A History of Egypt

Back when I first read Breasted's history it was already 60 years old. I was 14 and much enamored of this ancient culture that I knew mostly from horror movies and eerie museum displays. Cruising the library shelves I found this ponderous volume and dived into it. Starting a lifelong habit of always picking the heaviest book. Of course, the book was out of date then, and today it is more a document of the turn of the century mythology about ancient Egypt than it is anything that qualifies as 'history.'And yet, in many ways it entirely changed the world of a fourteen year old child - whose horizons were suddenly broadened in a multitude of directions. Breasted bridges the gap between tedious academic history and popular and simpleminded glosses. He is always conscious that the facts he narrates are a telescopic look into a culture almost completely alien from what we are today. His simple, direct style has brought the old world alive for the curious for almost a century now. If his thinking seems a bit naïve now, it is important to understand that there has been a wealth of discovery in the intervening years. And this book was one of the inspirations that fueled that pursuit of knowledge, drawing people's attention to the mysterious past, and inspiring countless readers to look further. Look elsewhere for accurate material, but come here to see ithe excitement in the archeologist's mind.

Both vols 1 & 2 of this long out-of-print classic belong on the reference shelves of any aspiring Egyptologist or ANE historian. And if the reader is truly serious, the companion Ancient Records of Egypt, vols 1-5 belong there as well. Breasted refers to these coyly as a 'dictionary'. They represent a completely new translation (ab ovo) of all memorials, et al extant at the time of the original publication - 1909 - and are referred to throughout the main history.This history, though dated, is a much better read than the more recent and stuffy work by Grimal (a sure cure for insomnia).Breasted is able to switch from a wonderful flow of descriptive narrative when giving a synopsis of The Land to a more scholarly mode without dropping a beat.Don't buy this book for the illustrations - being an off-print, they've suffered in the process but there are better places to find these anyway. The Oriental Institute Archives come to mind.This is the seminal work on AE history despite its age - the historical vade mecum for the AE buff.

James Henry Breasted, is the founder of american egyptology. I use the 1954 print of this book as a reference book. James Henry Breasted has opened the door to Egypts past for all to have a glance at the world as it was thousands of years ago. This book is a must have if you want to study ancient Egypt.

While his translations are slightly dated because of new linguistic discoveries, there is still no other work that can compare to James Breasted's monumental "History of Ancient Egypt." It is an indispensable work for novice and expert alike. There are many epigones to this book, but not many are equal to it. It is stylish in manner, which captivates the reader's interest and holds it through many, many pages - no little feat! I would highly recommend this book to any one wishing to discover ancient Egyptian culture, whether your studies are inchoate or advanced. It is marvellous!

Breasted's account of the history, culture, and religion of ancient Egypt stands, to this day, as a rare example of scientific writing that is also tremenduously entertaining to read. Never dry, this book is lively, vividly evoking images of the subjects described. Though research into ancient Egypt in the decades since this book was originally written has made many important discoveries, the essential value of this book, its capability to enlighten the reader on one of the great cultures of human civilization, has not diminished. As a writer, Breasted might have excelled at almost any genre of literature he might have selected. His work as a serious historian allowed him to use his skill as a writer to make otherwise perhaps esoteric material available to a broad range of readers, asking not much more from the reader than the capability to simply enjoy a good book.