Cairo: Biography of a City

by James Aldridge

A fascinating account of one of the world's most fascinating cities. The author has lived in Cairo for many years, has walked its streets countless times, and has grown to love and understand it as few Westerners possibly could. "The best place to see Cairo now," he writes in the opening pages, is from up on the thumb of the Mukattam Hills, which look right down on the metropolis. You can take a good look around at the plains and the desert and the river. Look south and you can see the long flat river coming out of Africa; look west and you can see the first veins of the rich Delta; look north and the river is heading determinedly for the Mediterranean and for Europe...."

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1969

About the author

From Wikipedia: Harold Edward James Aldridge is a multi-award winning Australian author and journalist whose World War II despatches were published worldwide and formed the basis of several of his novels, including the prize-winning The Sea Eagle about Australian troops in Crete.

Aldridge was born in White Hills, a suburb of Bendigo, Victoria. By the mid 1920s the Aldridge family had moved to Swan Hill, and many of his Australian stories are based on his life growing up there. Aldridge moved to London in 1938; he currently lives in Battersea, South West London.

The stories that are based on the real living conditions of his hometown of Swan Hill include his 1995 Children's Book Council of Australia book of the year "The True Story of Lilli Stubeck", one of his St Helen series of children's books. He lived in Cairo for many years, writing several books about the Middle East, including "Cairo - Biography of a City" and the novels "The Diplomat" and "Heroes of the Empty View". His 1973 children's novel "A Sporting Proposition" was adapted for the 1975 Disney film "Ride a Wild Pony".