A journey down river from Aswan to Cairo – through time, place and history.
‘Thorough, erudite and enthusiastic’ Sunday Times
‘His take on ancient and colonial history is impeccable . . . Compelling’ Observer
‘Brilliant . . . Dexterously done and rich in detail’ Daily Telegraph

From Herodotus’s day to the present political upheavals, the steady flow of the Nile has been Egypt’s heartbeat. It has shaped its geography, controlled its economy and moulded its civilisation. The same stretch of water which conveyed Pharaonic battleships, Ptolemaic grain ships, Roman troop-carriers and Victorian steamers today continues much as it has for millennia.

At this critical juncture in the country’s history, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes us on a journey along the Nile, starting from Lake Victoria in the south and traveling north through Egypt’s storied landscapes. We pass from Cataract to Cataract, by the Aswan Dam and into the fertile delta. Egypt reveals itself as a living palimpsest, with every era leaving its mark. From the ancient Nilometer on Elephantine Island, which has measured the Nile’s floodwaters since the time of the Pharaohs to predict agricultural yields, to the towering wonders of Giza scarred by nineteenth-century archaeologists and Cairo’s relentless urban sprawl, the country’s past and present intertwine. In Egypt’s earliest art – prehistoric fish-trap carvings on cliffs – and the modern struggles of the Arab Spring fought on Cairo’s bridges, the Nile serves as our guide to understanding this unique, chaotic, vibrant, conservative and rapidly evolving land.

His take on ancient and colonial history is impeccable . . . His ancient sources are as thorough and as fascinating as any I have ever read . .. Wilkinson’s eye for significant detail, his great curiosity about and affection for his subject, justify the retelling . . . The most compelling parts are the ones where Wilkinson draws on his extensive knowledge of Egypt’s ancient past -- Anthony Sattin * Observer *
Colourful . . . Without the River Nile there would be no Egypt. That might seem like entry-level geography, but Toby Wilkinson’s achievement in his enjoyable survey of the Egyptian Nile’s key stretch from Aswan to Cairo is to illustrate the point so compellingly . . . Dexterously done and rich in detail . . . Brilliant * Sunday Telegraph *
Thorough, erudite and enthusiastic . . . Wilkinson does his best to bring the ancient Egyptians to life, and he is a great authority on the subject * Sunday Times *
I had always presumed, before I read Wilkinson's book, that it was impossible to write a history of Egypt which combined scholarship, accessibility, and a genuine sense of revelation. I was wrong -- Tom Holland * Observer *
The foremost Egyptologist of his time . . . shares his erudition with us in easy prose which never talks down to us, bringing those times and places splendidly to life -- Nicholas Bagnall * Sunday Telegraph *
The eminent Egyptologist from Cambridge University blends contemporary description with digestible doses of history and anecdote from the time of the Pharaohs to the present day. The book is made timely by a reference to recent events * Independent *

Toby Wilkinson read Egyptology at Cambridge University and has been hailed by The Daily Telegraph as 'the foremost Egyptologist of his time'. Since January 2004 he has been a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. He is a member of the international editorial board of the Journal of Egyptian History, and has broadcast on radio and television in the UK and abroad on topics connected with Egypt, ancient and modern. He is the author of seven books including The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt (2010) which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was recommended as a book of the year by critics on both sides of the Atlantic. He is currently Head of the International Strategy Office at the University of Cambridge and lives in Suffolk.