A well-written, beautifully produced piece of ancient history.
A fresh history of King Tut and his world, generously illustrated and lucidly written.
The ancient Egyptian obsession with burying important people in elaborate tombs has rewarded archaeologists with more Egyptian artifacts than those found for all other ancient civilizations combined. British journalist Wilkinson, author of many books on this subject, including A World Beneath the Sands, builds this expert history on items recovered from Tutankhamun’s tomb, which, only lightly looted, contained more than 5,000 well-preserved objects and drawings, making it “the greatest archaeological discovery of all time.” Following tradition in the genre, the author includes a history of Egyptology, initially a sophisticated form of looting in which European antiquarians snapped up objects for their collections. By the 19th century, scholars had solidified the study of ancient Egypt, and the establishment of the Antiquities Service (by the British, who ruled Egypt) produced a steady stream of discoveries, capped by the bombshell of Howard Carter’s 1922 opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Wilkinson writes that the early rulers of the Nile Valley were the first humans to exercise authority over a geographically extensive state, beginning around 3000 B.C.E. The pharaonic government endured unchanged—though often challenged—for three millennia until Cleopatra surrendered to Rome in 31 B.C.E. It remains the longest-lived nation in history; as the author notes, “a greater span of time separated the Great Pyramid from Cleopatra than separates her from our own age.” Even better, artifacts include innumerable written documents because papyrus preserves better than paper. Uniquely blessed with material, scholars have had no trouble filling multivolume tomes on ancient Egypt, but readers will have no regrets at the end of this one. Beginning not with “prehistoric” but “predynastic” people who settled in the river valley, he moves smoothly through the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, inevitably emphasizing religion but not ignoring politics and war as well as the surprisingly well-documented daily lives of the people. The book includes 50 black-and-white photos and 16 pages of color.
A well-written, beautifully produced piece of ancient history.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-393-53170-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A tender celebration of life’s gifts.
Small wonders.
Illustrator and children’s book author Kalman gathers her memories of happy moments, rendering them in prose and four-color paintings meant to dispel gloom, troubles, sadness, and despair. Gleaned from instances of quiet contemplation; walks in New York, where she lives; and her travels around the world—including Paris, India, and Kyoto—she recalls colors and sounds, people and vistas, objects old and new that have brightened her days. “What solace might you find,” she asks, “if you turned your gaze to a thing of beauty.” That gaze might fall on a vase of flowers, or on the flowers growing outdoors on a summer’s day, when birds are singing and a warm breeze blows over a family dining al fresco. She recalls a Sunday afternoon in Paris when her gaze fell on a park filled with couples strolling and children playing. Elsewhere, in another park, she is uplifted by noticing a particular tree: “Isn’t gazing at a tree just insanely wonderful?” Equally wonderful is seeing an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, taking a photograph of a man in a porkpie hat, or watching an “utterly terrific” woman apply red lipstick in a Paris cafe. She listens to music, concluding that music is needed the worse things get. Books, too, serve as guides and anchors: “If it weren’t for books and libraries,” she asks, “wouldn’t we wander around with no idea of what is going on?” She feels certain that even depressives such as Virginia Woolf and Franz Kafka must have had experiences joyful enough to distract them from their sorrows—“one sublime instant, one sublime, fleeing instant” that “changes everything, and makes the world right.”
A tender celebration of life’s gifts.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9780063447455
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Harper Influence/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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