Egypt: A Short History by Robert L. Tignor (PDF)

Description

A sweeping and colorful account of Egypt’s 5000-year historyThis is a sweeping, colorful, and concise narrative history of Egypt from the beginning of human settlement in the Nile River valley 5000 years ago to the present day. Accessible, authoritative, and richly illustrated, this is an ideal introduction and guide to Egypt’s long, brilliant, and complex history for general readers, tourists, and anyone else who wants a better understanding of this vibrant and fascinating country, one that has played a central role in world history for millennia—and that continues to do so today.Respected historian Robert Tignor, who has lived in Egypt at different times over the course of five decades, covers all the major eras of the country’s ancient, modern, and recent history. A cradle of civilization, ancient Egypt developed a unique and influential culture that featured a centralized monarchy, sophisticated art and technology, and monumental architecture in the form of pyramids and temples. But the great age of the pharaohs is just the beginning of the story and Egypt: A Short History also gives a rich account of the tumultuous history that followed—from Greek and Roman conquests, the rise of Christianity, Arab-Muslim triumph, and Egypt’s incorporation into powerful Islamic empires to Napoleon’s 1798 invasion, the country’s absorption into the British Empire, and modern, postcolonial Egypt under Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak.This book provides an indispensable key to Egypt in all its layers—ancient and modern, Greek and Roman, and Christian and Islamic. In a new afterword the author analyzes the recent unrest in Egypt and weighs in on what the country might look like after Mubarak.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I bought this book as a primer on Egyptian history since I was to be visiting Cairo for a week this past fall. It more than served its purpose. As I toured the Egyptian museum in Cairo, I was familiar with the different dynastic periods and the major historical figures and events being depicted so I didn’t just stare at a museum piece, I could place that piece in a history that gave it meaning. I had a much greater appreciation of the Great Pyramids at Giza, the ancient Coptic churches, and the city of Cairo itself for having read this book. It takes 5,000 years of complex history and makes it accessible to the common reader. Highly recommended.

⭐Would like to read more carefully now that I’ve been to Egypt. One BIG turn off in the first few pages was a discussion that included a reference to Egypt “trading with Africa”. Duh — EGYPT IS IN AFRICA! If the writer had said “trading with other parts of Africa” then I would have had no issue. Historians do this all the time and it is disgusting to me.

⭐An excellent overview of Egyptian history by a scholar. Very clear, cohesive and informative. A recommended reading for anyone interested in the development of the country.

⭐The title, unconsciously I think, is funny, but Robert Tignor’s book about Egypt gets better as it goes along.”Egypt” is one of the odder histories I have read, addressed to people who want to travel to Egypt, which is a lot of people: Tourism makes up 10% of Egypt’s national income (not counting the giant subsidies American taxpayers provide). The assumption is that they might want to know something about the place, but not too much.The early chapters are a mishmash of a history that, I suppose, most people know at least a little about; that Egypt is the “gift of the Nile, that Pharaoh Ramses II had a big ego and so on. Tignor understates the technological contributions of the ancient Egyptians, mentioning mathematics and a primitive start toward alphabetic writing, but completely ignoring the material contributions. It is hard to imagine modern life without glass, for example.He also appears to swallow whole the Old Testament stories about Egypt, although archaeology has found no trace of ancient Israelites in the most archaeology-friendly place on earth.Tignor is an economic historian of modern Egypt, and as the history reaches the area of his lifetime study — which happens also to be the period where (I conceive) even educated people tend not to know as much as they do about the more exciting era of pyramids, messiahs (even if imaginary) and tombs full of gold — it becomes more trenchant.This is also the part of the book where he inserts a bit of travelogue, handy hints for tourists who do go to Egypt.However, he seems unconscious that the second half of “Egypt” contradicts a major theme of the first part, that, “It is virtually impossible for conquerors to obliterate the culture of the local population.” The Muslims did a pretty good job of it.Charles Singer, the pioneer historian of technology, emphasized how much invention came from Egypt; and Alexandria under the Graecized pharaohs continued the reputation for inquiry that had made Egypt a byword for knowledge in the classical world. No inventions have come out of Egypt since the Arabs took over, and it was almost the last place in the world to get a printing press. (Tignor sometimes elides these things; he remarks approvingly about the Cairene intellectual climate of the late 18th century, talking about “book discussion groups,” not mentioning that the books were all manuscript.)Egypt was, indeed, the intellectual cynosure of the Arab (and to some extent the Turkish Ottoman) world, but compared with the rest of the world, that isn’t saying much.As a person who lived for years in Cairo, Tignor shows great sympathy for the desire of the Egyptians to regain control of their country, not that this has been of much practical value to them. He correctly notes that one tradition going back the full five millenia continues strong: despotic (he uses the milder term authoritarian) rule.The evident desire of Mubarak to begin a new dynasty makes it difficult to think of Egypt as anything but a failed state in the making. If you are of a mind to visit, it might be a good idea not to put it off.NOTE: The Amazon star rating system can be problematic, and it is with “Egypt.” I have given it three stars, which I think it deserves for anyone picking it up and expecting a short history of Egypt. But if considered as the curious sort of history the author says he intends — written for a narrowly focused audience — it could rate four stars.

⭐Some parts of this book were interesting, but the quality of writing overall is not very high. It appears not enough effort went into polishing the text. There is unnecessary repetition and some skipping across subjects.The book devotes relatively little time to ancient Egypt. The portion of Egypt’s history from Muhammad through the 18th century is interesting. Every hundred or few hundred years, there was a new invasion and a new Muslim ruler. The sections discussing Egypt’s relationships with France and Britain, and the history of tension between European ideas and Islam, are also interesting.This history ends in 2011, about the time of the Arab Spring. Now, in 2019, we can see that the idea of democracy taking root in Egypt remains ephemeral.

⭐Not too inspiring

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