Your cart

Close

Total AUD

Checkout
Search
Search Clear
View All Results
  1. Books
  2. Islam Issa
  3. Alexandria: The City that Changed the World: 'Monumental' Daily Telegraph
Play Sample

Imprint

  • Sceptre
  • Sceptre
  • Sceptre

  • Runtime

    10hr 0m

Alexandria: The City that Changed the World: 'Monumental' Daily Telegraph

Islam Issa

3 Reviews

Rated 0

Prose: non-fiction, Regional & national history, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, History: specific events & topics

An original, authoritative and lively cultural history of the first modern city, from pre-Homeric times to the present day

A SUNDAY TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR

'Fascinating and important'
Natalie Haynes, author of Stone Blind

'Monumental and vividly imagined'
Daily Telegraph

'Wonderfully entertaining'
Sunday Times

'Lively and engrossing '
Literary Review

On a sparsely populated Egyptian coastline, Alexander the Great sketched his vision of a metropolis into the sand. Situated on the cusp of three continents, it became the city where Greeks and Egyptians, Romans and Jews created a global knowledge capital that changed the face of philosophy, religion and science forever.

In this sweeping biography of the great city, Islam Issa takes us on a fascinating journey across millennia. Rich in big ideas, brutal tragedies and distinctive characters, Alexandria tells the gripping story of a city that has shaped our modern world.

'A multifaceted history of an enthralling city'
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, author of Persians: The Age of the Great Kings

'A cornucopia of fascinating details, every page revealing a new delight'
Paul Strathern, author of The Medici

Read More Read Less

Praise for Alexandria: The City that Changed the World: 'Monumental' Daily Telegraph

  • 'In Islam Issa's monumental and vividly imagined new tale of the city, Alexandria comes to life . . . Issa's Alexandria arrives at 2011's Arab Spring having covered more than two millennia in just over 400 pages - no mean feat. But his real success is the book's sense of personality. It ends with Issa walking through the modern city that now stands on the ancient site, passing its markets and Art Deco cinemas. He writes about the present as vividly as the storied past. This book is a fitting tribute to a city that has survived, changed and grown for so many centuries - Daily Telegraph

  • Lively and well-researched - Times Literary Supplement

  • Islam Issa's Alexandria is a fabulous book, in every sense of that word. It is a history of the city, of its multitudinous people, of its heroes and villains, of its Library and its Pharos, down through the ages to his own family and his life growing up there. It is a cornucopia of fascinating details, every page revealing a new delight. A work of brilliant and informed scholarship, as well as being a labour of love. It is as if Islam Issa was born to write this book.

Read More Read Less

Islam Issa

Professor Islam Issa is an award-winning British-Egyptian author, broadcaster and curator, recently named by the BBC as 'one of the UK's most significant new thinkers'. He is Professor of Literature and History at Birmingham City University, has written several academic books and curated internationally renowned exhibitions. As well as contributing to the Guardian, New Statesman and Times Literary Supplement, he has presented television and radio documentaries on the BBC and featured on such outlets as Netflix.

Left
Right

Hachette Australia acknowledges and pays our respects to the past and present Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Our head office is located on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.

© Hachette Australia, All Rights Reserved · Site by Chook

Close
Loading Sorry, something's gone wrong. Please refresh the page and try again.
This website uses cookies. Using this website means you are okay with this but you can find out more and learn how to manage your cookie choices here.Close cookie policy overlay