Ian Shaw produces interesting commentary on a variety of topics regarding that of Ancient Egypt. A majority of the book covers archaeology of Egypt, as he has much experience in the field. If you are expecting or desiring a book that instills a greater focus in a historical narrative, you’ll likely want to refrain from this purchasing this introductory book. That being said, Shaw demonstrates an incredible array of knowledge of both Ancient Egypt and Egyptian historiography in a very short amount of pages. He, like many veteran historians, are great at framing the evidence and acknowledging the subjectivity of the archaeological finds. For those of you that are reasonably familiar with Egyptian history, I believe this book will serve as a great review of what you know and even more.