Search results for ""the american university in cairo press""
The American University in Cairo Press The Tent
The Tent is a beautifully written, powerful, and disturbing novel, featuring a host of women characters whose lives are subject to the will of a single, often absent, patriarch and his brutal, foul-mouthed mother. Told through the eyes of a young girl, the lives of the Bedouin and peasant women unfold, revealing the tragedy of the sonless mother and the intolerable heaviness of existence.Set against trackless deserts and star-filled night skies, the story tells of the young girl’s relationship with her distant father and a foreign woman who is well-meaning but ultimately motivated by self-interest. It provides an intimate glimpse inside the women’s quarters, and chronicles their pastimes and preoccupations, their stories and their songs.
£13.26
The American University in Cairo Press Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation (Revised Edition)
Amarna Sunset tells the story of the decline and fall of the pharaoh Akhenaten's religious revolution in the fourteenth century bc. Beginning at the regime's high point in his Year 12, it traces the subsequent collapse that saw the deaths of many of the king's loved ones, his attempts to guarantee the revolution through co-rulers, and the last frenzied assault on the god Amun. The book then outlines the events of the subsequent five decades that saw the extinction of the royal line, an attempt to place a foreigner on Egypt's throne, and the accession of three army officers in turn. Among its conclusions are that the mother of Tutankhamun was none other than Nefertiti, and that the queen was joint-pharaoh in turn with both her husband Akhenaten and her son. As such, she was herself instrumental in beginning the return to orthodoxy, undoing her erstwhile husband's life-work before her own mysterious disappearance. This fully updated and extensively revised paperback edition addresses new evidence and discussions that have appeared in the decade since the book was originally published. Amarna Sunset, together with its recently updated companion volume, Amarna Sunrise, accordingly provides readers with a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of Egyptian history during the golden years of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East.
£21.45
The American University in Cairo Press Women in Revolutionary Egypt: Gender and the New Geographics of Identity
The 25 January 2011 uprising and the unprecedented dissent and discord to which it gave rise shattered the notion of homogeneity that had characterized state representations of Egypt and Egyptians since 1952. It allowed for the eruption of identities along multiple lines, including class, ideology, culture, and religion, long suppressed by state control. Concomitantly a profusion of women's voices arose to further challenge the state-managed feminism that had sought to define and carefully circumscribe women's social and civic roles in Egypt.Women in Revolutionary Egypt takes the uprising as the point of departure for an exploration of how gender in post-Mubarak Egypt came to be rethought, reimagined, and contested. It examines key areas of tension between national and gender identities, including gender empowerment through art and literature, particularly graffiti and poetry, the disciplining of the body, and the politics of history and memory.Shereen Abouelnaga argues that this new cartography of women's struggle has to be read in a context that takes into consideration the micropolitics of everyday life as well as the larger processes that work to separate the personal from the political. She shows how a new generation of women is resisting, both discursively and visually, the notion of a fixed or 'authentic' notion of Egyptian womanhood in spite of prevailing social structures and in face of all gendered politics of imagined nation.
£31.12
The American University in Cairo Press Cairo Swan Song: A Novel
Cairo, Mother of the World, embraces millions—but some of her children make their home in the streets, junked up and living in the shadows of wealth and among the monuments that the tourists flock to see. Mustafa, a former student radical who never believed in the slogans, sets out to tell their story, but he has to rely on the help of his American girlfriend, Marcia, who he is not sure he can trust. Meanwhile, his former leftist friends are now all either capitalists or Islamists. Alienated from a corrupt and corrupting society, Mustafa watches as the Cairo he cherishes crumbles around him. The men and women of the city struggle to find lovers worthy of their love and causes worthy of their sacrifice in a country that no longer deserves their loyalty. The children of the streets wait for the adults to take notice. And the foreigners can always leave.
£15.46
The American University in Cairo Press Revolution Is My Name: An Egyptian Woman's Diary from Eighteen Days in Tahrir
What it was like and how it felt to be an Egyptian woman revolutionary during the eighteen days that changed Egypt foreverMona Prince’s humorous and insightful memoir tells of one woman’s journey as a hesitant revolutionary through the eighteen days of the Egyptian uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.Alongside the brutal violence of the security forces, the daily battles of resistance, and the author’s own abduction and beating at the hands of the police, this is a story of exceptional solidarity, perseverance, and humanity. Juggling humor and horror, hope and fear, certitude and anxiety, Prince immerses us in the details of each unpredictable and fateful day. She mixes the political and the personal, the public and the private to expose and confront divisions within her family, as well as her own social prejudices, which she discovers through encounters with diverse sectors of society, from police conscripts to street children.Revolution Is My Name is a testimony not only of women’s participation in the Egyptian uprising and their courage in confronting constrictive gender divides at home and on the street, but equally of their important contribution as chroniclers of the momentous events of January and February 2011.
£21.24
The American University in Cairo Press A Dictionary of Idiomatic Expressions in Written Arabic: For the Reader of Classical and Modern Texts
How would you ever know that "to lose a baby ostrich" means to rush into something without thinking? Or that "what can the wind take from the pavement?" is said when someone has nothing left to lose? This comprehensive guide to idiomatic expressions in literary Arabic, the first of its kind, will inform, amuse, and entertain, through more than 8500 entries found in texts from the Qur'an to today's newspapers. With explanations in Arabic and English, it is an essential resource for both students of Arabic and native speakers. Reaching into the great wealth of this complex and intriguing language, the dictionary draws on and reveals the rich cultural and religious traditions of Arabic-speaking communities that have informed its idioms. Expressions of condolence, astonishment, and hardship, alongside sayings about friendship, miserliness, and reconciliation are collected and made accessible here, and glimpses are provided into history through phrases tied to important events and figures-from the ancient Egyptians to Saddam Hussein-altogether allowing a fascinating insight into Arabic's many quirks and intricacies.
£67.04
The American University in Cairo Press Arab Spring in Egypt: Revolution and Beyond
Beginning in Tunisia, and spreading to as many as seventeen Arab countries, the street protests of the 'Arab Spring' in 2011 empowered citizens and banished their fear of speaking out against governments. The collapse in February 2011 of the regime in the region's most populous country, Egypt, led to key questions of why, how, and with what consequences did this occur? Inspired by the "contentious politics" school and Social Movement Theory, Arab Spring in Egypt addresses these issues, examining the reasons behind the collapse of Egypt's authoritarian regime; analyzing the group dynamics in Tahrir Square of various factions and reflecting on the challenges of transition
£22.32
The American University in Cairo Press El Alamein and the Struggle for North Africa: International Perspectives from the Twenty-First Century
This new collection of studies presents fresh insights into a war fought over unusually difficult terrain and with exceptional supply demands. From the ongoing Italian geomorphic study of the Alamein arena to individual memories of non-combatant Alexandrians, from the Free French to the seasoned colonial forces of Australia, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, and from vital naval engagements and the siege of Malta to the study of Rommel’s leadership and the Churchill–Montgomery duo, this book presents the reader with a detailed yet broad reassessment of the complexities of the war in North Africa between 1941 and 1943, its technology, philosophy, military doctrine, strategy, tactics, logistics, and the associated local and international politics. Writing from the perspectives of some of the many nations whose armies were involved in the conflict, fifteen historians bring to their work the precision of their national historical archival sources in clear and spritely narratives.
£27.91
The American University in Cairo Press Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City Out of Control
This book moves beyond superficial generalizations about Cairo as a chaotic metropolis in the developing world into an analysis of the ways the city’s eighteen million inhabitants have, in the face of a largely neglectful government, built and shaped their own city. Using a wealth of recent studies on Greater Cairo and a deep reading of informal urban processes, the city and its recent history are portrayed and mapped: the huge, spontaneous neighborhoods; housing; traffic and transport; city government; and its people and their enterprises. The book argues that understanding a city such as Cairo is not a daunting task as long as pre-conceived notions are discarded and care is taken to apprehend available information and to assess it with a critical eye. In the case of Cairo, this approach leads to a conclusion that the city can be considered a kind of success story, in spite of everything.
£27.50
The American University in Cairo Press Law as a Tool for Empowering Women within Marital Relations: A Case Study of Paternity Lawsuits in Egypt: Cairo Papers in Social Science Vol. 31, No. 2
How do women use courts within the context of paternity lawsuits? This study analyzes the challenges that the formal legal approach to empowering women faces once it is translated into everyday socio-legal experiences and court repertoires. It also seeks to trace the pathologies inherent in personal status law reform and normal legal practices in Egypt, attesting to the limitations of law as an agent of social change in the private domain of the family. It mainly sheds light on the difficulties of separating formal legal rules from informal social practices. It also explores the problem of paternity claims in Egypt. Adding to growing literature on the use of legal mobilization to advance gender equity, this study offers insights on the often-neglected role of social norms in court experiences, often leading to unexpected consequences that sometimes defy the intended goals behind policies and legislation.
£29.20
The American University in Cairo Press Understanding Islamic Fundamentalism: The Theological and Ideological Basis of Al-Qa'Ida's Political Tactics
Beginning with an examination of medieval Islamic fundamentalist movements such as Kharjism, Ibadism, Hanbalism, and Wahhabism, Sayed Khatab looks at the similarities and differences between them and present organizations such as al-Qa'ida. It may be surprising that many of the radical narratives embraced by modern groups have not emerged recently. Identifying these roots can lead to a better understanding of al-Qa'ida's theological and intellectual narratives, and how they effectively indoctrinate youths and attract many of them to violent acts of terrorism. The book then focuses on al-Qa'ida's theology, ideology, and tactics; the geographic contours and implications of al-Qa'ida's political strategy in relation to the western and eastern countries which are considered enemy states; the impending clash of cultures; and the ideological war within al-Qa'ida. Innovative in its concept, examining political Islamic thought from a historical to a contemporary perspective, Islamic Fundamentalism generates new understanding of the many complexities of political Islam, and the role of violence and terrorism.
£25.83
The American University in Cairo Press So You May See: A Modern Arabic Novel
This audacious novel opens with Ayn as she reflects on the act of writing and wonders if love alone is sufficient subject for a narrative. Haltingly at first, she weaves the tale of her love affair with Ali with witty asides about her own writing, and the limits and self-deceptions that are at the heart of all storytelling. As the story finds its way, through sea and desert, and the realms of mysticism and magic, we learn of a passionate, volatile relationship, one severely tested through countless separations, of Ayn's relationships with other men, including her intense encounters with a Corsican ex-convict, and of her own desire to escape the confines of marriage, even to the man she loves. Disarmingly candid in the telling, So You May See leads us gently into a revolt, a fierce rebuttal of conventional romantic literature and an indictment of the sexual mores and unquestioned attitudes to marriage and relationships in contemporary Egypt.
£18.28
The American University in Cairo Press The Essential Naguib Mahfouz Novels Short Stories Autobiography
£19.99
The American University in Cairo Press Twentieth-century Egyptian Art: The Private Collection of Sherwet Shafei
Egypt's modern art scene has been marked by many influential local and foreign painters. Mona Abaza retraces the highlights of the country's twentieth-century art world through the private collection of one of Cairo's most reputable private gallery owners, Sherwet Shafei. The 200 color reproductions of paintings from Sherwet Shafei's collection represent works from very early pioneers such as Mahmoud Sa d and Ragheb Ayad to later figures such as Hamed Nada and Youssef Sida. In a comprehensive introduction that examines the life and career of Sherwet Shafei and her pivotal role in promoting and creating a market for modern Egyptian art, the author also addresses the tendencies of emerging art collectors in Egypt's "blossoming" market, the burdens of forgery, and the impact of globalization on the art industry. This book serves as a repository of Egyptian cultural heritage by offering a rare viewing of a valuable collection that has yet to be displayed in its entirety.
£42.71
The American University in Cairo Press The Changing Middle East: A New Look at Regional Dynamics
In the era of globalization, change is the order of the day, but the conventional view of the Arab Middle East is that of a rigid and even stagnant region. This book counters the static perception and focuses instead on regional dynamics. After first discussing types of change, identifying catalysts, and tracing the evolution of the region over the last sixty years, the international team of contributors go on to evaluate the development of Arab civil society; examine the opportunities and challenges facing the Arab media; link the debates concerning Arab political thought to the evolving regional and international context; look at the transformation of armed Islamist movements into deradicalized factions; assess how and to what extent women's empowerment is breaking down patriarchy; and analyze the rise of non-state actors such as Hizbollah and Hamas that rival central political authority.
£29.01
The American University in Cairo Press Muniras Bottle
£18.95
The American University in Cairo Press Music and Media in the Arab World
This book includes key issues of contemporary Arab society addressed through the culture of music. Since the turn of the twentieth century the dramatic rise of mass media has profoundly transformed music practices in the Arab world. Music has adapted to successive forms of media dissemination - from phonograph cylinders to MP3s - each subjected to the political and economic forces of its particular era and region. Carried by mass media, the broader culture of Arab music has been thoroughly transformed as well. Simultaneously, mass mediated music has become a powerful social force. While parallel processes have unfolded worldwide, their implications in the Arabic-speaking world have thus far received little scholarly attention. This provocative volume features sixteen new essays examining these issues, especially televised music and the controversial new genre of the music video. Perceptive voices - both emerging and established - represent a wide variety of academic disciplines. Incisive essays by Egyptian critics display the textures of public Arabic discourse to an English readership. Authors address the key issues of contemporary Arab society - gender and sexuality, Islam, class, economy, power, and nation - as refracted through the culture of mediated music. Interconnected by a web of recurrent concepts, this collection transcends music to become an important resource for the study of contemporary Arab society and culture.
£25.87
The American University in Cairo Press The Hashish Waiter
£19.21
The American University in Cairo Press Al-Kitab Al-asasi: Fi Ta'lim Al-lugha Al-'arabiya Li-ghayr Al-natiqin Biha: v. 3
This is a fully revised and expanded new edition of the favorite "Modern Standard Arabic" study series. This three-part course in Modern Standard Arabic for non-native speakers approaches the language through a series of themed topics - daily life in the Arab world, politics and governance, literature and the arts, science and medicine, astronomy - concentrates principally on listening and speaking skills. In each section, vocabulary is built up as various linguistic structures and strategies are introduced and practiced in a clear introduction to Arabic grammar. A CD accompanies Volume 1, and in addition to a full glossary of vocabulary items at the end of each volume (with meanings in both English and French), a supplementary dictionary, al-Mu'jam al-musa'id, gives a complete key to the vocabulary of all three books in four languages: English, French, German, and Spanish. Comprehensive and easily digestible, varied and informative, these books make an ideal basis for a classroom-based course in Arabic anywhere in the world.
£38.91
The American University in Cairo Press Final Night: Short Stories
Short stories from an Iraqi writerLove and death and the passage between entry into the world and exit from it are the focus of this collection of short stories. Buthaina Al Nasiri is an Iraqi author who has lived in Cairo since 1979. Despite this physical and temporal distance from her homeland, much of her material derives from it and many of the stories in this collection reflect her deeply felt nostalgia for Iraq. In contrast to many contemporary female writers, she confesses to being less interested in the position of women in society than in that of people in general and the sufferings they experience between birth and the end of life. None the less, some of her best stories depict the many-colored relationships that exist between the sexes.Buthaina Al Nasiri’s work has been widely translated into European languages, but this is the first volume of her stories to appear in English, for which renowned translator Denys Johnson-Davies has selected work from a career of short-story writing spanning some thirty years.
£13.10
The American University in Cairo Press Creating Medieval Cairo Empire Religion and Architectural Preservation in NineteenthCentury Egypt
£28.72
The American University in Cairo Press Traces: A Memoir
One of Egypt’s greatest contemporary writers, Gamal al-Ghitani (1945–2015) was born into a family of modest means in the Egyptian countryside. He trained as a carpet maker before turning his attention to writing, publishing over a dozen novels and several collections of short stories. This haunting memoir, one of seven autobiographical "notebooks" written before Ghitani’s death, weaves together a series of vignettes in a style that mimics the uneven, discontinuous nature of memory itself. These fragments, or traces, are summoned from across the span of a singular lifetime, from Ghitani’s rural birthplace in Upper Egypt to Cairo, to the Arab world and beyond. We read of his childhood adventures, his erotic awakenings, his time as a political prisoner, and his reports from the battlefront in Iraq and the corridors of power in Syria. There are vivid passages that capture fleeting glances of strangers through car windows, flavors and scents of delicacies he still savored, dreams and sorrows of neighbors in the apartment blocks of Cairo before Nasser, as well as recollections of chance conversations at points of transit, in cafés and on elegant streets, and trysts with unnamed paramours. These memories, and Ghitani’s musings on memory’s own finitude and mutability, make Traces both memoir and a meditation on memory itself, in all its inscrutable workings and inevitable betrayals.
£19.99
The American University in Cairo Press Authentic Egyptian Cooking: From the Table of Abou El Sid
Classic Egyptian favorites from one of Cairo’s leading restaurants, in a new soft cover edition Traditionally, Egyptian cooking has been best practiced and enjoyed at home, where generations of unrecorded family recipes have been the sustaining repertoire for daily meals as well as sumptuous holiday feasts. Abou El Sid, one of Cairo’s most famous restaurants, here presents more than fifty of its most classic recipes in a cookbook for the enjoyment of home cooks all over the world. Egyptians will recognize their favorites, from holiday dishes such as Fettah to the arrays of appetizers like aubergine with garlic, special lentils, and tahina; those new to Middle Eastern food will find the recipes simple and simply delicious, and enjoy the Egyptian table even if they don’t have the heritage of the pharaohs in their family backgrounds.
£13.60
The American University in Cairo Press Kallimni ‘Arabi: An Intermediate Course in Spoken Egyptian Arabic 2
Drawing on her years of experience as an Arabic instructor and course developer, Samia Louis has used a functional approach to create a bright, innovative coursebook for the study of Egyptian colloquial Arabic—the spoken dialect most frequently studied and most widely understood in the Arab world. Designed according to the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, Kallimni ‘Arabi trains students through ten highly structured lessons in the crucial skills, with particular emphasis on listening and speaking. The associated audio files carry recordings of the dialogues and exercises in each chapter, made by Egyptian native speakers.From the basics of communicating (asking directions, the language of shopping) to more advanced conversations (future plans, hobbies, and free time), Kallimni ‘Arabi is structured so that students learn Egyptian Arabic using real-life situations and expressions. The key topics covered gradually lead students to understand, use, and speak Arabic, rather than simply memorize fixed phrases. Kallimni ‘Arabi is aimed at students with some ability to read and write Arabic, who have had the equivalent of 30 hours of a beginner Colloquial Arabic class or 40 hours of a Modern Standard Arabic program.
£29.99
The American University in Cairo Press Historic Cairo: A Walk through the Islamic City
Cairo contains the greatest concentration of Islamic monuments in the world, and its mosques, mausoleums, religious schools, baths, and caravanserais, built by prominent patrons between the seventh and nineteenth centuries, are among the finest in existence. Jim Antoniou takes his readers on a guided walk through the very heart of historic Cairo, among many of its greatest architectural treasures. Illustrated throughout with the author’s own detailed maps and plans and lively sketches, the walk begins at the monumental gates in the north walls of the Fatimid city, follows the ancient thoroughfare of al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah south past Khan al-Khalili and al-Ghuriya to the Street of the Tentmakers, turns left along the famous Darb al-Ahmar of the Arabian Nights, and ends at the magnificent mosque of Sultan Hasan at the foot of the Citadel. Over ninety historic buildings along the way are identified and described, many of them open to visitors. This is an enthralling walk that everybody can enjoy, whether on foot or in an armchair.
£24.99
The American University in Cairo Press Nubian Ceremonial Life: Studies in Islamic Syncretism and Cultural Change
The building of Egypt’s High Dam in the 1960s erased innumerable historic treasures, but it also forever obliterated the ancient land of a living people, the Nubians. In 1963–64, they were removed en masse from their traditional homelands in southern Egypt and resettled elsewhere. Much of the life of old Nubia revolved around ceremonialism, and in this remarkable study, John G. Kennedy and other leading anthropologists from around the world reveal and discuss some of the most important and distinctive aspects of Nubian culture.Since its original publication, Nubian Ceremonial Life has become a standard text in the fields of anthropology and cultural psychology. In addition to basic ethnographic data, this groundbreaking study contains a number of theoretical discussions on topics of interest to students of comparative religions: the psychology of death ceremonies, the nature of ‘taboo,’ theories of circumcision rituals, and the importance of trance curing ceremonies. The book also presents information about a village of Nubians who had been resettled some thirty years earlier, thereby providing some clues regarding the possible patterns of future culture change among these recently relocated people. With a new foreword by Robert Fernea, this edition brings back into print a major work of scholarship on the unique ceremonial traditions of a changed and changing Nubian world.Contributors: Hussein M. Fahim, Armgard Grauer, Fadwa al-Guindi, Samiha al-Katsha, John G. Kennedy, and Nawal al-Messiri.
£16.99
The American University in Cairo Press Heart of the Night: A Novel
Nobel winning author, Naguib Mahfouz's late-translated novella, Heart of the Night is now available for the first time in paperbackJaafar Ibrahim Sayyed al-Rawi is guided by his motto, “let life be filled with holy madness to the last breath.” He narrates his life story to a friend during one long night in a café in old Cairo. Through a series of bad decisions, he has lost everything: his family, his position in society, and his fortune. A man driven by his passions, he married a beautiful Bedouin nomad for love, and as a consequence pays a punishingly high price. From a life of comfort with a promising future guaranteed by his wealthy grandfather, he descended to the spartan life of a pauper, after being disinherited. Jaafar faces his tribulations with surprising stoicism and hope, sustained by his strong convictions, his spirituality, his sense of mission, and his deep desire to bring social justice to his people. Heart of the Night is a classic Mahfouz gem exploring marriage across class lines, spirituality, and the harsh realities of a precarious, life written by one of Egypt's most celebrated literary masters.
£11.24
The American University in Cairo Press A Recipe for Daphne: A Novel
ELIF SHAFAK'S NEW YORK TIMES ISTANBUL READING LISTA GREAT GROUP READS SELECTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 RUNCIMAN AWARDLONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARDAt the neighborhood café where pastry chef Kosmas, charming widower Fanis, and other Rum—Greek Orthodox Christian—friends meet regularly for afternoon tea, American-born Daphne arrives with her elderly aunt. Daphne unsettles hearts, provokes jealousies, and stirs up memories of the 1955 Istanbul pogrom, forcing Kosmas and Fanis to confront their painful history in order to risk new beginnings. A shrewd and humorous tale, A Recipe for Daphne invites the reader into the kitchens, loves, and secret lives of Istanbul's most ancient community.
£15.17
The American University in Cairo Press The Pyramids New and Revised
An authoritative account by preeminent Egyptologist Miroslav Verner covering over 70 of Egypt's and Sudan's pyramids, their historical and political significance, updated in a magnificent new editionA pyramid, as the posthumous residence of a king and the place of his eternal cult, was just a single, if dominant, part of a larger complex of structures with specific religious, economic, and administrative functions. The first royal pyramid in Egypt was built at the beginning of the Third Dynasty (ca. 25922544 BC) by Horus Netjerykhet, later called Djoser, while the last pyramid was the work of Ahmose I, the first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 15391292 BC).Nearly two decades have passed since distinguished Egyptologist Miroslav Verner's seminal The Pyramids was first published. In that time, fresh explorations and new sophisticated technologies have contributed to ever more detailed and compelling discussions around Egypt's enigmatic and most celebr
£60.00
The American University in Cairo Press The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians 1: Surgery, Gynecology, Obstetrics, and Pediatrics
Ancient Egyptian medicine employed advanced surgical practices, while the prevention and treatment of diseases relied mostly on natural remedies and magical incantations. In the first of three volumes, The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians explores these two different aspects, using textual sources and physical evidence to cast light on the state of ancient medical knowledge and practice and the hardships of everyday life experienced by the inhabitants of the land on the Nile. The first part of the book focuses on ancient Egyptian surgery, drawing mainly on cases described in the Edwin Smith papyrus, which details a number of injuries listed by type and severity. These demonstrate the rational approach employed by ancient physicians in the treatment of injured patients. Additional surgical cases are drawn from the Ebers papyrus. The chapters that follow cover gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatric cases, with translations from the Kahun gynecological papyrus and other medical texts, illustrating a wide range of ailments that women and young children suffered in antiquity, and how they were treated. Illustrated with more than sixty photographs and line drawings, The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians is highly recommended reading for scholars of ancient Egyptian medicine and magic, as well as for paleopathologists, medical historians, and physical anthropologists.
£29.99
The American University in Cairo Press Abu Simbel: A Short Guide to the Temples
The three-thousand-year-old rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel and the story of their rescue from the rising waters of Lake Nasser in the 1960s are almost as familiar worldwide as the tale of the gold funerary mask and brief life of the boy king Tutankhamun. Yet although they are among the most celebrated, visited, and photographed archaeological sites in the world, the two temples are among the least understood by the visitor. In this lucidly written, beautifully illustrated guide, Nigel Fletcher-Jones explains the main features of both temples, discusses what they teach us about ancient Egypt during the reign of Rameses II (1265–1200 BC), and illustrates which gods and goddesses were worshipped here. With over 50 new photographs, drawings, and diagrams, and packed with fascinating insights, Abu Simbel: A Short Guide to the Temples is an indispensable companion and souvenir to one of the world’s great archaeological sites.
£11.24
The American University in Cairo Press Missions Impossible
A rigorous examination of higher education policymaking in the Arab worldNone of the momentous challenges Arab universities face is unique either in kind or degree. Other societies exhibit some of the same pathologiesinsufficient resources, high drop-out rates, feeble contributions to research and development, inappropriate skill formation for existing job markets, weak research incentive structures, weak institutional autonomy, and co-optation into the political order. But, it may be that the concentration of these pathologies and their depth is what sets the Arab world apart. Missions Impossible seeks to explain the process of policymaking in higher education in the Arab world, a process that is shaped by the region's politics of autocratic rule. Higher education in the Arab world is directly linked to crises in economic growth, social inequality and, as a result, regime survival. If unsuccessful, higher education could be the catalyst
£60.00
The American University in Cairo Press Migrant Dreams: Egyptian Workers in the Gulf States
A vivid ethnography of Egyptian migrants to the Arab Gulf states, Migrant Dreams is about the imagination which migration thrives on, and the hopes and ambitions generated by the repeated experience of leaving and returning home. What kind of dreams for a good or better life drives labor migrants? What does being a migrant worker do to one’s hopes and ambitions? How does the experience of migration to the Gulf, with its attendant economic and legal precarities, shape migrants’ particular dreams of a better life? What do those dreams—be they realistic and productive, or fantastic and unlikely—do to the social worlds of the people who pursue them, and to their families and communities back home upon their return? Based on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork and conversations with Egyptian men from mostly low-income rural backgrounds who migrated as workers to the Gulf, returned home, and migrated again over a period of about a decade, this fine-grained study explores and engages with these questions and more, as the men reflect on their strivings and the dreams they hope to fulfill. Throughout the book, Samuli Schielke highlights the story of one man, Tawfiq, who is particularly gifted at analyzing his own situation and struggles, resulting in a richly nuanced account that will appeal not only to Middle East scholars, but to anyone interested in the lived lives of labor migrants and what their experiences ultimately mean to them.
£16.99
The American University in Cairo Press Zikrayat: Eight Jewish Women Remember Egypt
Between 1948 and 1957, a period that witnessed two wars between Egypt and Israel, 60,000 members of Egypt’s 75,000-strong Jewish population left the country, compelled by growing hostility to them because of their presumed links to Zionism, economic insecurity, and after 1956, overt expulsion. Decades later, during the 1980s and 1990s, the personal reminiscences of eight Egyptian Jewish women, presently residents of New York who had left Egypt, were meticulously collected by Nayra Atiya. While Atiya’s sample of eight narrators represents only a tiny percentage of the Jews who left Egypt, their accounts tell us much about the middle- and upper-class Jews who migrated to the Americas and Europe, giving us a vivid sense of their lives in Egypt before their departure and the dynamic role they played in Egyptian society. They were the children or grandchildren of generations of Jews who migrated to Egypt from around or near the Mediterranean to escape economic hardship and persecution or, in one case, a family conflict. With one exception, Atiya’s interlocutors resided in relatively upscale neighborhoods in Egypt near other Jewish families. They lived in elegant apartments, with servants, fine foods, memberships in elite clubs, and summers spent near Alexandria or in Europe. In Zikrayat, Atiya movingly captures the essence of these women’s characters and experiences, the fabric of their day-to-day lives, and the complex, many-layered mood of those times in Egypt. In doing so she brings to life the ties that bind all Egyptians, offering a glimpse into a now vanished world—and the heartbreak of exile and migration.
£15.17
The American University in Cairo Press Abu Simbel Chinese Edition: A Short Guide to the Temples
The three-thousand-year-old rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel and the story of their rescue from the rising waters of Lake Nasser in the 1960s are almost as familiar worldwide as the tale of the gold funerary mask and brief life of the boy king Tutankhamun. Yet although they are among the most celebrated, visited, and photographed archaeological sites in the world, the two temples are among the least understood by the visitor. In this lucidly written, beautifully illustrated guide, Nigel Fletcher-Jones explains the main features of both temples, discusses what they teach us about ancient Egypt during the reign of Rameses II (1265–1200 BC), and illustrates which gods and goddesses were worshipped here. With over 80 new photographs, drawings, and diagrams, and packed with fascinating insights, The Brief Guide to Abu Simbel is an indispensable companion and souvenir to one of the world’s great archaeological sites.
£11.24
The American University in Cairo Press Cairo Swan Song: A Novel
In the shadows of great wealth, and among Cairo’s famous monuments, runs a world of street children. Mustafa, a former student radical who never really believed in the slogans, sets out to tell their story through a documentary he is making with his American girlfriend, Marcia. Alienated from a corrupt and corrupting society, Mustafa watches as the Cairo he cherishes crumbles around him. His former leftist comrades are now all either capitalists or Islamists, while his friends and acquaintances struggle to find lovers worthy of their love and causes worthy of their sacrifice, in a country that no longer deserves their loyalty. Meanwhile, the children of the streets wait for the city to take notice. Cairo Swan Song weaves together a patchwork narrative of overlapping lives, dreams, and realities all centering on Cairo’s famous downtown neighborhood.
£12.82
The American University in Cairo Press The Egyptian Assassin: A Novel
A lifetime ago, Fakhreddin had been an idealistic young lawyer, seeking to fight corruption from his modest quarter of Cairo. Then, a botched attempt on his life forced him to flee the country, propelling him on a wild journey that would lead to Afghanistan’s jihadi training camps. He was transformed into a trained killer, and never once lost sight of his goal: revenge. But did he lose sight of the only person that really mattered to him, his son, Omar? At the very core of Fakhreddin’s bold, nail-biting exploits are his broken family, and broken heart, and his search for redemption and a way home.
£11.24
The American University in Cairo Press All That I Want to Forget
Fatima loves poetry and wants to study French literature—both of which are anathema to her strict and conservative much older brother, Saqr. While living under his roof, Fatima’s hopes and dreams are scrutinized, mocked, and slowly crushed as she is forced into his narrow vision of the right path. Then Fatima meets Isam, a poet like her; they email love letters to each other and meet in secret. Saqr, however, has other ideas: she is married off to Faris, a complete stranger. He is not the cruel tyrant her brother was, but still she did not choose him. Will she escape her past to live the life of love and poetry she craves?
£12.02
The American University in Cairo Press Truths and Lies in the Middle East: Memoirs of a Veteran Journalist, 1952–2012
Eric Rouleau was one of the most celebrated journalists of his generation, a status he owed to his extraordinary career, which began when Hubert Beuve-Méry, director of Le Monde, charged him with covering the Near and Middle East. In 1963, Rouleau was invited by Gamal Abd al-Nasser to interview him in Cairo, a move which was not lost on the young Rouleau—going through him, a young Egyptian Jew who had been exiled from Egypt in late 1951, shortly before the Free Officers coup, was a means to renew diplomatic ties with de Gaulle’s France. This exclusive interview, which immediately made headlines around the world, propelled Rouleau into the center of the region’s conflicts for two decades. Writing between Cairo and Jerusalem, Rouleau was a chief witness to the wars of 1967 and 1973, narrating their events from behind the scenes. He was to meet all the major players, including Nasser, Levi Ashkol, Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon, and Anwar Sadat, painting striking portraits of each. More than a memoir, his book presents a history, lived from the inside, of the Israel–Palestine conflict.
£24.99
The American University in Cairo Press 20 Egyptian Songs to Learn: An Easy Way to Learn Egyptian Arabic
Songs are a great way to learn a language, and popular songs can reveal much about the culture and traditions of a country where the language is spoken. 20 Egyptian Songs to Learn and Sing brings together twenty songs performed by popular Egyptian singers, from iconic twentieth-century diva Umm Kulthum to present-day singing sensation Amr Diab. Following on the success of Kilma Hilwa: Egyptian Arabic through Popular Songs: Intermediate Level and Musiqa al-Kalimat: Modern Standard Arabic through Popular Songs: Intermediate to Advanced (AUC Press, 2015 and 2017), Bahaa Ed-Din Ossama and Tessa Grafen build a lively variety of language lessons around each song, accompanying them with notes on vocabulary, grammar and usage, and exercises. Aimed at beginner learners of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic and fans of Arab popular music, 20 Egyptian Songs to Learn and Sing is a motivational and highly enjoyable approach to learning Egyptian Arabic. Suitable for use in the classroom or for self-study. Includes songs by: Dina El Wedidi, Amr Diab, Sayed Darwish, Shadia, Mohamed Monir, Umm Kulthum, Suad Hosni, Nancy Agram, Dalida, and Rema Kheshesh
£22.50
The American University in Cairo Press Egypt Inside Out
The drama of history and the confluence of geography and climate have made Egypt one of the most sought-after travel destinations in the world. But what is that elusive something that makes it unlike anywhere else on earth? In Egypt Inside Out, Trevor Naylor and Doriana Dimitrova escape the crowds and clamor to take us a on a lyrical exploration of place, bringing us the country in all its captivating regional diversity: the wistfulness of Alexandria, the serenity of Aswan, the energy of Cairo, the lushness of Fayoum, the magic of Siwa, the haunting purity of river and desert. Photographing villages, towns, and cities from the cool, intimate interiors of hotels and homes, and from on board boats, taxis, and trains, they transport us to Egypt’s hideaways and dappled shadows, its groves and temples, dazzling colors and sublime light, and the vast splendor of its landscapes and monumental architecture. Written by an author who has known Egypt for more than thirty years, and illustrated with beautifully observed photographs, Egypt Inside Out is a unique journey through the ever-present allure of an extraordinary country.
£29.99
The American University in Cairo Press Abdelhalim Ibrahim Abdelhalim: An Architecture of Collective Memory
Since 1945, the globalization of education and the professionalization of architects and engineers, as well as the conceptualization and production of space, can be seen as a product of battles of legitimacy that were played out in the context of the Cold War and what came after. In this book James Steele provides an informative and compelling analysis of one of Egypt’s foremost contemporary architects, Abdelhalim Ibrahim Abdelhalim, and his work during a period of Egypt’s attempts at constructing an identity and cultural legitimacy within the post–Second World War world order. Born in 1941 in the small town of Sornaga just south of Cairo, Abdelhalim received his architectural training in Egypt and the United States, and is the designer of over one hundred cultural, institutional, and rehabilitation projects, including the Cultural Park for Children in Cairo, the American University in Cairo campus in New Cairo, the Egyptian Embassy in Amman, and the Uthman Ibn Affan Mosque in Qatar. The first comprehensive study of the work and career of Abdelhalim and his office, the Community Design Collaborative (CDC), which he established in Cairo in 1978, Abdelhalim Ibrahim Abdelhalim: An Architecture of Collective Memory is inspired by Abdelhalim’s deep belief in the power of rituals as a guiding force behind various human behaviors and the spaces in which they are enacted and designed to play out. Each chapter is consequently dedicated to one of these rituals and the ways in which some of Abdelhalim’s primary commissions have, at all levels of scale, revealed and expressed that ritual. In the sequence presented these are: the rituals of possession, reverence, order, the transmission of knowledge, procession, human institutions, geometry, light, the sense of place, materiality, and finally, the ritual of color.
£45.00
The American University in Cairo Press The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor
Aspiring photographer Dunya Noor discovers early on that her curious spirit, rebellious nature, and very curly hair are a recipe for disaster in 1980s Syria. And at the tender age of thirteen, she is exiled to live with her grandparents in England. Many years later in London, she meets Hilal, the son of a humble tailor from Aleppo and no match for Dunya, daughter of the great heart surgeon Joseph Noor. But, dreamy, restless Dunya falls in love with Hilal and they decide to return to Syria together, embarking on a journey that will change them both forever. Rana Haddad’s vivid and satirical debut novel captures the essence of life under the Assad dictatorship, in all its rigid absurdity. With humor and an unexpected playfulness, this is a story of love and light against the forces of conservativism and oppression.
£11.24
The American University in Cairo Press Tutankhamun: In My Own Hieroglyphs
Tutankhamun: In My Own Hieroglyphs tells the story, for older children, of the life and afterlife of the famous young pharaoh in his own words. Tutankhamun tells us about the trouble he got into as a child in Akhenaten’s palace in the new city of Akhetaten, and how he became a boy pharaoh. As we learn, his life changed a lot when he died as a teenager, and long years of boredom started in his tomb with only his pet monkey Fingers and his treasure for company. He did meet some of the Egyptian gods, of course, and had fun scaring off tomb robbers, but it was mostly rather dull. Then one day, some new and strange people, including a Mr. Howard Carter, arrived and began to take all the treasures out of his royal tomb. Fortunately, through the eyes of his beautiful golden mask, Tutankhamun, could have fun again traveling around the world.
£12.82
The American University in Cairo Press Tutankhamun: An Artist's Coloring Book
Embark on a colorful journey to reveal the hidden treasures of the famous ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamun! Explore the extraordinary decorations of his elaborate tomb, spectacular funerary mask, ornate throne, dazzling jewelry, and more as you color the intricate artwork, revealing insights into the young king's life. Make Tutankhamun your own! Embellish and add your personal touch to the black-and-white line drawings to transform them into a unique colorful artwork, to frame and display in your home. Use your imagination to color, or follow the coloring tips and suggestions accompanying each art panel, including techniques for adding texture, shading, and depth. Appealing to all ages, ideal for adults to unwind and relax, and fun to share with the whole family.
£8.49
The American University in Cairo Press Cigarette Number Seven
Nadia, now a young woman, looks back on her childhood from an uncertain present. Short, succinct chapters slowly draw us into her world: from the ordinary day to day of quiet hours spent cooking with her grandmother, to the men she has loved, and lost, to her complicated relationship with her absent father, and to her cautious participation in the Egyptian 'revolution.' Against this backdrop of both intensely personal and profoundly public life, we get to know Nadia over three decades. Stunning in its simplicity, Cigarette Number Seven is a deeply intimate novel about family and relationships in turbulent times.
£11.24
The American University in Cairo Press Menorahs and Minarets: A Novel
In the third part of Kamal Ruhayyim's trilogy, Galal, the son of a mixed Jewish/Muslim family returns to Egypt after ten years in Paris. What he finds is a society in flux, yet still stifled by convention. As his sense of alienation increases, Galal searches for a way to put down roots in a society where he feels he no longer truly belongs, as he struggles with his confused relationships with his extended family: Jewish cosmopolitan businessmen on one side and Muslim rural farmers on the other. Ruhayyim paints an uncompromising portrait of the rigid traditions, passed on from generation to generation, that reach into the most intimate areas of peoples' lives, as family elders curb or otherwise circumscribe how the younger generation lives and loves.
£11.24
The American University in Cairo Press Otared: A Novel
Ahmed Otared is a Cairene police officer and trained sniper. When the country is invaded and occupied by a force of foreign mercenaries he joins the underground resistance, embarking a new bloodthirsty career.As the violence he encounters and participates in intensifies, a terrifying reality, bubbling below surface of `normal’ life, is revealed to him, and he finds himself a fantasia of torture and torment, a hellscape from which there is no deliverance.This unflinching and grisly tale is made vivid through Mohammed Rabie’s brutally beautiful writing.
£11.24