The Buried by Peter Hessler

The first thing to say is by way of warning.  If you think that you need to be a native of a place in order to tell its story, then it wouldn't make sense for you to read this book.  Hessler, who spent over a decade in China, first as a Peace Corps volunteer and later as a journalist, is a traveler.  He is naturally curious, and his entire writing career has been about telling stories that he sees and hears through his own eyes.  This book is set within the Arab Spring, which is when he and his family arrive in Cairo, and the years that followed.  He makes connections with several families while he is there, mostly the men, because in Egypt men mix with men and women mix with women, but not much beyond that.  He sticks largely with what he sees and hears and reads rather than trying to get inside the people he writes about, which is wise.  Then juxtaposed with all of this are his visits to an archeological site in Abydos, in the desert on the western side of the Nile north of Luxor.  Here he blends in some of the stories of ancient Egypt that are lesser known, but amongst the oldest.  It serves to remind us that Egypt is and always has been a very complex place.  A very good read, especially if you are contemplating a visit there.