Jason Thompson (2)

A History of Egypt: From Earliest Times to the Present by Jason Thompson

★★★

I think this title is pretty self explanatory. It’s the history…of Egypt…5,000 years of it…in 380 pages. So it is a lot of history jammed into a fairly small book but that doesn’t make it bad. The author states that he wanted to make a comprehensive book on the history of the country and that’s exactly what he did. It’s pretty bare bones. He focuses more on the political aspect of the country show more although religious and cultural aspects are thrown in. But amazingly enough the author manages to get all 5,000 years of history and quite well. It was informative and well researched. It is a great book for those that want to travel to the country or just looking for a little background information. I knew very little about this country (except for the obvious pharaohs and mummies) so I enjoyed this book. However, at some points I did find myself zoning out. It’s not exactly the most exciting and adventurous of history books I’ve read. And while no fault of the author, I had a lot of trouble keeping all the rulers, factions, and religions straight as the author sped through history – they all looked and read the same after awhile to me. It’s a lot to soak in. It should be noted that this book was published in 2008 – things have changed in Egypt drastically even since the publishing of this history. show less

My first review on LT and I shall be brief. The predecssor to a great line of British archeologist, Wilkinson is considered more appropriately as an antiquarian. He spent his early years during the early part of the 19th century living in Egypt copying hieroglyphs, attempting translations and drawing everything he saw. His book on the manners and customs of ancient Egypt was extremely popular in its day, but in a few years, as the formal study of Egyptology developed in universities in show more England and Europe, was superceded by much more scholarly and detailed works. Overall, a very interesting book for anyone interested in the early history of Egyptology. show less