This is a fully revised guide to one of Egypt's most beautiful natural areas. The Fayoum, a large and exceptionally fertile depression in Egypt's Western Desert, some 90 kilometers southwest of Cairo, is a region both rich in history and outstanding in natural beauty. Its historical legacy includes temples, pyramids, and towns from the Middle Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Period, as well as churches, monasteries, and mosques from later times. Its farmland, watered by the region's landmark waterwheels, is among the most generous in Egypt, and its landscape is varied and beautiful.The large and ancient lake Qarun nestles in the north between the soft green land and the harsh but dramatic desert scarp, while two new lakes, connected by Egypt's only waterfalls, have been created in the once barren Wadi al-Rayyan to the west, bringing fishermen, farmers, and visitors to the desert. The Fayoum's wildlife unfortunately no longer includes the crocodile, which was sacred here in ancient times, but boasts swamp cats and mongooses, spoonbills and flamingos.Neil Hewison here outlines the history (and prehistory) of the Fayoum and its lakes, describes the agriculture and rural life of the region, then guides the visitor around the province site by site, never averse to taking an interesting detour along the way. Originally published in 1984, this guide to one of Egypt's most distinctive and beautiful regions quickly became regarded as a classic. The text has been thoroughly revised and updated for this new edition, including a new section on the recently declared UNESCO World Heritage Site of Wadi al-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales. The book is illustrated with color photographs and two maps.

This boxset consists of a collection of newspaper articles and earlier essays, presented in four volumes. Each volume is introduced by Professor Rasheed El-Enany (University of Exeter). Volume I compiles Mahfouz's early non-fiction writings mostly authored during the 1930s, offering a rare glimpse into the early development of the renowned author. Volume II is a collection of essays Mahfouz published from 1971 to 1981 in the Al-Ahram newspaper where he had taken up an appointment as a member of the editorial staff after retiring from his job as a civil servant. Volume III consists of newspaper articles published between 1982 and 1988, coinciding with the early years of Hosni Mubarak's presidency, described by Mahfouz as an 'unhurried democracy'. Volume IV brings together Mahfouz's articles written from 1989 and the knife attack in October 1994 that almost ended his life.