Status Updates From A History of Ancient Egypt,...

The dynastic period began with the consolidation of power by pastoralists in the eastern desert and oases in the western desert near Upper Egypt. They consolidated power mostly by peaceful means such as treaties and marriages in hopes of avoiding conflict with their neighbors. Eventually Upper Egypt absorbed Lower Egypt (for trade reasons?) and began the united dynasty

It’s interesting though not surprising that many of the names we use for Egyptian cities and kings are Greek in origin

This is a pretty lengthy introductory chapter but it’s also very good. Surprisingly lots of info on historiography, especially as it relates to Egyptology of course. One interesting tidbit what that historians tend to define an era or civilization by the language used in the source materials. When the Egyptians switched to using Greek, many historians mark this as the end of ancient Egypt

Mieroop states in his introduction that he intends in this book to write an introductory text on ancient Egyptian political history, with some elements of social history. He claims many other introductory books lack academic rigor. This text is written for use in college classes