Unearthing the Past: An Archaeological Look at the Egyptian Revolution

Blake West: Hessler is a great writer, and there are lots of interesting anecdotes throughout. But there isn't much of a consistent thread or story that ties it all together. So it feels kinda static. Like just a portrait, and not a movie. Wish he had more of a story or argument.

United States on Jul 22, 2023

Crazycatlady: Peter Hessler is always good. Especially enjoyed his account of his friendship with the trash collector.

Canada on Dec 13, 2020

jannie: If, like me, your grasp of the events and implications of the Arab Spring was fuzzy even as it was being reported, this is the book that not only explains those events but describes daily life in Egypt so that the events make sense.

Most of all this is a story of Egypt. Not the Egypt of the wealthy but the Egypt of neighborhoods and every day people. Hessler and his wife and two young twin girls live in an apartment on Zamalek, an island in the Nile. He befriends the local trash collector, Sayyid, who provides great insights into Egypt’s culture, which is not one of (western) systems but of people. We get a look at family structure, the many strictures governing women, the legal system (?), the role of Islam, treatment of lgbtq persons, and just generally, how things really work.

One of my favorite stories concerned the new ring road. Sayyid and his family lived in a poor neighborhood (an ashwaiyat) and because these informal settlements weren’t recognized by the government, they didn’t build any on or off ramps for the neighborhood to use the ring road. The solution? Build the ramps yourselves. The neighborhood hired designers and builders and simply built...

United States on Oct 16, 2020

Evlyne Laurin: I strongly recommend this book. Hessler account is genuine and written from years spent in Cairo where he sparked friendships with people who many would have overlooked or ignored. Read in retrospect of my time in Cairo, I wish I had this book as a companion to make me understand some of the fascinating aspects of that city and of Egypt. The stories he writes about are well documented, and show deep interests and research. Quick to read and a must for anybody who has any interest in the Arab Spring in Egypt or wants to get an understanding of the Cairo/Egyptian inherent contradictions.

Canada on Oct 04, 2020

Manu Vishwanath: Peter Hessler turns his eye towards a new country, and in classic Hessler style delves deep into the very character of Egypt, using his keen observational prowess to capture a sense of what subaltern Egyptians were thinking and feeling as their country shifted around them, while also taking a deep dive into the history of Egypt. He ties the two streams of thought together to create beautifully observed portrait of a time and place.

Canada on Jul 26, 2020

Stuart Williams: As a long-time fan, I can say that this book is well up to Peter Hessler's usual high standards. As before, he combines insights into the distant past with the experiences of someone living in the turbulent present. We get to know Manu, Sayyid and Rifaat as real people, with their reactions to the public and private events dominating their lives. I was baffled by the review which complained that there were many more facets to Cairo - of course there are: no one person could write a single book about London or Beijing or Rio. Instead, be grateful for a perceptive and humane take on the Mother of the World.

United Kingdom on Apr 27, 2020

Ayman Farahat: I grew up in Cairo not far from where the author lived in Zamalek. As such I have mixed feelings: on the one hand the book is a wonderful read, on the other hand there are enough loopholes in the authors’ understanding of the culture and language to cast serious doubts about the scholarly quality of the work.

The book is a wonderful read and I really enjoyed the two interwinding stories; the ancient Egypt (specially Akhenaten) and the modern Egypt and the Arab Spring. The author brings interesting perspective and draws insightful parallels. The author tries to frame his own experience in the context of established research. For example (and much to his credit) he visited one of Cairo’s inner-city slums, meet with the residents, and describes how his experience relate to the general patterns as described in David Sims work on the Cairo Slums (Al Ashwaiaat) .

However, as the author acknowledged, he started learning Arabic a few months before he travelled to Egypt and spent the better part of five years in Egypt. In that vein, the book is best viewed as someone’s experience living in Egypt during a very eventual five years. It takes more than five years to produce...

United States on Apr 05, 2020

Christopher: I've been a fan of Hessler since his China reporting days. Like his writing on China, this collection of reporting projects tied together be a personal narrative is both really enjoyable, and takes the time to show a more intimate depiction of Egypt at a very particular moment in its history. I found it quite unlike the other reporting I've read on the area and a welcome supplement to more academic/hard-nosed reporting, without ever seeming fluffy. Highly recommended.

Canada on Dec 26, 2019

Seth Luxenberg: Another masterpiece from Hessler whose insight brings both modern and ancient Egypt to life.

There are many brilliant passages throughout the book, but one about a Chinese plastic factory in Upper Egypt captures Hessler's range and insight.

"...Every time I visited, I thought: Here in Egypt, home to more than ninety million people, where Western development workers and billions of dollars of aid have poured in for decades, the first plastic recycling center in the south is a thriving business that employs thirty people, reimburses others for reducing landfill waste, and earns a significant profit. So why was it established by two lingerie-fueled Chinese migrants, one of them illiterate and the other with a fifth-grade education."

I could say the same thing about this book. With all of the journalists and scholars writing about Egypt for decades, why does the best book about Egypt come from a journalist who built his career writing about China? Hessler writes in 3-d about a range of topics I'm used to reading about in 2-d from journalists, authors and scholars. I learned more about a wide range of topics including Egyptian history, the Arabic language, the...

United States on Jul 20, 2019