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The Story of Egypt
The story of the world's greatest civilization spans 4,000 years of history that has shaped the world. It is full of spectacular cities and epic stories—an evolving society rich in inventors, heroes, heroines, villains, artisans, and pioneers. Professor Joann Fletcher pulls together the complete story of Egypt—charting the rise and fall of the ancient Egyptians while putting their whole world into a context to which we can all relate.
Fletcher uncovers some fascinating revelations: new evidence shows that women became pharaohs on at least ten occasions; that the ancient Egyptians built the first Suez Canal and then circumnavigated Africa. From Ramses II's penchant for dying his grey hair to how we know that Montuhotep's chief wife bit her nails, Dr. Joann Fletcher brings alive the history and people of ancient Egypt as nobody else can.
Fletcher uncovers some fascinating revelations: new evidence shows that women became pharaohs on at least ten occasions; that the ancient Egyptians built the first Suez Canal and then circumnavigated Africa. From Ramses II's penchant for dying his grey hair to how we know that Montuhotep's chief wife bit her nails, Dr. Joann Fletcher brings alive the history and people of ancient Egypt as nobody else can.
496 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2015
309 people are currently reading
3815 people want to read
About the author
Joann Fletcher
29 books103 followersDr. Joann Fletcher is Honorary Research Fellow at York University and consultant Egyptology at Harrogate Museums and Arts. She specializes in the history of mummification and has studied mummies on site in Egypt, Yemen and South America as well as in museum collections around the world. Recently she led groundbreaking work in Egypt's Valley of the Kings to re-examine three royal mummies, one of which may be that of Nefertiti - news that has attracted international coverage.
She has made nuerous appearances on television as well as radio, and writes for both The Guardian newspaper and the BBC's History Online website. Her publications include Egypt's Sun King: Amenhotep III, The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying and The Oils and Perfumes of Ancient Egypt, and she has contributed sections in several major guide books to Egypt.
and A
She has made nuerous appearances on television as well as radio, and writes for both The Guardian newspaper and the BBC's History Online website. Her publications include Egypt's Sun King: Amenhotep III, The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying and The Oils and Perfumes of Ancient Egypt, and she has contributed sections in several major guide books to Egypt.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
January 4, 2016
Back when I was getting really interested in Ancient Egypt for the first time, Joann Fletcher was making headlines for her "discovery" of Nefertiti's mummy. Her so-called discovery was deeply controversial, the evidence used appeared unconvincing, inconclusive and largely circumstantial – even to a lay teenager's eyes – and Fletcher caught a lot of flack for her claims, even being banned from working in Egypt at one point. Even to this day, over ten years on, the controversy around this incident proves influential in how I view Fletcher's work.
Then, visiting one of my favourite bookshops and checking out the history sections for its usual sparse pickings on Ancient Egypt, I saw Joann Fletcher's The Story of Egypt on the bookshelves. It's got a pretty cover. But it's written by Fletcher and I still have a gut-reaction of "no" whenever I see her name. I do like her style of writing, though, which was one of the few positives of reading The Search for Nefertiti that I can remember. But it's another general overview of Ancient Egyptian history and I've already read and loved two great books that cover the same span of time, which is the prehistory origins of Ancient Egyptian civilisation to the death of Cleopatra and the fall of Egypt into Roman hands.
I ended up flicking through the index and decided, what the hell, I'll get it and give it a go. It could be interesting to read Fletcher's take on Nefertiti years after the controversy.
I really do enjoy Fletcher's style of writing. It allows for her to appear knowledgeable about her subject, lets the book be accessible and clear, but there's this almost casual edge to it that makes the history come alive. I could sometimes hear her voice in my head as I read, which made the reading process even more enjoyable. It's that sort of writing that makes a vivid impression and allows for an unfamiliar audience to quickly connect with an alien culture.
On the whole, too, I found Fletcher's depiction of Ancient Egyptian society to be solid but also refreshing. She provides some fresh takes on Ancient Egyptian culture, particularly on the role of women, which are fascinating and offer great food for thought in any attempt to reconstruct the life and culture of the Ancient Egyptians.
There were a few little snags in my enjoyment. Fletcher too often describes things as "so-called", which did get a tiring after awhile. It's not that the phrase was used incorrectly, just the frequency of its use was wearying. The structure of the book is chronological, which is logical and it does flow reasonably well, but there are time when I thought that a slightly less rigid adherence to the chronology might be more practical. For example, I personally find it more logical to talk about the (re)burials and mummies of the Amarna personages in Chapter 17, which is where Fletcher details the Amarna Period, but Fletcher chooses to have that discussion two chapters on, when she's talking about the decline of the Egyptian empire some years on, connecting it to the government-sponsored systematic looting of the Valley of the Kings and the resulting cache burials.
The biggest flaw in The Story of Egypt is, in my opinion, is how Fletcher approaches the topic of Nefertiti. There seems to be a few Egyptologists who are too close to Nefertiti (or to their idea of Nefertiti) in order to be objective about her (I've been attempting to come up with a phrase for this – perhaps "Nefertiti devotee blindness"?) and sadly but unsurprisingly, Fletcher seems to be one of them. Ultimately, it was far more enjoyable and less frustrating to tune out whenever Fletcher started discussing Nefertiti than it was to start unpacking what she was saying and why it wasn't right.
I will, however, provide examples. Fletcher reiterates her claim that the mummy designated KV35YL is Nefertiti, offering much the same evidence as she did when she first announced her claim. The most convincing, of course, is the claim that the facial measurements of the mummy and the Nefertiti bust "accord, within a millimetre" – but of course, Ancient Egyptian statuary was very rarely true to life.
She also claims that KV35YL had her "right arm, once bent across her chest to hold a sceptre in the pose of a ruling pharaoh". Except – KV35YL's right arm is missing, torn away near the shoulder, so it's impossible to know how her arm was positioned. Her left arm lies flat, her hand on her thigh, which would rather rule out the idea that she was buried as a pharaoh, with both arms folded cross her chest. Fletcher did find a single mummified right arm in the chamber in which KV35YL was buried, but DNA testing (unmentioned by Fletcher) that the arm belonged to a man, making it very unlikely to have been Nefertiti's or KV35YL, who was confirmed as female in the 2010 DNA tests. At any rate, a single bent arm is not the marker of a pharaoh, who would be buried with arms folded across their chest. It is possibly the marker of a queen, but the significance of a single bent arm is unknown.
In one word, the claim that KV35YL's bent right arm shows her as a pharaoh is balderdash. She doesn't have that arm.
Fletcher likewise ignores the 2010 DNA testing of the "Tutankhamun kindred" that revealed KV35YL was the daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye, unlikely to be Nefertiti (who never used the titles "King's Daughter" or "King's Sister" that she would have been entitled to). Personally, I don't expect Egyptologists to universally conform to those findings. Off-hand, I can name four authors, three of whom are trained and highly credible Egyptologists, who have cast doubt over the DNA testing, some who dismiss it outright while others offer up new interpretations. I do, however, expect for an author to address the DNA testings, even if it is to cast doubt and ultimately ignore them. It was a huge news story at the time and, for many, settled the question of "is KV35YL possibly Nefertiti" with a "no". It is a development that should have been mentioned, only if to be argued against and dismissed, and the fact that Fletcher doesn't automatically and significantly weakens her arguments.
While discussing Ancient Egypt's last native female pharaoh, Tausert (or Tawosret, one of many variations of her name), Fletcher suggests that she may have been a descendent of Nefertiti and modelled herself after her in some regards. But Fletcher offers nothing but shaky arguments to support it, namely the finds in Tomb 56 of the Valley of the Kings (KV56). It has been suggested, but not proven, that KV56 was begun in the Amarna period for an unknown individual, but Fletcher assigns ownership of it to Nefertiti, and dismisses the commonly accepted theory that KV56 was used for the burial of a child of Seti II and Tausert. Instead, Fletcher suggests that the jewellery was a votive offering to Nefertiti, possibly because Tausert was her descendant and neatly avoids addressing the question I have: why on earth would they pay homage to someone so closely connected to the reviled Amarna period and Akhenaten, the "Great Criminal", even if they were related?
I won't go any further in this discussion of Nefertiti, namely because if I do, I'll be here for a very long time and be tempted just to start shouting questions at the book. That said, Fletcher's approach to Nefertiti did bring down the book for me and definitely soured my enjoyment. It also makes it difficult for me to recommend it to those wanting a good overview of Ancient Egyptian society. I could only recommend this book with the caveat of "take everything said about Nefertiti and related subjects with a pillar of salt", whereas I don't have any similar qualms to recommending Toby Wilkinson's The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt or Barbara Mertz's Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs , both of which are excellent (and in Mertz's case, amusing) overviews of Ancient Egyptian civilisation.
At the end of the day, I'm glad I satisfied my curiosity about The Story of Egypt. For the most part, it is an enjoyable read and I loved some of the new ideas Fletcher highlighted in her work. I am certainly less hesitant to pick up any of Fletcher's other books, though I will undoubtedly find any discussion of Nefertiti frustrating.
2.5 stars
For those who want a glimpse at the controversy about Fletcher's discovery of "Nefertiti's" mummy, I suggest reading Mark Rose's "Where's Nefertiti?" on Archaelogy.Org.
Then, visiting one of my favourite bookshops and checking out the history sections for its usual sparse pickings on Ancient Egypt, I saw Joann Fletcher's The Story of Egypt on the bookshelves. It's got a pretty cover. But it's written by Fletcher and I still have a gut-reaction of "no" whenever I see her name. I do like her style of writing, though, which was one of the few positives of reading The Search for Nefertiti that I can remember. But it's another general overview of Ancient Egyptian history and I've already read and loved two great books that cover the same span of time, which is the prehistory origins of Ancient Egyptian civilisation to the death of Cleopatra and the fall of Egypt into Roman hands.
I ended up flicking through the index and decided, what the hell, I'll get it and give it a go. It could be interesting to read Fletcher's take on Nefertiti years after the controversy.
I really do enjoy Fletcher's style of writing. It allows for her to appear knowledgeable about her subject, lets the book be accessible and clear, but there's this almost casual edge to it that makes the history come alive. I could sometimes hear her voice in my head as I read, which made the reading process even more enjoyable. It's that sort of writing that makes a vivid impression and allows for an unfamiliar audience to quickly connect with an alien culture.
On the whole, too, I found Fletcher's depiction of Ancient Egyptian society to be solid but also refreshing. She provides some fresh takes on Ancient Egyptian culture, particularly on the role of women, which are fascinating and offer great food for thought in any attempt to reconstruct the life and culture of the Ancient Egyptians.
There were a few little snags in my enjoyment. Fletcher too often describes things as "so-called", which did get a tiring after awhile. It's not that the phrase was used incorrectly, just the frequency of its use was wearying. The structure of the book is chronological, which is logical and it does flow reasonably well, but there are time when I thought that a slightly less rigid adherence to the chronology might be more practical. For example, I personally find it more logical to talk about the (re)burials and mummies of the Amarna personages in Chapter 17, which is where Fletcher details the Amarna Period, but Fletcher chooses to have that discussion two chapters on, when she's talking about the decline of the Egyptian empire some years on, connecting it to the government-sponsored systematic looting of the Valley of the Kings and the resulting cache burials.
The biggest flaw in The Story of Egypt is, in my opinion, is how Fletcher approaches the topic of Nefertiti. There seems to be a few Egyptologists who are too close to Nefertiti (or to their idea of Nefertiti) in order to be objective about her (I've been attempting to come up with a phrase for this – perhaps "Nefertiti devotee blindness"?) and sadly but unsurprisingly, Fletcher seems to be one of them. Ultimately, it was far more enjoyable and less frustrating to tune out whenever Fletcher started discussing Nefertiti than it was to start unpacking what she was saying and why it wasn't right.
I will, however, provide examples. Fletcher reiterates her claim that the mummy designated KV35YL is Nefertiti, offering much the same evidence as she did when she first announced her claim. The most convincing, of course, is the claim that the facial measurements of the mummy and the Nefertiti bust "accord, within a millimetre" – but of course, Ancient Egyptian statuary was very rarely true to life.
She also claims that KV35YL had her "right arm, once bent across her chest to hold a sceptre in the pose of a ruling pharaoh". Except – KV35YL's right arm is missing, torn away near the shoulder, so it's impossible to know how her arm was positioned. Her left arm lies flat, her hand on her thigh, which would rather rule out the idea that she was buried as a pharaoh, with both arms folded cross her chest. Fletcher did find a single mummified right arm in the chamber in which KV35YL was buried, but DNA testing (unmentioned by Fletcher) that the arm belonged to a man, making it very unlikely to have been Nefertiti's or KV35YL, who was confirmed as female in the 2010 DNA tests. At any rate, a single bent arm is not the marker of a pharaoh, who would be buried with arms folded across their chest. It is possibly the marker of a queen, but the significance of a single bent arm is unknown.
In one word, the claim that KV35YL's bent right arm shows her as a pharaoh is balderdash. She doesn't have that arm.
Fletcher likewise ignores the 2010 DNA testing of the "Tutankhamun kindred" that revealed KV35YL was the daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye, unlikely to be Nefertiti (who never used the titles "King's Daughter" or "King's Sister" that she would have been entitled to). Personally, I don't expect Egyptologists to universally conform to those findings. Off-hand, I can name four authors, three of whom are trained and highly credible Egyptologists, who have cast doubt over the DNA testing, some who dismiss it outright while others offer up new interpretations. I do, however, expect for an author to address the DNA testings, even if it is to cast doubt and ultimately ignore them. It was a huge news story at the time and, for many, settled the question of "is KV35YL possibly Nefertiti" with a "no". It is a development that should have been mentioned, only if to be argued against and dismissed, and the fact that Fletcher doesn't automatically and significantly weakens her arguments.
While discussing Ancient Egypt's last native female pharaoh, Tausert (or Tawosret, one of many variations of her name), Fletcher suggests that she may have been a descendent of Nefertiti and modelled herself after her in some regards. But Fletcher offers nothing but shaky arguments to support it, namely the finds in Tomb 56 of the Valley of the Kings (KV56). It has been suggested, but not proven, that KV56 was begun in the Amarna period for an unknown individual, but Fletcher assigns ownership of it to Nefertiti, and dismisses the commonly accepted theory that KV56 was used for the burial of a child of Seti II and Tausert. Instead, Fletcher suggests that the jewellery was a votive offering to Nefertiti, possibly because Tausert was her descendant and neatly avoids addressing the question I have: why on earth would they pay homage to someone so closely connected to the reviled Amarna period and Akhenaten, the "Great Criminal", even if they were related?
I won't go any further in this discussion of Nefertiti, namely because if I do, I'll be here for a very long time and be tempted just to start shouting questions at the book. That said, Fletcher's approach to Nefertiti did bring down the book for me and definitely soured my enjoyment. It also makes it difficult for me to recommend it to those wanting a good overview of Ancient Egyptian society. I could only recommend this book with the caveat of "take everything said about Nefertiti and related subjects with a pillar of salt", whereas I don't have any similar qualms to recommending Toby Wilkinson's The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt or Barbara Mertz's Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs , both of which are excellent (and in Mertz's case, amusing) overviews of Ancient Egyptian civilisation.
At the end of the day, I'm glad I satisfied my curiosity about The Story of Egypt. For the most part, it is an enjoyable read and I loved some of the new ideas Fletcher highlighted in her work. I am certainly less hesitant to pick up any of Fletcher's other books, though I will undoubtedly find any discussion of Nefertiti frustrating.
2.5 stars
For those who want a glimpse at the controversy about Fletcher's discovery of "Nefertiti's" mummy, I suggest reading Mark Rose's "Where's Nefertiti?" on Archaelogy.Org.
September 25, 2016
Actually 3 1/2 stars. This book is good for a researcher or for somebody who is doing a paper in the Egyptian empire but not so good for the casual reader, or for someone who wants to know only the most popular aspects of the Egyptian history, (the scorpion king, Ramses, mummification and cleopatra and Caesar and mark anthony) , but since the writer tried to compress the whole history of the Egyptian empire in a 370 pages book, it suffers from information overload and at the same time , not enough information about key players (Ramses is only given a couple of pages, females rulers are given one page (except Hatshepsut), and the ptolemies and Alexander the Great are given just one chapter, this book is perfect for a general history research project, it doesn't make for a easy read . But if you love Egyptian history and are willing to overlook some boring genealogy trees and monuments lists , then this book is for you.
July 8, 2023
This book by Joann Fletcher is a journey into the depth of Egypt's ancient history, like a stroll through time long gone and ever so present.
The author concentrates in rich detail on temples, rulers, tombs, and mummification in an enchanting and authentic way. I felt like an adventurer searching for a lost tomb, deciphering all the hints myself.
This non-fiction book is the best I've read on this subject because it's wonderfully written and an achievement straight from the author's heart. I highly recommend this accessible and fascinating bookish expedition to all lovers of ancient times. It's a treasure trove for everyone who's willing to get lost in the pages and become a time traveler.
The author concentrates in rich detail on temples, rulers, tombs, and mummification in an enchanting and authentic way. I felt like an adventurer searching for a lost tomb, deciphering all the hints myself.
This non-fiction book is the best I've read on this subject because it's wonderfully written and an achievement straight from the author's heart. I highly recommend this accessible and fascinating bookish expedition to all lovers of ancient times. It's a treasure trove for everyone who's willing to get lost in the pages and become a time traveler.
April 18, 2021
Great history of Egypt. Text flows easily and the author does an excellent job of conveying a very long history without losing us readers.
June 17, 2018
I read Joann Fletcher's The Search for Nefertiti back when it was released in 2004 and an Egyptology degree was just a twinkle in my hopeful applicant's eye. I was excited to read about this ground-breaking discovery, but ultimately disappointed. Too much of the book seemed to be a self-congratulatory biography of Fletcher's own life's work, with more time spent on knocking down alternative hypotheses than actually presenting evidence for her own - that the mummy known as The Younger Lady could be Nefertiti. As or that evidence, I found it interesting, but too circumstantial. The Egyptological community broadly agreed.
I came to this book more in hope than expectation. Several years have passed, and this overview of ancient Egyptian history, written very much geared for public consumption, surely would be less biased, removing Fletcher from her pet project. Well... yes and no.
There is a certain easy easy readability to the writing style; Fletcher manages to even make the Stone Age chapter interesting – usually a chapter in overviews of ancient Egypt that I find somewhat soporific due to its profusion of technical details and stone flakes – by keeping focused on the human story. But once you get into the dynastic era and have read through a handful of chapters, it turns into something of a drudge. As other reviewers have noted, for the most part Fletcher devotes on chapter to one dynasty, and proceeds to relate some key achievements of each ruler before discussing their tomb arrangements, and then moving on to the next chronological entry. Whilst it is an easy read, it also falls into a routine as a result, and feels pedestrian, like chugging along on a treadmill. It felt to me like it lacked flair, variety, or challenge. From a stylistic point of view, and considering other public history type overviews of ancient Egypt, I preferred Toby Wilkinson's The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, which also explored the subject thematically and examined the unique 'zeitgeist' of each era. I could also point out that this style of flat narrative, without critical analysis, is usually considered in the academic community as not very high quality work.
I found the lack of notes and references to be odd and rather frustrating. That is to say, they are there, tucked right in the back, but there is no way of getting to them from a quote in a chapter. Most works with notes are signified by a little number after the quote; you flip to the back, find the number, and you are given the publication where the quote is from. Not here. Quotes are not given numbers or any other kind of link. To chase them down you must go to the back section and only there are links which take you back to the original quote, instead of where they should be, at the actual quote in the text itself. Basically it just makes chasing down where Fletcher got her information harder than it needs to be, which is annoying.
I spotted a smattering of inaccuracies throughout, which started to make me feel dubious that Fletcher's credibility hasn't gone up. Some of her assertions regarding the 12th dynasty were poorly referenced, her info on the 17th dynasty was not up to date, and the chapter on the Ptolemies had me itching as a Ptolemaic specialist.
But, again as other reviewers have mentioned, it's the chapter on the Amarna royals which provided the greatest dismay. She repeats some of her hypotheses from The Search for Nefertiti - some of these were rebutted rather convincingly at the time that book came out, others have been contested by new evidence come to light in the years since; notably, the genetic testing of Amarna mummies, which suggests The Younger Lady is not Nefertiti. But Fletcher doesn't address the refutations or counter-evidence at all. The effect is rather unfortunate, as it gives a distinct impression of unprofessionalism, along the lines of hanging on to a pet hypothesis and simply ignoring the evidence to the contrary. I still find myself unable to credit Fletcher as a serious Egyptologist, and remain unconvinced.
3 out of 10>
June 22, 2016
“Osiris is yesterday and Ra is tomorrow, Yesterday belongs to me and I know tomorrow.” The Book of the Dead
This is a scholarly work on the history of Egypt from the early beginnings until the Kleopatra/Ptolemy dynasties. There are lots of illustrations and numerous maps and even a timeline that helps you put all the different dynasties in order. If you love Egypt and the history of the place than you will enjoy this book. If you are just a fan of the Mummy movies than this book goes in too much depth for you to enjoy it.
What I learned from this book was that Egyptians allowed women to rule as Pharaoh almost from the very beginning. They had power that women today do not have. There also was slavery and a deeply religious people who relied on the Nile and its seasons to keep them alive.
The majority of this history delves into the various tombs and artifacts that have been recovered for each leader. Since the libraries of Alexandria were destroyed and the Egyptian people didn’t write too much down, but decorated the tombs with hieroglyphics that help us to better understand them.
I found this book very interesting and revealing as I knew little about Egypt before reading this history. It was a fascinating story of men and women carving out a civilization in the ancient era.
I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads program for an honest review.
This is a scholarly work on the history of Egypt from the early beginnings until the Kleopatra/Ptolemy dynasties. There are lots of illustrations and numerous maps and even a timeline that helps you put all the different dynasties in order. If you love Egypt and the history of the place than you will enjoy this book. If you are just a fan of the Mummy movies than this book goes in too much depth for you to enjoy it.
What I learned from this book was that Egyptians allowed women to rule as Pharaoh almost from the very beginning. They had power that women today do not have. There also was slavery and a deeply religious people who relied on the Nile and its seasons to keep them alive.
The majority of this history delves into the various tombs and artifacts that have been recovered for each leader. Since the libraries of Alexandria were destroyed and the Egyptian people didn’t write too much down, but decorated the tombs with hieroglyphics that help us to better understand them.
I found this book very interesting and revealing as I knew little about Egypt before reading this history. It was a fascinating story of men and women carving out a civilization in the ancient era.
I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads program for an honest review.
March 14, 2018
I’m going to have to be harsh with this book for 3 key reasons:
1. It’s mainly just political history - so it’s basically a narrative about which Pharaoh sat on the throne, who he married, and who his kids were. This tells us nothing about Egypt, the country, the life of its people, or its culture - which is what the book title suggests it will be.
For those of you crying foul over this objection, I can only suggest that naming Donald Trump as an American president, stating he was married to Melania and that he lived in the Whitehouse, tells us nothing about the life and tribulations in Trump America. Conversely, naming Elizabeth Windsor as a queen of England, naming her husband and children, does nothing to describe life in Britain during her extensive rule.
2. There are no images - even though a good third of this book appears to be detailed descriptions of the tombs the pharaohs built for themselves, plus the various temples, palaces, and other grand structures they constructed.
Actually, I’m wrong - at the end of the ebook there were a few general images - but for a book that contains so many detailed descriptions of buildings it seemed pretty ridiculous that no diagrams, drawings, photos, or other images, ordinarily accompanied the text.
3. The book is filled with quotes, obviously from various sources - but no footnotes are given! So you’ve no idea what the actual references are or from. Yet at the end of the ebook all the references are provided for by chapter, linking back to the text.
In other words, the publisher got the references back to front, which made them impossible to use in the ebook - assuming you actually knew where they were.
Overall this is a dull and dry book that is punctuated by moments of illumination. While the main narrative is nothing more than a glorified list of kings and descriptions of their buildings, there are a few moments when ordinary people and their culture do make it into the text.
It was also good to see the pre-historic period covered, plus it was interesting to see some of the political undercurrents building up - not least the increasing power and rivalry of Amen that Akhenaten sought to curtail.
Really, though, this whole book could and should have been a whole lot better. It reads like a graduate essay with anything of use stripped out, though the publisher is as much to blame as anyone for some of this.
1. It’s mainly just political history - so it’s basically a narrative about which Pharaoh sat on the throne, who he married, and who his kids were. This tells us nothing about Egypt, the country, the life of its people, or its culture - which is what the book title suggests it will be.
For those of you crying foul over this objection, I can only suggest that naming Donald Trump as an American president, stating he was married to Melania and that he lived in the Whitehouse, tells us nothing about the life and tribulations in Trump America. Conversely, naming Elizabeth Windsor as a queen of England, naming her husband and children, does nothing to describe life in Britain during her extensive rule.
2. There are no images - even though a good third of this book appears to be detailed descriptions of the tombs the pharaohs built for themselves, plus the various temples, palaces, and other grand structures they constructed.
Actually, I’m wrong - at the end of the ebook there were a few general images - but for a book that contains so many detailed descriptions of buildings it seemed pretty ridiculous that no diagrams, drawings, photos, or other images, ordinarily accompanied the text.
3. The book is filled with quotes, obviously from various sources - but no footnotes are given! So you’ve no idea what the actual references are or from. Yet at the end of the ebook all the references are provided for by chapter, linking back to the text.
In other words, the publisher got the references back to front, which made them impossible to use in the ebook - assuming you actually knew where they were.
Overall this is a dull and dry book that is punctuated by moments of illumination. While the main narrative is nothing more than a glorified list of kings and descriptions of their buildings, there are a few moments when ordinary people and their culture do make it into the text.
It was also good to see the pre-historic period covered, plus it was interesting to see some of the political undercurrents building up - not least the increasing power and rivalry of Amen that Akhenaten sought to curtail.
Really, though, this whole book could and should have been a whole lot better. It reads like a graduate essay with anything of use stripped out, though the publisher is as much to blame as anyone for some of this.
December 6, 2020
Another narrative introduction focused on rulers. Perhaps Egyptology is constrained by limited sources.
July 3, 2021
This book is a very compacted and informative walkthrough of Egypt's political history. Personally, I'm more interested in the cultural and religious aspects of Egyptology, which were not covered as extensively.
I wish this book were longer because there's so much information condensed into the short page count; some of the topics discussed could have used more elaboration. With that being said, I appreciate Fletcher trying to fit 4000 years of history into here though.
I wish this book were longer because there's so much information condensed into the short page count; some of the topics discussed could have used more elaboration. With that being said, I appreciate Fletcher trying to fit 4000 years of history into here though.
December 10, 2016
My personal expectations were perhaps too high. I rated this book three stars because there is a lot of good writing and compelling information, but it lacks some important - fundamental I daresay - aspects of ancient Egypt culture.
The positive points include a rich description of the lives of almost all the kings and pharaoh of Egypt, with a final list of names at the end of the books that help to locate historically each monarch and each dynasty. Fletcher highlights the importance of women and of religious aspects in the lives of Egyptians. Detailed information about tombs, locations, arrangements, are also reported. Overall, the story follows the line of the kings and queens, with the addition of the most important military personnel and courtiers. The pictures, divided in two sets amidst the book, help to enrich the tale.
The negatives: too detailed information about tombs and funerary arrangements of each king, especially in the first part of the book, are interesting at the beginning, but in the long run they become boring. The scheme followed seems to be "new king > name, wives, sons & daughter > building of his tomb > full description of his tomb (where, when, why, who build it, etc.> new king", with very little additional information about the country. This is, in my humble opinion as reader, the weakest part of the opera. Egypt's hundreds of pharaohs list started to seem a boring sequence of names with nothing worth besides. In addition, mummification and hieroglyphs are two characteristic aspects of Egypt, but no serious attempt at describing them has been made. I did not want to read a manual of mummification, but I found only sparse information about the practice have been reported and I expected more. Mummification rises suddenly in the tale without the right in-depth required. The same is true for the writing: no one wants a dictionary or a sequence of symbols with the related meaning, but in a book such as this, one must supply more about the subject.
In conclusion, I liked it, because is an attempt to report more than 3 thousand years of glorious history. The book is updated, and generally well written and interesting. It lacks a conclusion to say the truth: the tale stops suddenly with the death of Kleopatra. Given the long travel (again, 3 thousand years) and the personal link of the author with Egypt, I expected final considerations of a certain importance. The most interesting parts are those in which Fletcher leaves the deeds of everyday kings and queens to look at the grander picture, that of the Ancient World of which Egypt was part. So, the diplomatic relationships with Hittites, Greece, Babylonia, Persia, Rome, Nubia, Lybia etc., the economic and financial aspect of the reign, the wars of conquest, the guiding figure of the some of the greatest Pharaohs, the contrasts with the Amen clergy. When the look is widened, the book breaths real life, become dynamic, gives the sense of real history and is really interesting. To help the reader two detailed maps at the beginning of the book and a satisfying Index at the end of it.
The positive points include a rich description of the lives of almost all the kings and pharaoh of Egypt, with a final list of names at the end of the books that help to locate historically each monarch and each dynasty. Fletcher highlights the importance of women and of religious aspects in the lives of Egyptians. Detailed information about tombs, locations, arrangements, are also reported. Overall, the story follows the line of the kings and queens, with the addition of the most important military personnel and courtiers. The pictures, divided in two sets amidst the book, help to enrich the tale.
The negatives: too detailed information about tombs and funerary arrangements of each king, especially in the first part of the book, are interesting at the beginning, but in the long run they become boring. The scheme followed seems to be "new king > name, wives, sons & daughter > building of his tomb > full description of his tomb (where, when, why, who build it, etc.> new king", with very little additional information about the country. This is, in my humble opinion as reader, the weakest part of the opera. Egypt's hundreds of pharaohs list started to seem a boring sequence of names with nothing worth besides. In addition, mummification and hieroglyphs are two characteristic aspects of Egypt, but no serious attempt at describing them has been made. I did not want to read a manual of mummification, but I found only sparse information about the practice have been reported and I expected more. Mummification rises suddenly in the tale without the right in-depth required. The same is true for the writing: no one wants a dictionary or a sequence of symbols with the related meaning, but in a book such as this, one must supply more about the subject.
In conclusion, I liked it, because is an attempt to report more than 3 thousand years of glorious history. The book is updated, and generally well written and interesting. It lacks a conclusion to say the truth: the tale stops suddenly with the death of Kleopatra. Given the long travel (again, 3 thousand years) and the personal link of the author with Egypt, I expected final considerations of a certain importance. The most interesting parts are those in which Fletcher leaves the deeds of everyday kings and queens to look at the grander picture, that of the Ancient World of which Egypt was part. So, the diplomatic relationships with Hittites, Greece, Babylonia, Persia, Rome, Nubia, Lybia etc., the economic and financial aspect of the reign, the wars of conquest, the guiding figure of the some of the greatest Pharaohs, the contrasts with the Amen clergy. When the look is widened, the book breaths real life, become dynamic, gives the sense of real history and is really interesting. To help the reader two detailed maps at the beginning of the book and a satisfying Index at the end of it.
October 30, 2023
It was a civilization that lasted so long that its last independent ruler lived closer to us today than when its most defining structural achievements were built. The Story of Egypt: The Civilization that Shaped the World by Joann Fletcher shows the cultural development around the Nile that led to political and religious institutions that stood alone for nearly four millennia until it was absorbed by multinational, culture reshaping empire.
One blurb on the book stated that Fletcher wrote a “revisionist history” of Ancient Egypt, with that mind the only thing that could truly be considered “revisionist” is that it turns out that half the Egyptians were women and there was more than one female pharaoh (Hatshepsut) before the Ptolemies—in fact at least ten. Throughout the book Fletcher essentially goes ruler to ruler so how the political and religious life of the nation changed or stayed the same throughout the centuries. Given Fletcher has only the records of the elite, it hard for her to cover the life of the ordinary people through as time progresses even ordinary people learned to write and as that happened, she would mention it. Where there is not academic consensus on the chronological front, Fletcher puts forward her interpretation which to me wouldn’t be considered revisionist as that would be more a theory from knowledgeable academic who is putting her two cents in as every other academic is doing. As stated above the “revisionist” issue revolved around how much women were involved in the political and religious life of the ruling class, Fletcher throughout the book laid out how royal women were integral to maintaining political and religious power and legitimacy for pharaohs. Along with that Fletcher brought a new interpretation into the led up and consequences of Akhenaten’s monotheistic revolution, which while I don’t consider revisionist was a new spin on things that I felt shined a new light on events. Throughout the book the quotes Fletcher used from other sources were in quotation marks but without any footnote or reference number so when you looked in the back for any information you must remember the wording of the quote to find the source which wasn’t very efficient. Fletcher’s references to early 20th-century Egyptologists that put the male-spin on Egyptian culture while not full snarky were close even though I understood the point she wanted to bring across, it could have been worded it differently to get the same thing across. Yet, these two things can’t truly harm the overall quality of this history of Ancient Egypt.
The Story of Egypt brings the millennia of a ancient nation’s history into a readable form. While Joann Fletcher looks at that history from another angle, it’s only “revisionist” if you can’t come at this book with an open mind.
One blurb on the book stated that Fletcher wrote a “revisionist history” of Ancient Egypt, with that mind the only thing that could truly be considered “revisionist” is that it turns out that half the Egyptians were women and there was more than one female pharaoh (Hatshepsut) before the Ptolemies—in fact at least ten. Throughout the book Fletcher essentially goes ruler to ruler so how the political and religious life of the nation changed or stayed the same throughout the centuries. Given Fletcher has only the records of the elite, it hard for her to cover the life of the ordinary people through as time progresses even ordinary people learned to write and as that happened, she would mention it. Where there is not academic consensus on the chronological front, Fletcher puts forward her interpretation which to me wouldn’t be considered revisionist as that would be more a theory from knowledgeable academic who is putting her two cents in as every other academic is doing. As stated above the “revisionist” issue revolved around how much women were involved in the political and religious life of the ruling class, Fletcher throughout the book laid out how royal women were integral to maintaining political and religious power and legitimacy for pharaohs. Along with that Fletcher brought a new interpretation into the led up and consequences of Akhenaten’s monotheistic revolution, which while I don’t consider revisionist was a new spin on things that I felt shined a new light on events. Throughout the book the quotes Fletcher used from other sources were in quotation marks but without any footnote or reference number so when you looked in the back for any information you must remember the wording of the quote to find the source which wasn’t very efficient. Fletcher’s references to early 20th-century Egyptologists that put the male-spin on Egyptian culture while not full snarky were close even though I understood the point she wanted to bring across, it could have been worded it differently to get the same thing across. Yet, these two things can’t truly harm the overall quality of this history of Ancient Egypt.
The Story of Egypt brings the millennia of a ancient nation’s history into a readable form. While Joann Fletcher looks at that history from another angle, it’s only “revisionist” if you can’t come at this book with an open mind.
April 29, 2019
O carte foarte bine documentata, densa in informatii detaliate despre perioade, faraoni, piramide, societatea antica etc. Un pic coplesitoare pentru un neofit, dar perfecta ca referinta pentru un pasionat cunoscator.
April 1, 2023
Those Ptolemeis were a bloody mess...
June 30, 2017
This is a difficult book to evaluate. For one thing, Fletcher packs so much into 400+ pages. I have probably learned more about Egypt reading this book than any other book on the subject, or an accumulation of books and college coursework. On the other hand, I felt that she was working too hard to fit all of the pieces together, something like Simcha Jacobovici. Similar to Jacobovici, Fletcher overwhelms readers with data and information.
I like the way that the book is basically organized to chronologically discuss each dynasty culminating with the death of Kleopatra VII in 30 BC. For the first time I realized that each dynasty did not control all of Egypt, but frequently only parts. Some dynasties were single ruler - warlords who carved a territory out of something, authority resting on preserving the ancient pharonic line. For most of the chapters, Fletcher refers to archaeological data. She is a bit too cursory when discussing pre-dynastic Egypt and the Old Kingdom. This is not due to a lack of material, as excellent books have been written on the topic. Her focus is on the Middle and New Kingdoms where her passion truly lies and where readers may become uneasy with the book.
I do not have the expertise to focus on specific data. However, the book reads like a strenuous effort to identify female pharaohs and possibly Jewish pharaohs. This small bias becomes apparent in the Middle Kingdom when she tries to identify feminine aspects on male pharaohs and masculine aspects on queen consorts. This naturally drifts off into her identifying partial mummies - seemingly randomly - as pharaohs, queens, princes, and princesses. At some point in her discussion on the Middle Kingdom, Fletcher begins making leaps in logic and evidence.
Ultimately, I appreciated one of her underlying theories - that the steady growth in power and wealth concentration among the high priest of Luxor-Thebes led to a power rival against the pharaoh, a rivalry that led to civil war and resulted in foreigners dismantling the empire and even occupying parts of Egypt. Her emphasis that the Hyksos were more likely peaceful colonists from Palestine and Semitic in origin is another example of her seeming desire to establish them as Jews, or at least proto-Jewish. Is there such a thing as Proto-Jewish? Nevertheless, the conflict between the pharaohs and the high priest of Thebes (every Egyptian proper noun has at least five names) permanently weakened Egypt and allowed a slow and steady decline.
I am happy to recommend the book. While Fletcher does support some questionable theories and interpretations, overall, I feel that her work is mostly easy to read. The book starts off slowly; but quickly improves readability when she begins to describe gender-confused pharaohs. Then, if readers rather ignore the allusions to gender confusion, they can learn something. And maybe Fletcher is accurate when she identifies female pharaohs.
I like the way that the book is basically organized to chronologically discuss each dynasty culminating with the death of Kleopatra VII in 30 BC. For the first time I realized that each dynasty did not control all of Egypt, but frequently only parts. Some dynasties were single ruler - warlords who carved a territory out of something, authority resting on preserving the ancient pharonic line. For most of the chapters, Fletcher refers to archaeological data. She is a bit too cursory when discussing pre-dynastic Egypt and the Old Kingdom. This is not due to a lack of material, as excellent books have been written on the topic. Her focus is on the Middle and New Kingdoms where her passion truly lies and where readers may become uneasy with the book.
I do not have the expertise to focus on specific data. However, the book reads like a strenuous effort to identify female pharaohs and possibly Jewish pharaohs. This small bias becomes apparent in the Middle Kingdom when she tries to identify feminine aspects on male pharaohs and masculine aspects on queen consorts. This naturally drifts off into her identifying partial mummies - seemingly randomly - as pharaohs, queens, princes, and princesses. At some point in her discussion on the Middle Kingdom, Fletcher begins making leaps in logic and evidence.
Ultimately, I appreciated one of her underlying theories - that the steady growth in power and wealth concentration among the high priest of Luxor-Thebes led to a power rival against the pharaoh, a rivalry that led to civil war and resulted in foreigners dismantling the empire and even occupying parts of Egypt. Her emphasis that the Hyksos were more likely peaceful colonists from Palestine and Semitic in origin is another example of her seeming desire to establish them as Jews, or at least proto-Jewish. Is there such a thing as Proto-Jewish? Nevertheless, the conflict between the pharaohs and the high priest of Thebes (every Egyptian proper noun has at least five names) permanently weakened Egypt and allowed a slow and steady decline.
I am happy to recommend the book. While Fletcher does support some questionable theories and interpretations, overall, I feel that her work is mostly easy to read. The book starts off slowly; but quickly improves readability when she begins to describe gender-confused pharaohs. Then, if readers rather ignore the allusions to gender confusion, they can learn something. And maybe Fletcher is accurate when she identifies female pharaohs.
November 4, 2016
Hmmm. Well, this would have been more enjoyable if Egypt had less history. Fletcher's book covers roughly 4,000 years of Egyptian history, and she makes a noble effort to keep things lively, including all the lurid details she's got on the salacious, murderous (and sometimes salaciously murderous) lives of Egypt's rulers, not to mention the gory details of battles and how body counts were kept, gods and their sacrifices, pharaohs and their sacrifices (one interesting thing I did learn was that the early pharaohs liked to be prepared, and took plenty of courtiers with them to the next life – I hadn't realized this!), etc. Plenty of court gossip, which can be fun. In moderation, that is. Which is sort of the problem. While she ventures a little into Egyptian religion, for the most part this is a history of rulers, and four thousand years of rulers, most of whom are named Amenemhat, Neferkare, Ramesses, or Artaxerxes, finishing off with a bunch of Ptolemys and Cleopatras, gets... dull. Try as she might, each of these rulers sounds a whole lot like the next. Every so often there would be some ruler or event or tourist (Herodotus!) that stood out because I'd heard of them elsewhere, but often this tended to blur into a litany of names and dates. I think I'd have enjoyed it more as a physical book – I know I'd have liked to have maps, which I think are in the book, and there were probably pictures of coins and art too, which would have added interest – than as an audio, though the reader (Kate Reading) is excellent. I give this 3 ½ stars, rounding up to 4.
July 2, 2018
The majority of this book is a telling of who the rulers/pharaohs were during each dynasty, all the way up to 30 B.C. For me, that was grueling to get through, as it left little information of wars, famines, and other issues going on. It was mainly a telling of the political system and describing the tombs of the ruling class, and who/what was buried with them, while also talking about the gods the Egyptians worshiped, and how cities were devoted to them. And every now and then, there was a very interesting fact worth learning. If you are very interested in archaeology, this book might be for you. But for me, I was left desiring more.
February 28, 2019
The book gives a very good, chronological overview of all the pharaos. It gives you a nice framework.
May 6, 2021
In one way, this book is a bit of a tease. This book is a story about Egyptian civilization, but like many books on the subject, this is a book that focuses on ancient Egypt. This is understandable, but many readers can be forgiven for not realizing that Egyptian civilization did not suddenly cease because Egypt was conquered by Rome around 30AD. Of course, discussing Egyptian history during the period of the Roman, Byzantine, and various later Muslim periods is by no means an easy task. It is hard enough covering the 3000+ years of ancient Egypt and that is what this book sets out to do. It is a narrative story, by no means complete but focusing as much as possible on issues of narrative, by no means ignoring those who do not happen to be royals, to the extent that such people enter into the historical record, makes it a pleasant enough account even if I would have liked more. When a book leaves you wanting more even when it is a large book, that is a good sign that there is something right about the book at least.
This book is a modest sized book for its material, only a bit more than 350 pages of material to cover thousands of years of history, to say nothing of prehistory. The book begins with an introduction, after which the author spends a couple of chapters talking about the beginning of Egypt (1), something everyone who talks about Egyptian history seems to want to do in biblical terms, as well as the period when the Sahara was a savannah before becoming a desert (2). Then there is a discussion of the move from the drying Sahara oases to the river (3) and the division between northern and southern Egypt (4), which endured in memory in describing Egypt. After that there is a discussion of early rulers (5) who unified the two lands, the shifting focus of early Old Kingdom Egypt (6), and the pyramid builders (7). After that there is a discussion of sun worship (8), the rule of Ra (9), and the troubles that ended the Old Kingdom (10) and led to the disastrous first intermediate period (11). After that, there is a discussion of the Middle Kingdom (12) as well as the proliferation of royal heirs that led to its disintegration (13), and the brutality of Hykso rule (14). This is followed by a discussion of the dawn of the New Kingdom (15), its peak (16), troubled period at the close of the eighteenth dynasty (17), militaristic rule of the Ramessides (18), its decline, rise and fall during the late intermediate period (19), and the final flourish of Macedonian rule (20), after which the book ends with a chronology, note on spellings, acknowledgements, notes on sources, select bibliography, picture acknowledgements, and index.
The story of Egypt is one that fills me with a good deal of sadness. It is hard for me to celebrate societies where ordinary people live grim lives of privation and suffering just so pampered elites can squabble over empty titles and the illusion of power while inflicting misery upon others. I find it hard to celebrate societies devoted to foreign conquest and the domination of others. To be sure, there is no shortage of such peoples, and some would say that imperialism as a whole is precisely that, and that empires like ancient Egypt demonstrate the basic template of imperial rule that would be followed in the rest of the world, with many of those occasions where Egypt was the imperial subject rather than the imperial overlord. We start to see that process happen at the end of the Middle Kingdom period, where first the Hyksos and then the Libyans and Nubians and then the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, followed by many others after the course of this book, dominated the land of the Pharaohs. Yet this book and its contents lead us not to feel pity at the Egyptians, for they were only paid in the same coin that they gave out to others starting in ancient history.
This book is a modest sized book for its material, only a bit more than 350 pages of material to cover thousands of years of history, to say nothing of prehistory. The book begins with an introduction, after which the author spends a couple of chapters talking about the beginning of Egypt (1), something everyone who talks about Egyptian history seems to want to do in biblical terms, as well as the period when the Sahara was a savannah before becoming a desert (2). Then there is a discussion of the move from the drying Sahara oases to the river (3) and the division between northern and southern Egypt (4), which endured in memory in describing Egypt. After that there is a discussion of early rulers (5) who unified the two lands, the shifting focus of early Old Kingdom Egypt (6), and the pyramid builders (7). After that there is a discussion of sun worship (8), the rule of Ra (9), and the troubles that ended the Old Kingdom (10) and led to the disastrous first intermediate period (11). After that, there is a discussion of the Middle Kingdom (12) as well as the proliferation of royal heirs that led to its disintegration (13), and the brutality of Hykso rule (14). This is followed by a discussion of the dawn of the New Kingdom (15), its peak (16), troubled period at the close of the eighteenth dynasty (17), militaristic rule of the Ramessides (18), its decline, rise and fall during the late intermediate period (19), and the final flourish of Macedonian rule (20), after which the book ends with a chronology, note on spellings, acknowledgements, notes on sources, select bibliography, picture acknowledgements, and index.
The story of Egypt is one that fills me with a good deal of sadness. It is hard for me to celebrate societies where ordinary people live grim lives of privation and suffering just so pampered elites can squabble over empty titles and the illusion of power while inflicting misery upon others. I find it hard to celebrate societies devoted to foreign conquest and the domination of others. To be sure, there is no shortage of such peoples, and some would say that imperialism as a whole is precisely that, and that empires like ancient Egypt demonstrate the basic template of imperial rule that would be followed in the rest of the world, with many of those occasions where Egypt was the imperial subject rather than the imperial overlord. We start to see that process happen at the end of the Middle Kingdom period, where first the Hyksos and then the Libyans and Nubians and then the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, followed by many others after the course of this book, dominated the land of the Pharaohs. Yet this book and its contents lead us not to feel pity at the Egyptians, for they were only paid in the same coin that they gave out to others starting in ancient history.
December 15, 2017
*Short review for now*
From its beginnings to the end of its tumultuous queen Cleopatra - Dr. Fletcher, brings this fascinating history to you.
I could not put this book down! From a lover of Egyptian history, there were so many things that I had forgotten, or simply had not heard before (especially in some of the earlier times) that I was hooked from the start.
Going down the list chronologically, you get an idea and sense of the pride, wealthy, and the not so lucky pharaohs who ruled. Each monarch's history is given, as much as can be within the space of one book, but you walk away with a complete feeling, not lacking in anyway. While some of the histories can be drawn together, and the tapestry of the genealogy can be somewhat messy, Dr. Fletcher easily navigates the murky waters.
Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in history. Be sure to plan time to sit - this is not a fast read!
From its beginnings to the end of its tumultuous queen Cleopatra - Dr. Fletcher, brings this fascinating history to you.
I could not put this book down! From a lover of Egyptian history, there were so many things that I had forgotten, or simply had not heard before (especially in some of the earlier times) that I was hooked from the start.
Going down the list chronologically, you get an idea and sense of the pride, wealthy, and the not so lucky pharaohs who ruled. Each monarch's history is given, as much as can be within the space of one book, but you walk away with a complete feeling, not lacking in anyway. While some of the histories can be drawn together, and the tapestry of the genealogy can be somewhat messy, Dr. Fletcher easily navigates the murky waters.
Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in history. Be sure to plan time to sit - this is not a fast read!
September 8, 2020
Fletcher offers an overview of Egyptian history from cavemen to Kleopatra, but doesn't really dig into the interesting stuff she brings up, touching on nuggets and then moving on. Interesting as an overview, and will shift your view of Egypt, but you'll wish for more meat.
November 4, 2019
A very good initial insight into the reign of the Pharohs. While it would be impossible to go into detail about the rule of every single ruler in the span of one book, I feel that The Story of Egypt gives a good basic working knowledge, allowing the reader to branch off and research the aspects or people that most intrigue them.
August 27, 2016
I first came across Joann Fletcher on TV, where she is an engaging presenter, often offering a slightly different view on events in Egyptian history. So I was perhaps expecting too much when I picked up this book, thinking that it might have the same style.
It is a very competent and comprehensive history of the Pharaohs and Dynasties of Egypt from about 5500BC up to 30BC, when it became a Roman province. I suspect that most of what we currently know about the 'King List' is here in as much detail as we have (although I am aware that one or two of the author's views are controversial). We get Pharaoh after Pharaoh, how they were related (or not), what they built, how and where they were buried. We also get other details of life at the time, but only really in as much as they relate to the royal family; and this is what let the book down for me. It certainly isn't a story of the Egyptian people and way of life; it should perhaps be called 'The Story of Egypt's Rulers'.
If you know little about Egypt, then this might be a good starting point to get your bearings, and understand the dynastic chronology (although it can be a bit monotonous at times); if you already have some understanding of that, then this book probably won't add much.
It is a very competent and comprehensive history of the Pharaohs and Dynasties of Egypt from about 5500BC up to 30BC, when it became a Roman province. I suspect that most of what we currently know about the 'King List' is here in as much detail as we have (although I am aware that one or two of the author's views are controversial). We get Pharaoh after Pharaoh, how they were related (or not), what they built, how and where they were buried. We also get other details of life at the time, but only really in as much as they relate to the royal family; and this is what let the book down for me. It certainly isn't a story of the Egyptian people and way of life; it should perhaps be called 'The Story of Egypt's Rulers'.
If you know little about Egypt, then this might be a good starting point to get your bearings, and understand the dynastic chronology (although it can be a bit monotonous at times); if you already have some understanding of that, then this book probably won't add much.
June 28, 2017
This book really doesn't accomplish what it's title would imply. The first three quarters of this book could really be titled "Ancient Egyptian burial practices" and be more accurate than the current title. The last quarter does begin to tell a story, it is too little too late to help the overall narrative. Fletcher's passion for her subject does come through, but she fails to bring the material to life, or to convey any sort of story. In no way does this book communicate how Egypt shaped civilization, whether contemporary of modern civilizations.
While not a bad book, with plenty of good material on ancient Egypt, it competently fails to follow through on the promises it makes. This is why it earns two starts from me.
While not a bad book, with plenty of good material on ancient Egypt, it competently fails to follow through on the promises it makes. This is why it earns two starts from me.
December 26, 2017
Many disparage Egyptian history as simply a list of kings and how they were buried. Modern histories have escaped this and even the general surveys have written about the lives of the masses, and the Eqyptian culture. The author, abandons this approach and in turged prose, lists kings with their tombs. She does take us past the Ramasies, which many do not, but history is lost in the telling. She also in numours cases takes relationships, identifications, and locatons still under achidemic debate, and simply states her belief as fact with out mentioning the debate. While in many cases I agree with the author, does not make this a good practice. I recommned that even the die hard arm chair Egpytologests, as am I, to avoide this tome.
May 20, 2017
This book starts and ends well, beginning with an explanation of the formation of Egypt that deftly weaves archeology and myth to explain much of what Egyptian culture would become, closing with a nimble telling of the twisted Ptolemaic dynasty. It's what lies between that is mostly the problem, since the author mostly sticks to her chronological political history, determined to mention every single Pharoah regardless of whether she has anything to say about him. That's too bad, because when she's on a topic she enjoys, such as any female pharoah or the height of the Middle Kingdom, she really shines. Unfortunately 4000 years leaves a lot of room for filler.
March 12, 2017
There seems to have been just too much ground to cover in too few pages. I couldn't get a handle on anyone or any themes or really anything--it was like watching a film running at 4X speed!--which I found very frustrating.
August 12, 2016
So interesting! Fascinating history, well written, learned so much I didn't know.
June 12, 2018
a little bit of detail of everything, but not enough details of major things to make it interesting.
Read
September 13, 2020Very clinical and dry reading.
October 14, 2019
This was a rather frustrating book to read. As opposed to other Ancient Egyptian history books, this one could not keep my interest very well, and was hard to follow where we were in the story. I can't even say precisely why, but I kept missing sentences that turned out to be key transitions to another topic entirely and was confused as to who it was talking about and what was going on. I haven't had this problem with any other history book, including ones I was reading concurrently, which leads me to discount myself as the primary problem.
Additionally, I was constantly annoyed by the bizarre method of citing sources, or the lack thereof. It seems as if the goal was to makes the citations not disrupt the flow of a popular history account, but it just made it super long and frustrating to try to find the appropriate source. Instead of footnoting or end noting, there are quotation marks around a section of sentence with no other identifying marker. You then go to the back of the book for the source list, which is organized by chapter. Since there is no identifying number, you then have to scan the list of quotations (which is long) until you find the one you are interested in and see where it was taken from. This is laborious. There is a reason people number their end notes. Additionally, I kept hoping for more than a simple reference to the original location of the quote. I wanted explanations for her conclusions and comments that she would offhandedly throw in that I had never heard before. Basically, there would be a mention of some idea that was new to me and seemed contradictory to what I was reading in other books, yet it would be put in without further explanation or development. Assuming that she had explained this more fully elsewhere, I wanted to see end notes that would summarize or reference other works, but none of that was forthcoming. It was all just quotations that were listed. If I was grading this paper, I definitely would have marked down for the lack of source citations. Also, I don't want to discount her comments out of hand based on what I've read about her being controversial, but it really doesn't help when she is not explaining anything to me, the layman. Where are these conclusions coming from?
Eventually, I just wanted to get it finished. If you want a truly good summary of the history of Ancient Egypt, try Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs by Barbara Mertz. She is an excellent writer for popular history (as well as fiction) and her book is superbly readable and interesting with exactly the same topics.
Additionally, I was constantly annoyed by the bizarre method of citing sources, or the lack thereof. It seems as if the goal was to makes the citations not disrupt the flow of a popular history account, but it just made it super long and frustrating to try to find the appropriate source. Instead of footnoting or end noting, there are quotation marks around a section of sentence with no other identifying marker. You then go to the back of the book for the source list, which is organized by chapter. Since there is no identifying number, you then have to scan the list of quotations (which is long) until you find the one you are interested in and see where it was taken from. This is laborious. There is a reason people number their end notes. Additionally, I kept hoping for more than a simple reference to the original location of the quote. I wanted explanations for her conclusions and comments that she would offhandedly throw in that I had never heard before. Basically, there would be a mention of some idea that was new to me and seemed contradictory to what I was reading in other books, yet it would be put in without further explanation or development. Assuming that she had explained this more fully elsewhere, I wanted to see end notes that would summarize or reference other works, but none of that was forthcoming. It was all just quotations that were listed. If I was grading this paper, I definitely would have marked down for the lack of source citations. Also, I don't want to discount her comments out of hand based on what I've read about her being controversial, but it really doesn't help when she is not explaining anything to me, the layman. Where are these conclusions coming from?
Eventually, I just wanted to get it finished. If you want a truly good summary of the history of Ancient Egypt, try Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs by Barbara Mertz. She is an excellent writer for popular history (as well as fiction) and her book is superbly readable and interesting with exactly the same topics.
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