Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization

This provocative book presents a broad examination of Ancient Egyptian society, based on archaeological evidence of available information and material. The author surveys the influence of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Carefully researched, and written in a comprehensible manner, this is a most recommended book for all students and scholars.

Simply put, this is the best book on Ancient Egypt I have ever read. It's also the kind of volume one can only produce after years of careful study and thought. Over the last two decades, as he conducted extensive excavations at Akhetaten's ancient city of Amarna, Kemp has achieved an extraordinary depth of knowledge about Egyptian culture. Among other issues, his thematic investivation ("anatomy" is exactly the right word), examines the founding of the state, the bureaucratic mind, and the use of propaganda. Throughout, the author employs abundant visual evidence to support and illustrate his ideas. He also carefully connects this "other" world to our own, repeatedly demonstrating that we are far more closely related than we might like to admit. This is an ambitious book. As he notes in the introduction, Kemp's real goal is to reveal "basic aspects of human thought and organization." That he is so successful, is in large part due to the author's extraordinary ability to clarify the most complex ideas in lucid, engaging prose.