people and widely regarded as the hope of an entire generation for a new beginning. 16 years later, he was overweight, bald and (in his own words) almost blind. He lost his first wife, his throne, and most importantly the love and respect of the Egyptian people.

What went wrong?

The book makes an attempt to answer this question, but it is now clear (at least to me) that the answer is deeper and much more subtle than the writer initially imagined it would be.

What now seems clear is that King Farouk was one of the most maligned public figures in history and one of the very first victims of the tabloid press. I grew up reading that he was an alcoholic. Now it turns out that he was a strict Muslim who never touched alcohol. I was told that (like his father before him) he didn't speak Arabic. Now it turns out that his Arabic was perfect (you can hear at least one short sample of his speeches on youtube.com). One also constantly reads about his alleged womanizing. Now it seems established that he hardly had any interest in sex.

From the many interviews in this book, and others on this part of Egyptian history, a certain picture emerges. I now believe that King Farouk was an intelligent man who lacked a proper formal education. He was a patriot who found that not only the British (understandably)conspired against him, but also the major Egyptian nationalist parties.

He became King of Egypt at the age of 16 in 1936 (formally ascended teh throne in 1937), and right after that had to rule a country that was central to European interests in a World War that started in 1939. This was a very unfortunate development for a very young king of a very complex country with no formal training and no sincere friends.

He was treated very badly by the British, represented by the British High Commissioner Miles Lampson (who refered to him in public as "the boy"), by the major nationalist party at the time (The Wafd) and by his mother(you can find out about that in the book or in other sources).

I believe that at some point he lost hope and became depressed, which showed in the form of reckless but harmless behaviour (nothing at all compared to what Arab rulers after him are guilty of).

Everyone who knew King Farouk agree that at a personal level he was an extremely pleasant man, very kind, very well mannered and totally devoid of affectations (William Stadiem says that one of his major mistakes was to think that appearances don't matter--how wrong he was). In words of a cousin of his quoted in Hassan Hassan's book (In the House of Muhammad Ali), "He was greatly sinned against". His was a very sad story.