Reviews for Alabama, a Bicentennial History - Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton - Hardcover

The average rating for Alabama, a Bicentennial History - Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton - Hardcover based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-06-09 00:00:00 Keith Smallman I've always been fascinated by Egypt, the Pharohs, mummies, tombs. Going to school in Chicago, there were many field trips to the Field Museum. When we arrived, I'd run right for their Egyptology Dept. with their amazing collection of mummies. The author of this book also wrote as Elizabeth Peters, whose mystery series, I read avidly. It was hard to keep track of all the different, Pharohs, Viziers and Gods. Too much was covered, but I did learn things, though not as much as I would have liked. Learned a new word, Pyramidiots, which was used to describe the people who have woo woo theories on how the pyramids were erected and who built them. This part of the book I found fascinating. She dispels a few common myths and explains how this was actually done and why. A mixed read, parts informative, fascinating but at the same time, somewhat overwhelming.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-01-12 00:00:00 Marla Deese Adding "a popular..." to the title perfectly describes this and lets the reader know they're about to embark upon a light reading. Giving you the entirety of Ancient Egypt's imperial history and more, Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs seems to spend more time on its subtitle rather than the main. The leaders - seemingly every single one - gets a decent going-over, at least as much as can be known at this time. The history of Egypt is, after all, rather sketchy. I picked this up as supplemental research for a fantasy series I'm working on. It didn't go as deep into the Indiana Jones type of traps and snares I was hoping for, but it is quite detailed about the temples and tombs, so it wasn't a total loss by any means. Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs is not the most scholarly of works on the subject. Barbara Mertz got her degree in Egyptology back in the '50s, then spent much of her subsequent time writing mystery fiction. But again, that's a-okay for the kind of book we've got here. Mertz's offhand, cheeky tone keeps this light and enjoyable through out. It's the perfect refresher for us old folks who have forgotten much of what we learned in school.