Every great city deserves a book like this one: a sweeping chronicle by an author whose motives mix passion and bewilderment. Over the course of four and a half millennia, Cairo has eluded all who would try to pin it down, reinventing itself time and again: "It has survived countless invasions, booms and busts, famines, plagues, and calamities." Author Max Rodenbeck, a correspondent for the Economist, moved to Cairo as a 2 year old, and has spent a good portion of his professional life working there. He finds himself repulsed by the crowds and pollution of a late 20th-century megacity, yet drawn by Cairo's ageless vibrancy. Cairo: The City Victorious combines wide-ranging history and first-person travelogue in an unconventional narrative that bounces easily from the present to the past and back again. ("If the story were to loop and tangle and digress," he writes, "well, that too would be in the character of Cairo.") Immersed in Rodenbeck's prose, readers will find themselves feeling at home as they discover (or rediscover) this unique place, its pyramids, and its people.

Cairo: The City Victorious

History

RODENBECK, MAX

Ancient Civilizations

PICARD

This collection of photographs captures the sights of Egypt from the air and aims to display the concentration of life, both of the present day and of the past lives extending back to the birth of civilization. The pictures feature the great sights of Egypt including the temples and tombs of the pharoahs, the desert monasteries of the early Christians, and the mosques and capitals of caliphs and sultans, kheldives, kings and presidents. There are also images of natural wonders such as the mountains of Sinai, the Red Sea, the Nile and the desert.

Egypt from the Air

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Thames and Hudson

A dazzling cultural excavation of one of the world's greatest cities--from its ancient beginnings, through the heights of medieval splendor, to the present day--by a gifted writer who has spent much of his life in Cairo. The seat of pharaohs and sultans, the prize of conquerors from Alexander to Napoleon, Cairo has never stopped reinventing itself. Even in this century, as Max Rodenbeck shows us, the city has transformed itself yet again--from a glamorous European outpost into the nationalistic capital of the Arab world. And, most recently, we have been witness to contemporary Cairo grappling with a population explosion that strains every aspect of city life beyond capacity. From its vantage atop the plateau of Giza, the Sphinx has witnessed it all: forty- five centuries of a city evolving on the river plain below it. "The Victorious" is what Arabs call Cairo, and its indomitable spirit still merits the name. To this richly textured story Rodenbeck brings a keen eye for telling detail, gained from years of wandering Cairo's markets, chatting in its cafés, and burrowing in its dusty libraries. From the hashish dens to the salons of contemporary Cairo, Rodenbeck explores the city's stark contrasts. Ancient tombs abut skyscrapers and genteel colonial mansions, and the people, pulled between the cultural poles of Paris and Mecca, struggle with the double burden of an incomparably rich past and a challenging future. With wit and an understanding that comes from a deep-seated love of the place, Rodenbeck brings Cairo to life in all its chaotic beauty. Fusing the excitement of travel with the stimulation of history, Cairo: The City Victorious is an epic, resonant work.

Middle East

KNOPF

From a noted journalist who has spent much of his life in Cairo, here is a dazzling cultural excavation of that most ancient, colorful, and multifaceted of cities. The seat of pharaohs and sultans, the prize of conquerors from Alexander to Saladin to Napoleon, Cairo--nicknamed "the Victorious"--has never ceased reinventing herself. With intimate knowlege, humor, and affection, Rodenbeck takes us on an insider's tour of the magnificent city: its backstreets and bazaars, its belly-dance theaters and hashish dens, its crowded slums and fashionable salons, its incomparably rich past and its challenging future. Cairo: The City Victorious is a unique blend of travel and history, an epic, resonant work that brings one of the world's great metropolises to life in all its dusty, chaotic beauty.

Humor & Entertainment

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Twenty-five centuries ago Herodotus proclaimed Egypt "the Gift of the Nile." Imagine, then, the famous Greek traveler's reaction had he enjoyed the perspective available to modern visitors, and to readers of this new book: the unparalleled view from the air. Here is Egypt as it is rarely seen, in 178 remarkable color images by Guido Alberto Rossi, an Italian photographer well known for his aerial pictures. Accompanying the illustrations is a lively and informative text by Max Rodenbeck, an American writer who has lived in Egypt for more than 15 years. Together, they bring to light the heritage of a great ancient civilization - and the beauty of a modern land. Here is the valley of the Nile, no more than a few miles wide and starkly bordered by ocher deserts that stretch to the sea. It holds the vast wealth of past inhabitants, a wealth extending back to the birth of civilization. Vivid photographs reveal the temples and tombs of the pharaohs, the desert monasteries of the early Christians, the mosques and palaces of caliphs, sultans, khedives, kings, and presidents. Seen from the air, their grandeur comes fully alive; the pyramids, after all, are the sole survivors of the seven wonders of the Greek world. Beyond the valley and its man-made splendors lie unspoiled and inaccessible natural phenomena. Luminous colorplates uncover an extraordinary variety of landscapes in the endless sands, from sensuous dunes to ragged cliffs to gem-like oases. The soft light of early morning reveals the somber desert blossoming into color: the mountains of Sinai turn red, black, green, and yellow. Along the Red Sea the startling beauty of rich coral reefs stops abruptly at the barren shore. Few places are as alive in the collective imagination as Egypt. But the cacophony of modern Cairo has all but drowned ancient rhythms, and roads, factories, and oil fields have befouled the pristine desert. From the ground, among throngs of tourists and teeming millions of Egyptians, it is easy to lose sight of the past. Only when seen from the air do Egypt's mystery and magic come completely to life.

Egypt: Gift of the Nile: An Aerial Portrait

Travel

Africa

Harry N. Abrams

American University in Cairo Press

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