Egypt: A History

by Ian MacAlister

Here is the epic story of ancient Egypt and the pharaohs who made it great. Historian Ian MacAlister uses the pyramids and their mute, enigmatic sentinel, the Sphinx as the focal point for a sweeping yet human view of 3,000 years of Egyptian history.

108 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 19, 2018

About the author

pseudonym of Marvin H. Albert

Reviews

[Nicole Normand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book discounted on Amazon via BookBub; this is my honest review.
-First and foremost, it is well written. The author is well versed in the subject and he has a nice vocabulary. The editing needs another pass but nothing to breach the flow of words. Although I could have lived without the details on the art of embalming.
-I have to say that if I had written the plan of the book, it would have been by range of years, not by theme because from one chapter to the other I was totally confused to which era I was reading. Even in the same paragraph you started in 19th century and finished in 525 BCE (AKA BC).
-When writing history, an author should avoid putting in his beliefs. Sometimes, there are also no foundation in what he's saying, just his own perception: "legend of the Tower of Babel", "The Bible’s attitude to Egypt is mythic", he calls Jesus and his parents "invaders". He also calls it the "new religion" when in fact Moses and all the people in the Old Testament already believed in JC as their saviour. And of course, he's mixing-up Catholicism and Christianity, especially regarding Constantine. So he uses BCE vs BC, then thinks stories in the Bible are legends and yet he verbalizes "before the birth Christ".
-At one point, Piazzi Smyth was praised "serious scientist of the order of Piazzi Smyth". Then, by reading more, you actually see that he's not so great. In particular, his discovery of the Pyramid Inch was totally wrong and he actually said in one of his papers that the pyramids were not even built by the Egyptians! Why say he's great?
-Last but not least is that the author completely ignored the fact that the library of Alexandria was burned down. It was magnificent and he does talk about it but missed this point entirely.

[Reggiefras · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brief but concise history of a very complicated yet successful civilization. This history follows the straight interpretation of a history as dictated by the former Head of Antiquities for Egypt, Mr. Zahi Huwass, and he irrevocably altered much evidence that didn't fit his narrative, hiding it in storage areas far from their point of origin without even a record of their original position, forever altering the truth about the past. Of many items he was forced to use to fit his skewered narrative, he rearranged much of the evidence to conform to his story, a story he foisted on the world's Egyptologists, if they wanted to do field work in his country, they had to adhere to his heresy. His era was not science, but the worst form of tomb raiding, even surpassing the era of the grave robbers of the past because his version was considered as orthodoxy, when in fact it was the furthest thing from that ever presented. Histories like this are plentiful in the literary world and they add nothing to an already twisted chronology. What we need is the truth, if that is even attainable after the damage has been done.

[Jonas Lindmark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short summary of what is known about Egypt's ancient history and how this knowledge was gained. Just 7 chapters: Pyramids, Sphinx, Pharaohs, Greeks and Romans, Christians, Muslims, Archeologists. Well written, intelligent opinions.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Egypt a short history

Covers a large period of time and all the significant rulers and dynasties and their places in the history of Egypt.

[Bryan Wiebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick tour touching mostly on highlights from architecture and its motivations.

[Jo Van Horn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of information. Can't wait to travel there