Building Modern Egypt

This handsome boxed set brings together five delightfully individual books, each beautifully illustrated with archival images and postcards, on some of Egypt’s most iconic institutions and landmarks. Included are: The Suez Canal: A History (edited by Sherif Boraie), The Egyptian Bourse (by Samir Raafat), Downtown Cairo (by Ola Seif; edited by Sherif Boraie), Egyptian Postage, 1866–1967 (preface by Samir Raafat; edited by Sherif Boraie), and Cinema Cairo: Dream Factory on the Nile (by Rasha Azab; edited by Sherif Boraie). Between them covering the period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, the books illustrate how these icons, which are deeply embedded in the life of the nation, came to shape the course of modern Egypt and to lay its foundations.