The book ended up longer than I anticipated—in part because the evidence that I accumulated in Cairo, London, and Washington, proved to be so rich and the story so compelling (and because I had a very tolerant and sympathetic editor at HUP!). Partly because of this, I took care to make sure that the introduction and conclusion, if read together, provided succinct but thorough overviews of the key themes that run throughout the book. I thought back to my days as an undergraduate, when often, it was the only part of a book I had time to digest, and I wanted to make sure that someone with limited time, or perhaps just browsing, could glean the essentials from those critical chapters.Beyond that, I think readers will be guided in their approach by those areas of greatest interest to them. Chapter 8, for example, which covers the period from 1989 down to 2010, is of the greatest immediate chronological relevance to those considering contemporary policy challenges. Conversely, those wanting to understand in greater depth, the way that the Brotherhood thinks about “the West” will want to read Chapter 1, which deals with this issue during the formative era of the group. (One of the insights of the book is the remarkable degree of ideological continuity that the Brotherhood demonstrates on this issue.)Personally, Chapter 2 was perhaps the section of the book I enjoyed writing the most. This covers the period 1940 to 1944, and examines the debates taking place among British officials—both political and military, in Egypt and in London—over the Brotherhood, and the best way of dealing with them. Particularly interesting to me was tracing the genesis of a strand of thinking within officialdom that later became far more widespread. This favored engagement with, and perhaps even patronage of, groups like the Brotherhood—on the assumption that they might thereby be tamed, and perhaps even brought to “moderate” or “liberalize” their behavior. In the 1940s, that viewpoint does not prevail, but it is fascinating, I think, to hear it being debated at that time. So, I would perhaps recommend this chapter as a good snapshot of the book’s substantive content.The book is written first and foremost as a work of academic history, and I endeavored to maintain the highest standards of rigor and objectivity. Equally, though, I was only too aware that its subject matter is of direct political relevance today, and that the policy debates I examined in the latter sections of the book remain “live”. I hope that the book can offer a fresh perspective on those more contemporary debates.Moreover, I think the issues that are at stake are likely to be of enduring importance. The outworking of the Arab Spring has encouraged a view in some quarters, I think, that the Muslim Brotherhood and its brand of “mainstream” Islamism has been eclipsed. It is tempting to think that it has been overtaken by more exotic, violent groups like ISIS. Equally, the Brotherhood’s removal from power in Egypt could be seen as marking the end of the movement as a socio-political force. And yet, there are reasons to hesitate from making such a judgment. The Brotherhood has a long history of surviving repression, and while it may not reappear in exactly the same form as previously, it may be premature to write its epitaph. For this reason, western policymakers and analysts will likely still have to confront the challenge of dealing with the Brotherhood—or a movement of its ilk. That being the case, I think they can be well serviced by a better appreciation of the historical relationship between the West and the Brotherhood of the kind on offer here.Within the academy, meanwhile, I hope the book will be seen as a useful contribution to the literature on the Brotherhood, and that it opens up further lines of inquiry into the subject. There is still so much that scholars have yet to explore about this group; it is striking that the book everyone still refers to as seminal, was Mitchell’s 1969 study. Without in any way wishing to diminish the importance of that brilliant book, I think this speaks to the gaps that remain to be filled, notwithstanding the invaluable efforts of scholars like Carrie Wickham, Hazem Kandil, Khalil al-Anani and Beth Baron. My own book can hopefully be read as providing important insights into an otherwise neglected dimension of the Brotherhood’s history.