Mursi Saad El-Din I am a great believer in the importance of history as an integral part on any school curriculum. I am also an avid reader of history books, not only about Egypt but about other countries as well. This is why I followed with interest the books that came out after the collapse of the Soviet Union and what happened to all those other countries that used to move in its orbit. That period witnessed history as a nationalist right and not an ideological gimmick. Ex communist countries began to remember their own past, especially before the adoption of communism. Thus we learnt how Poland and Czechoslovakia had enjoyed a true democratic system before they adopted communism. These thoughts filled my mind after reading an article in the London Daily Telegraph with the title "Pupils will learn our island story." This sentence was uttered by Simon Schama, author of a number of books including a three-volume book on the history of Britain. According to the article, written by the education editor of the newspaper, "British history will be placed at the heart of the back-to-basics national curriculum, under the coalition plan to free children from the house of ignorance." Schama will advise the government to make sure all pupils learn Britain's "island story" before leaving school. There will also be an initiative to re-establish great writers, including Byron, Keats, Austen, Dickens and Hardy in English lessons. How I wish that our school curriculum should include studies of our writers, not just the poets Shawki and Hafez, but other great writers. Commenting on this the British Minister of Education said, "a major overhaul of the syllabus was needed because education had been undermined by left-wing ideologues who believed schools shouldn't be doing something so old-fashioned as passing on knowledge, requiring children to work hard, or immersing them in anything like dates in history." The minister went on to say that history lessons for many children consisted of nothing more than a cursory run through Henry the VIII and Hitler. Winston Churchill had been removed altogether from lessons for 11 to 13 year olds. He then goes on, "The current approach we have to history denies children to hear our island story. This trashing of our past should stop." There is no doubt that our history seems to be subject to "trashing", too. "A return to coherent, gripping history is not a step backwards," says Schama. "It represents a moment of cultural and educational re-discovery." This brings me to a book published recently by the AUC Press which I regard as representing just such cultural and educational re-discovery. The book's title is Egypt 1250 BNC : A Traveller's Companion. It is a book of history but with an original approach. The writer Donald P Ryan is treating his readers as tourists on a visit to Egypt in 1250 BC. The book reminds me of an old BBC programme which was called I was there. In that programme the presenter would comment on historical events as if commenting on a football match, giving the impression that he was actually watching the event as it happened. And this is what this fascinating book does. We are being taken on a tour of Egypt by a specialist guide. "So you're thinking about visiting Egypt?" starts the book. "You may have heard rumours the culture is confounding, the language is perplexing, the local people are suspicious of foreigners, egocentric pharaoh rules the land. All these things are true. The Egyptians see themselves as the centre of the universe and consider their ruler to be a living god on earth." After that introduction the author-guide takes us step by step into the Egypt of 1250 BC. He starts with preparation for the journey, the practical needs, the means of reaching the country, then the visits to the different landmarks, and a special section about Egyptian homes, family life, education, love and marriage, working for a living and fun and games.
