In today’s Washington Post, anthropologist and Everyday Life in Global Morocco author Rachel Newcomb writes in her review titled “Everyday hardship and brutal authorities, in ancient and modern Egypt“:
It is an eclectic, beautifully written narrative that weaves a portrait of contemporary life in Egypt together with the complex strands of its pharaonic past, finding parallels between seemingly disparate ancient and modern worlds. ...Especially moving are Hessler’s tales of the people he befriended during his five years in Egypt. Their experiences offer deeper insights into both the nature of power in Egyptian society and the resilience of individuals making do with a life of electricity blackouts, economic insecurity and the arbitrary violence of the state. ...“The Buried” is an ambitious book, and it delivers on all fronts. It’s equal parts travelogue, history and memoir from a writer with a gift for conveying the profound humanity of his subjects. It should surprise no one that the citizens of a country under various forms of authoritarian rule for thousands of years would lack the training and preparation to implement a democracy when given the brief chance, but that doesn’t make it any less tragic. Hessler highlights with great poignancy the untapped human potential and the cleverness with which Egyptians navigate everyday life in the face of an often brutal authoritarian regime.
Peter Hessler‘s The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution is published by Penguin Press in North America, Profile Books in the United Kingdom, and Text Publishing in Australia and New Zealand.