Further Reading 323currently know and understand about ancient Egyptian
culture and society.Lonely Planet: Egypt. Andrew Humphreys. Siona Jenkins,
Gadi Farfour, Anthony Sattin and Joann Fletcher. Melbourne,
Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 2004 (7th edition).
Of the basic travel guide books, I like this one best. This
book is quite helpful and easy to carry around. It has no
in-depth information on the antiquities, but has a wealth
of information on places to go and see other than Egypt’s
ancient past. The maps are all right, but difficult to read.
The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, and Sugar
Street. Naghib Mahfouz. London, UK & New York, NY:
Everyman’s Library, 2001.
Naguib Mahfouz was the first Egyptian author to win the
Nobel Prize for Literature. Start The Cairo Trilogy with Palace
Walk and work your way through all three. In addition to
these, Respected Sir (1986) is an excellent example of
his later writing. These books address one of the most
characteristic features of dealing with contemporary
Egyptian life: the labyrinthine bureaucracy. Actually, you
will enjoy anything he wrote. His style is clear and you
always think you are part of the scene.
The Arabs. Peter Mansfield. Penguin History Series. London,
UK & New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1992.
This is a good, readable introduction to the political
and social history of the modern Arab world. Important
because Arab society affects Egypt and the modern Middle
East.
A Short History of Modern Egypt. Afaf Al-Sayyed Marsot.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
For a good general history of Egypt since 1800, read this
book. It is a good place to get an initial familiarity with the
political and historical forces that shaped contemporary
Egypt.