Drawing on the author’s experience managing the Sharqiyat “Sindbad” Bookstore from its establishment in 1996 until 2014, the book offers a personal account of the Egyptian cultural scene during a period when the bookstore’s activities brought it in contact with hundreds of prominent figures from the cultural and political scenes. It traces the emergence of a new literary sensibility associated with what came to be known as the “90s Generation,” the rise of independent music bands, the emergence of the Kefaya movement and the early stirrings of the January 25 Revolution, as well as the transformations of Egypt’s publishing and bookstore scene during this period.