The revolutions that swept the Middle East in 2011 surprised and captivated the world. Brutal regimes that had been in power for decades were overturned by an irrepressible mass of freedom seekers. Now, one of the figures who emerged during the Egyptian uprising tells the riveting inside story of what happened and shares the keys to unleashing the power of crowds. Wael Ghonim was a little-known, thirty-year-old Google executive in the summer of 2010 when he anonymously launched a Facebook page to protest the death of one Egyptian man at the hands of security forces. The page’s following expanded quickly and moved from online protests to a nonconfrontational movement. The youth of Egypt made history: they used social media to schedule a revolution. The call went out to more than a million Egyptians online, and on January 25, 2011, Cairo’s Tahrir Square resounded with calls for change. Yet just as the revolution began in earnest, Ghonim was captured and held for twelve days of brutal interrogation. After he was released, he gave a tearful speech on national television, and the protests grew more intense. Four days later, the president of Egypt was gone.      The lessons Ghonim draws will inspire each of us. He saw the road to Tahrir Square built not by any one person, but by the people. In Revolution 2.0, we can all be heroes. Ghonim launched an anonymous Facebook page in 2010 to protest the death of a man detained by Egyptian security forces. Ghonim’s followers moved from online to street protests and soon joined the massive revolution against the government. He was arrested in 2011 and held and tortured for 12 days before being released and resuming protests that led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. Ghonim chronicles his journey from Google executive to online revolutionary and the role of the Internet in fomenting and supporting the protests behind the Arab Spring. In high school, he’d stumbled onto the appeal of the Internet and developed a social-network website. He later moved to the U.S. to study computer engineering and was there until the 9/11 attacks made it a difficult place to be a Muslim. Returning to Egypt with his American wife, Ghonim eventually went to work for Google. Ghonim, who has developed a nonprofit organization to support education and technology in Egypt, brings his broad international perspective and knowledge of technology to this fascinating look at the new face of revolution. --Vanessa Bush   A " fast-paced and engrossing new memoir of political awakening...Ghonim’s memoir is a welcome and cleareyed addition to a growing list of volumes that have aimed (but often failed) to meaningfully analyze social media’s impact. It’s a book about social media for people who don’t think they care about social media. It will also serve as a touchstone for future testimonials about a strengthening borderless digital movement that is set to continually disrupt powerful institutions, be they corporate enterprises or political regimes… Ghonim’s writing voice is spare and measured, and marked by the same earnest humility he has displayed in media appearances … His individual story resonates on two levels: it epitomizes the coming-of-age of a young Middle Eastern generation that has grown up in the digital era, as well as the transformation of an apolitical man from comfortable executive to prominent activist. " -- The New York Times Book Review "A remarkable personal testament that will be cited by future historians of both Facebook and the Arab Spring." -- Kirkus "Ghonim...brings his broad international perspective and knowledge of technology to this fascinating look at the new face of revolution." -- Booklist"Revolution 2.0 ...is likely to be required reading for web geeks, media experts, political scientists, advertising executives, activists, anarchists, confidence men, secret policemen, dictators and corporate strategists." -- The Telegraph (UK)"An articulate account of the author's middle-class upbringing under a draconian regime, and a gripping chronicle of how a fear-frozen society finally topples its oppressors with the help of social media ...That the translation reads so smoothly in English is a linguistic feat...It helps that Ghonim is a methodical thinker whose plain and logical approach evokes a thoughtful rather than radical response. He deftly renders the details of his conversations with interrogators and willingly describes personal scenes...A final suspenseful chronicle of how government officials attempted to brainwash and dupe him after his release from prison will be eye-opening for anyone who wonders about the distorted mind-set of Egypt's leaders....It's not surprising that Ghonim's commitment to the cause affected his relationship with his wife and children; it reminds one of our own historical revolutionaries - John and Abigail Adams come to mind - who required a certain obsessive determination that may seem irresponsible to those who live i