I picked up this book looking to dive into an overview of the history of Ancient Egypt, and Wilkinson largely delivered. I closed the book having gained a deep appreciation for the unmatched longevity of Ancient Egypt’s traditions and its enduring influence on humanity. While any reader will know that the story ends with the fall of pharaonic civilization, I still found the later chapters’ chronicling of internal divisions and external domination, the pilfering of its glorious monuments and royal tombs, and the ultimate loss of sovereignty with the death of Cleopatra VII heartbreaking. Wilkinson succeeded in making me fall in love with this civilization and mourn its slow passing.
However, this book is not without its faults. Mostly, my criticisms are pointed at Wilkinson’s dry writing style, lack of emphasis, and unnecessary editorializing. Wilkinson’s impulse to constantly remind the reader that life in Ancient Egypt was oppressive, his need to wag his finger at Egypt’s autocratic political system at least once per chapter, and his snarky analogizing to modern political and cultural mores are frankly annoying. I also came out of reading The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information contained in roughly 500 pages. Covering 3,000 years of ancient history is no easy task, and as with all pre-modern history, it is very challenging for any author to craft a compelling and relatable narrative out of historical fragments. This book suffers from this problem and Wilkinson does very little to emphasize certain historical chapters over others in terms of their ultimate significance to the totality of Egyptian history and its legacy. I wish Wilkinson had slow down at key points and given the reader time to really feel immersed in this world. I have read other books, listened to podcasts, and watched documentaries on Djoser and Khufu’s pyramid building projects, Akhenaten’s revolution, and Alexander’s conquest, and Wilkinson really did these compelling tales a disservice by stripping them of narrative hooks and rushing through them to get to the next event.
Overall, I think this book is a tough cover-to-cover read for the uninitiated, but is a good jumping-off point for anyone who may be interested in Ancient Egypt and is looking for an entry point from which to look for other material that covers specific events and periods with more richness and depth. I would not read this entire book again, but it is definitely worth keeping on my shelf for quick reference if I have questions about particular parts of the Ancient Egyptian timeline.
The Once and Future Lit 