They Might Have Been Giants

Egypt is struggling. But the history of Misr, as is its true name. has always pendulumed between pharaonic triumphs and devastation by invaders, and its record as the world’s oldest civilization is so long that the current reign of demagogue Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
will one day be only a timeline pimple, a rounding error of rule. The Egyptians we met spoke of being in an upturn longed for after the cataclysm of the “Arab Spring” ( “a double lie: it wasn’t a spring and we are NOT “Arabs”). There is an enormous engineering project in the offing worthy of the greatest dynasties that will route the Nile to green the desert, and a world class museum for their colossal cultural legacy which we were lucky enough to visit on our last day.Read more