Customer Reviews

Cairo's Street Stories: Exploring the City's Statues, Squares, Bridges, Garden, and Sidewalk Cafes

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For most residents and visitors to Cairo, its streets are a thing to be endured rather than enjoyed. Forgotten amidst the traffic, noise, pollution, and bustle are the statues, streets, and stories that are the focus of Lababidi's unique book. It's well-illustrated, and well-organized, with chapters following the chronology of the city's history, and biographies of the political and cultural figures that are the subjects of the statues. The format of the book is not quite right -- too small for a coffee-table book, too large for a guidebook. The few maps are also inadequate. This is an essential book for anyone interested in the "real" Cairo and modern Egypt, which should fit into the growing body of works on Cairo's cultural and historical geography, between works by Max Rodenbeck, Samir Raafat, Diane Singerman, and others.