Napoleon's Egypt
Invading the Middle East

Quotes

“Most books on the expedition focus on the outsize characters of Napoleon and his staff…[Cole] mostly ignores these larger-than-life characters to present the invasion and occupation through Egyptian eyes.” New York Times

“[A] well-researched contribution to Middle Eastern history.” Publishers Weekly

“The substance of the book is the encounter between cultures…An engaging and provocative book.” Library Journal

“Historian Cole, effectively utilizing diaries and letters of contemporaries on both sides, illustrates the confusion, hostilities, and necessary accommodations as two distinct cultures collide.” Booklist

“[A] masterful and beautifully written account…[that] includes indispensable details on the West’s contempt for Islamic peoples—so-called Orientalism—and the untold misery it has caused.” Chalmers Johnson, author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic

“A timely and entertaining look at a previous Middle Eastern misadventure by one of America’s most provocative and informed scholars.” Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

“[Cole] has mined a number of rich, recently discovered memoirs and letters to bring the personal aspect of these encounters vividly to life.” The Nation

“Cole’s sources allow for a well-rounded accounting of events.” Columbus Dispatch