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An exhilarating and original history of Egypt—a desert nation’s 5,000 years of change and continuity
Egypt looms large in the popular imagination, conjuring images of pyramids, pharaohs, tomb raiders, vast deserts, and the world’s longest river, the Nile. Yet its true allure might lie in its impressively long history and what it tells us about the human condition.
Author Maria Golia draws on extensive historical research and decades of experience living and working in Egypt to offer fresh, nuanced, and insightful perspectives on one of the world’s oldest civilizations. Golia deftly traces Egypt’s trajectory from Neolithic times to the Arab Spring and up to the present day, and in doing so illuminates the environmental, temporal, and cultural forces that have shaped it. Just like the ancients, we’re preoccupied with life’s brevity and how to prolong its pleasures and reduce its pains. In many ways, Egypt is a case study in how people endure.
Written with wit, clarity, and a contemporary beat, this is a wild and intoxicating ride through Egypt’s history.
The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.
“Condensing Egyptian history into 200 pages with wit, insight, and revelatory knowledge is truly a literary achievement. Comfortable with contradictions, unfazed by complexity, dazzled by Egypt’s luminous past, The Shortest History of Ancient Egypt will serve as the ultimate primer for anyone enchanted by this legendary land—that is, almost all of us.”—Wade Davis, anthropologist, author and explorer
“Sharp, elegant, and insightful.”—David Wengrow, coauthor of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
“A sweeping history of Egypt, written with authority and literary flair. Golia effortlessly distils a broad range of recent scholarship to paint a portrait of the country and its people that is convincing and endearing but also uncompromisingly honest.”—Campbell Price, author of Golden Mummies of Egypt
