A Brief History of Egypt

by Arthur Goldschmidt

Explores the social, cultural, political, and economic development of Egypt from ancient times to the present day, describing such topics as Mamluk and Ottoman Rule, the British Occupation, and Arab Nationalism.

Genres: Egypt, History, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

Reviews

[Richard Seltzer]

Read in preparation for trip to Egypt.

[Artie]

I want to give this book 4 stars because it was a simple enough read to start to get a grasp on *modern* Egyptian and Middle Eastern history. The history, as the title denotes, is brief. It is a bit too brief, in my view, though. If this book were titled "A Brief History of Modern Egypt," I would give it 4 stars for a more accurate description. Unfortunately, the author covers about 4000 years of Egypt's history in about 50 pages and then covers the next 700 years or so for 200 pages.

That being said, I really like the way this book was written. It was informative and engaging, while being seemingly (I'm no historian) thorough, accurate, and balanced. As a modern Egyptian history starter book, I would recommend it. If you don't any kind of serious depth into Egyptian or Middle Eastern modern history you would absolutely need to find more resources.

Do not read this book if you want to learn about ancient Egypt.

Note: I use "modern" here to denote from about 1200AD-Present.

[Tiffany]

Scintillating prose? No. But this book provides a recent history-heavy account of the history of Egypt. Ancient Egypt is given oddly short shrift, given how popular the topic is (outside Egypt, of course). The trade-off is for detailed descriptions from the Ottomans on, especially with regards to the years of Nasser and Sadat. The final chapters are especially interesting in light of Mubarak's health issues and the crescendo of curiosity about the succession.

[Sarah]

Really great summary of Egyptian history - not so much for ancient history, but very good for colonial/recent events.

[Bethanie]

He has managed to take thousands of year's worth of culture and history and note the most important parts without making the chapters feel rushed. Excellent introduction.