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In the House of Muhammad Ali: A Family Album, 1805-1952
 
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In the House of Muhammad Ali: A Family Album, 1805-1952 [Hardcover]

Hassan Hassan (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 1, 2000
This remarkable memoir of a junior member of the former royal family constitutes a unique chronicle of life before 1952 among the members of Egypt's ruling class. It provides fascinating insights into the lives not only of the rulers themselves, from Muhammad Ali to King Fuad and King Farouk, but also of royal wives, cousins, aunts, uncles, and associated personalities.
In the House of Muhammad Ali is a personal memoir from the inside; it is thus an important document for future scholars. But the book will delight the general reader every bit as much as the historian. It is a charming and evocative account of a time and a social class that no longer exist, written in the author's inimitable style - a style that reads almost like a conversation: "She emanated a gentle quietude which was like a screen between one and the exterior world. A dim sort of luminosity seemed to surround her, as if she lived in a gray, limbo world of her own - also conveyed perhaps by the fact that she had very poor and limited eyesight."
Prince Hassan's gift for characterization is matched by an extraordinary eye for detail. His descriptions of houses, palaces, and gardens - many of them no longer in existence - are at the same time precise and evocative. The book thus also makes an important contribution to the history of Cairene urban geography.
But most valuable of all, perhaps, are the illustrations. Some seventy-five photographs, most of them never published before, have a poignancy that readily leads the viewer into the world they depict. The people in them are clearly defined, richly varied, and above all interesting. At least of equal value are the pictures of palaces, gardens, and riverfront that document aspects of Cairo that vanished long ago. The experience of reading this memoir is akin to discovering a lost generation.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author


Hassan Hassan, a great-grandson of Khedive Ismail, was born in 1924 and lived in Cairo. He died shortly before his book was published.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 160 pages
  • Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press (October 1, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9774245547
  • ISBN-13: 978-9774245541
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,127,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars New Perspective, January 23, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: In the House of Muhammad Ali: A Family Album, 1805-1952 (Hardcover)
Published soon after Prince Hassan's death, this entertaining collection of personal memories and family reminisces gives shape to an often misunderstood and much maligned period of Egyptian history and its ruling family.

Told in a chatty, familiar - almost gossipy - style with plenty of black and white photographs, this work provides insight into a past of privilege that survives today in the memory of a select few. Suprisingly, little information is available about a royal familty that was once counted among the wealthiest in the world.

It is the trend in current Egyptian literature to shun recording anything remotely positive about the Muhammed Ali family. However, their accomplishments and failures did help to shape this ancient country that still struggles for its own identity today. It is an important - informal - look at a period in history through a different perspective.

A note to potential travelers to Egypt. With patience, one can still visit some of the royal palaces Prince Hassan mentions, although in a neglected state or converted into modern hotels.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars History of pre-1952 modern Egypt from a different viewpoint, December 28, 2008
This review is from: In the House of Muhammad Ali: A Family Album, 1805-1952 (Hardcover)
Prince Hassan Aziz Hassan (1923--2000) was the grandnephew of King Farouk's father (his grandmother was King Fuad's youngest sister). After the military coup that deposed the 150 year old Egyptian monarchy, almost all ex-royals chose to leave the country. Prince Hassan was amongst the very few who chose to stay, and after his elder brother Ismail commited suicide in 1961 (out of despair at what became of his living conditions), Prince Hassan became the eldest male descendent of Muhammad Ali who still lived in Egypt.

The book is a very subtle and poetic description of the lives of the Egyptian royals pre-1952, with particular emphasis on the art and architecture of their dwellings. Prince Hassan was a noted painter (whose work was banned from public exhibitions by the Egyptian government) and that shows in his strikingly subtle, almost Proustian prose.

You will not find any gossip in this book and hardly any references to a life that was full of hardships (his father died when he was 1 year old and he was taken away from his Spanish mother at the age of 8 since, as a foreigner, she was deemed unqualified to raise an Egyptian prince).

Prince Hassan was a very special man. Search for his obituaries on the web.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Perspective, October 23, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: In the House of Muhammad Ali: A Family Album, 1805-1952 (Hardcover)
Published soon after Prince Hassan’s death, this entertaining collection of personal memories and family reminisces gives shape to an often misunderstood and much maligned period of Egyptian history and its ruling family.

Told in a chatty, familiar - almost gossipy - style with plenty of black and white photographs, this work provides insight into a past of privilege that survives today in the memory of a select few. Surprisingly little information is available about a royal family that was counted among the wealthiest in the world.

It is the trend for current Egyptian literature to shun recording anything remotely positive about the Muhammad Ali family. However, their accomplishments and failures did help to shape this ancient country that still struggles for its own identity today. It is an important look at a period in history through a different perspective.

A note to potential travelers to Egypt. With patience, one can still visit some of the royal palaces, in a neglected state open to tourists, or a few good hotels.

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