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411 reviews for:
The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
Kara Cooney
3.71 AVERAGE
411 reviews for:
The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
Kara Cooney
3.71 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
informative
fast-paced
3.5
An enjoyable and informative enough read. Kara Cooney's look at Ancient Egypt (and she claims the study of ancient Egyptian history) requires some reading into what happened or speculation. Her book is full of questions of what could have happened or guesses as to what may have occurred. For those who want straight "this is 100% what happened" historical dives, then this is not for you.
I enjoyed it for what it was and the limitations posed.
An enjoyable and informative enough read. Kara Cooney's look at Ancient Egypt (and she claims the study of ancient Egyptian history) requires some reading into what happened or speculation. Her book is full of questions of what could have happened or guesses as to what may have occurred. For those who want straight "this is 100% what happened" historical dives, then this is not for you.
I enjoyed it for what it was and the limitations posed.
Last year, I stumbled on a statue of Hatshepsut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (there are several actually). I was intrigued to learn more and so was pleased to find this book. Other reviewers complained about the amount of conjecture in the book ('she might have', 'she probably'), but this did not bother me. The author makes it very clear to the reader what we know, why we know it, what we don't know, and why we don't know it. Despite this handicap, she does an admirable job of contextualizing Hatshepsut and giving life to a figure who otherwise might remain quite lost to us. Also, let's consider the decades and decades of Egyptology--the work of countless scholars--that provides the bedrock upon which the author can build this narrative. It is truly miraculous what insight these women and men can draw from a few shards of pottery, from an abandoned quarry, from the subtle distinction between one cartouche and another.
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
This book is very approachable and written relatively lightly, for what is essentially a history book, but it is a bit slow and hard to get into. I do like that the author takes the time to clarify how she combined the scant detailed information she has with supposition, and I appreciate that she doesn't weigh down the text with footnotes. The story is interesting, and the character of Hatshepsut is fascinating, but the book itself is a little dense. I may come back to it, but at the time it didn't hold my attention enough to finish.
This book was fascinating. I found it very interesting to follow Hatshepsut's gradual rise to power and the authors speculation for the possible reasons she acted the way she did. I also loved the way she wrapped the book up, with more on how her legacy was impacted by the next King. The only reason I can't give it 5 stars is that I found it a little dry an dense at times.