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    The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
    Unavailable
    The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
    Unavailable
    The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt

    Written by Kara Cooney

    Narrated by Kara Cooney

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    An engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power.

    Hatshepsut—the daughter of a general who usurped Egypt’s throne—was expected to bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her failure to produce a male heir, however, paved the way for her improbable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just over twenty, Hatshepsut out-maneuvered the mother of Thutmose III, the infant king, for a seat on the throne, and ascended to the rank of pharaoh.

    Shrewdly operating the levers of power to emerge as Egypt’s second female pharaoh, Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays in the veil of piety and sexual reinvention. She successfully negotiated a path from the royal nursery to the very pinnacle of authority, and her reign saw one of Ancient Egypt’s most prolific building periods.

    Constructing a rich narrative history using the artifacts that remain, noted Egyptologist Kara Cooney offers a remarkable interpretation of how Hatshepsut rapidly but methodically consolidated power—and why she fell from public favor just as quickly. The Woman Who Would Be King traces the unconventional life of an almost-forgotten pharaoh and explores our complicated reactions to women in power.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 14, 2014
    ISBN9780804128353
    Unavailable
    The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt

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    Reviews for The Woman Who Would Be King

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      The Woman Who Would Be King was less narrative than most narrative nonfiction, but it's also the best documented narrative nonfiction I've ever read. I actually enjoyed reading the endnotes almost as much as the story, because it was so fun to learn what different Egyptologists think and how archeological findings have been interpreted. It seemed as though the author fairly represented different interpretations of the data too, although without knowing the subject matter better myself, it's hard to say. She definitely did an incredible job making it clear where she was speculating and including citations for everything else. The narrative style was a little dry, but the subject was so interesting, I didn't mind at all.

      The author did a great job getting inside the mind of Hatshepsut, making educated guesses about how she might have felt. She also shared the most fascinating (and sometimes most disgusting) details about daily life in ancient Egypt. I've been interested in ancient Egypt since middle school so this book was perfect for me. It's also good if you're looking for a feminist read, since the author includes some interesting discussions of older, more gender biased scholarship relating to Hatshepsut. I'd most highly recommend it to anyone who loves narrative nonfiction, especially those of you who share my desire to know for certain which bits are true, because this is one of the few books I've read which strikes he perfect balance between the kind of scholarship necessary for it to be clear which bits were true, while making enough educated guesses to be interesting to a general audience.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey.
    • 3/5
      Not much is known about Hatshepsut and her rise to power, becoming regent and then king of Egypt after her husband (and brother) Thutmose II's death. Using extensive research and her knowledge as an Egyptologist, Kara Cooney attempts a biography of the woman, painstakingly piecing together her rise to power and eventual downfall.Much of this, as Cooney herself explains in the introduction, has to be based on conjecture and best-guesswork, as we reconstruct history based on incomplete records - and, in Ancient Egypt, the tendency to erase the uncomfortable bits. As a result, the biography is peppered with hedges, "might have," "probably," "may have." She has to, and I'm not blaming her for that, but because of this and the repetitiveness of the book, it made it very difficult for me to keep track of what was known for sure and what was a guess. Cooney has a tendency to speculate on how people might have felt, several times asking a few questions in a row with the answer "We can never know." I just found that frustrating - don't speculate how Hatshepsut or her co-king Thutmose III felt, just tell me what you know. I found it very confusing and hard to follow because of this narrative style and the sheer number of things we don't know. Because Cooney is making some educated guesses, I was very unclear about what was in the records or not, and what was her conjecture with her particular focus on female power and interpretation of Hatshepsut versus what most Egyptologists believe to be true. For example, she is clearly reacting to early Egyptologist assumptions that one of Hapshepsut's advisors, Senenmut, was also her lover. She repeats over and over again that there is no proof. On the other hand, she assumes that Hapshepsut's daughter, Nefrure, married Thutmose III, yet at one point also explains the lack of evidence one way or the other, leaving me as a reader very confused by her adamance for one interpretation over the other when it seems to me, a general layperson, that there's just as much proof (or lack thereof) for both? I think in a month or two, reflecting on the book, I may be surprised to realize how much I did in fact learn, but unfortunately the reading experience was less than stellar. I kept having the impression that what she really should've written was a completely fictionalized historical fiction book instead. There just didn't seem enough for a history book here.
    • 3/5
      This is a beautifully written biography of Hatsheput. Being a history major, this was especially interesting to me. Cooney's research and delivery of information is fantastic, but at times I was wishing for fewer words of condition, such as maybe or might. This is not the author's fault at all as biography's of the long deceased make these more necessary as their conditions and thoughts are not known.
    • 5/5
      My only fault with this book is that at times there was some repetition in facts, usually a mention of a fact in the dialogue of another and backtracking to fill in details on that fact with further details of the overall fact. It got a bit annoying, but no too much to pull me out of the story.I had never heard of Hetsheput before this, and found this incredibly interesting. It was very, very interesting for it's detail study of Egyptian culture and a lot of facts about their religion and rituals. I never did do much reading about Egypt after the phase every kid goes through where they love the Egyptians. This however really gave it depth and life that it didn't have for me before. I would really recommend this one, especially if you're interested in women in ancient history, especially women who held power in ancient times.
    • 4/5
      A decent biography of Hatshepsut given the known facts, but I was really hoping for more insight, analysis, or context to help bring the story to life. As-is, it comes across as a bit dry, which is unfortunate given the woman herself must have been a force to be reckoned with to have achieved what she did.
    • 5/5
      Though Hatshepsut was one of Egypt's longest ruling Pharaohs, people have heard of her. Despite being an accomplished ruler, history has glossed over her many achievements. The Woman Who Would be King, chronicles Hatshepsut rise to power, her rule, her death, and the reasons why so few know her name.Hatshepsut was born into a world where women were swept under the rug. Though able to be influential as wives, sisters, mothers, and regents of kings, women were unable to hold the throne themselves, unless there were no other candidates. Born to the first of the Thutmoside Kings, Hatshepsut would not have been born expecting to rule. She could expect to exert influence as a high priestess of Egypt's religious order. She would have expected to marry her half-brother, Thutmose II, and exert influence as Great Wife of the King, and later bear his child and become the Queen Mother. However, things took a different turn when her brother-husband without fathering any sons with Hatshepsut. While he had fathered sons with other wives, all these sons were infants and unable to rule. Traditionally the heir's mother would have acted as regent but none of the other wives were of high birth nor had they received the same political training as Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut claimed to receive a divine revelation from Re that she would be placed on the throne. Whether out of genuine conviction at this revelation and religious dedication, ambition, or a desire to maintain the strength of Thutmoside line, Hatshepsut arranged for herself to be made regent. As her regency progressed, Hatshepsut used her family history, Egyptian architecture, religion, and manipulated language to maintain power and eventually become Co-King with Thutmose III. As Pharaoh, Hatshepsut established many trade routes and commissioned numerous architectural innovations. Her rule lasted about two decades, yet there is no evidence that she used murder or violence to hold the throne. There seems to be no rebellion against her as Pharaoh. Instead, Hatshepsut seems to have held the throne through propaganda and skilled leadership. However, not everyone agreed that a female could be Pharaoh or that she had the right to the throne and, after her death, there was an effort to erase all mention of her as Pharaoh, leading to many statues and murals being defaced. This led to history all but forgetting her, until archaeologists were able to recover evidence of her reign.Cooney chose a difficult person to write on. Because the Ancient Egyptians were more concerned with the facts instead of the motivations behind them, it is difficult to paint a portrait of the Pharaohs. We know what happened but we don't know why certain people acted in certain ways, what they thought about, or if the end result was a result of outside influence. It is doubly hard to piece together Hatshepsut's life because so much of the evidence we have has been defaced and some parts are lost. However, Cooney does a marvelous job of presenting what Hatshepsut may have been like. She tells the reader the limitations of our knowledge and lets them know that many things are suppositions. However, those suppositions are based off knowledge about Ancient Egyptian culture, the daily lives of those in the Royal Palace, and gender roles. Out of these, we are given a picture of how Hathsepsut most likely lived. When Cooney suggests a reason behind Hatshepsut's actions, she backs it up with evidence taken from studies of the Ancient Egyptians. Furthermore, Cooney humanizes Hatshepsut without turning the biography into a historical novel. She maintains the reader's interest throughout the entire book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves to read. It is a fascinating chronicle of an amazing woman. Five out of five stars.Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through the Blogging For Books program in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      This book was very well researched and covers Hatshepsut's childhood through the destruction of her images after her death. It's presented in a relatively easy to read manner, and doesn't have a lot of archaeological jargon thrown in. I thought it was a fascinating read, but I have an interest in Egyptology, so I may be more biased than the average reader. The only thing I disliked was the many places where the author said "Hatshepsut may have felt..." or "She may have thought...". I think generalizations like these have no place in an otherwise scholarly book; we have no idea what Hatshepsut thought, since it was never written down, so stick to the facts!If you're looking for a light read or a historical fic, this isn't the book for you. But if you have an interest in actual Egyptian history, by all means, read it.I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      I have read historical fiction about Hatshepsut in the past, but little non-fiction. I'm lucky to live in New York where the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a wonderful Egyptian section and featured a Hatshepsut exhibition a few years ago. One of the reasons we have so many statues of her is because they were broken and thrown into a pit by her successors and thus preserved from the elements and looters. So much for my personal knowledge.I liked this book. I felt Cooney provided a thorough background for King Hatshepsut and led us logically from one stage of her development to the next with her conclusions. As with much of ancient history, there are (many) more questions than answers, but Cooney fills in the gaps with well-reasoned suppositions. My biggest surprise was the profound influence religion had on Hatshepsuts ascendancy to power and her ability to hold onto it. I have to admit I think I would forgo the kingship if I had to spend a lot of my day tending to a statue. The discussion of religious rituals and holidays were fascinating. I would recommend this book to anyone who is studying this era or has an intense interest in it. Those who are more used to popular biographies might find it a bit dry, but I love reading footnotes, so it was right up my alley.I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from the publisher which did not influence my review.
    • 4/5
      I love ancient history, I especially love ancient Egyptian history and it never ceases to amaze me that no matter how much we learn there is still so very much we will never know. Queen Hatshepsut has always fascinated me and I love how what we know has changed so much as the decades have moved on, the stories I hear of her now are so different than those of even six or seven years ago. I am a bit mixed on the writing style and choices made. On one hand I appreciated the more personal approach and I understand why the author used a lot of personal opinion and speculation on Hatshepsut's motivation and day to day activities. There is just so little documented concrete knowledge out there and we aren't likely ever to find more, and this approach did make the story that much more approachable. But sometimes it felt off putting, a little annoying and made some of what she was saying harder to take seriously at times. What I did appreciate was how the author made it clear what was speculation on her part and what was more concrete and knowable.In the end what really matters is that I truly enjoyed this book and felt I learned even more about this mysterious and fascinating period of history and it left me hungering for even more.
    • 4/5
      Not much is left to history about Hatshepsut as a lof of what was built during her time was destroyed in later reigns. This book is well researched and extensively footnoted but the author had no choice but to inject her theories and opinions as to where the research led her. She very clearly indicated when she was theorizing and I did find the work to be fascinating as I do enjoy reading about Ancient Egypt. It is more for the person with a deep interest than for the casual reader but I did find it to be a well written tribute to a woman long forgotten by history.
    • 3/5
      Obviously, you can't fault a writer for admiring their subject... But, an author can definitely skew things, even about a modern focus, much less one so long ago with so many gaps in records. Ms. Cooney is definitely knowledgeable, and there's a lot to learn from this book, but she seemed to me to grasp with both hands any opportunity to give Hatchepsut praise or the benefit of the doubt. And that impartiality irritated me more and more as I went along. I get that this ruler has been unfairly maligned because of her sex, and I understand wanting to come to her defense, but going too far in the opposite direction is also a mistake. Cooney made a case that Hatshepsut, rather than Cleopatra is more deserving of our respect and memory. Arguments along the lines of 'Hatshepsut didn't make any grievous military mistakes', 'Hatshepsut didn't tie herself to any foreign men'... And it's fine to have a preference between the two, but comparing their rule is apples and oranges! Circumstances change considerably in 1500 years!!! What IS plain, is that both women were savvy, and unafraid to take the lead. And I think each would have done much the same in the other woman's shoes. Neither is perfect, but both rose above society's expectations of a woman's role and carved out a place in history. It's an impressive feat in any age!
    • 4/5
      To me, Hatshepsut has always been a fascinating woman. She defied all convention and was able to install herself as King in the highly regimented and conservative society of Ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut, as the daughter of a Pharaoh, was groomed from birth to be royalty. But her fate was always to be a King’s wife (Egypt did not have queens), and never a ruler in her own right. With the death of her father and her two eldest brothers, Hatshepsut found herself married to her sickly younger brother (in Ancient Egypt, keeping things in the family was taken to horrifying extremes). When their union did not produce a male heir, it seemed as if her father’s dynasty might end after only two generations. Starting as regent to the new infant king (her nephew), Hatshepsut slowly consolidated power around herself, eventually declaring herself co-king, and taking the reins of the ancient world’s most prosperous kingdom.Early historical research painted Hatshepsut as a conniving, grasping, and devious woman. More recent (and balanced) studies of the Pharoah paint a different picture. Rather than a manipulative Lady Macbeth, Hatshepsut was an intelligent, educated woman who was born with every desired trait necessary to rule Egypt, except of course, the correct genitalia. Cooney paints a vivid account of palace life in Ancient Egypt, and does her best to bring this remarkable woman to life despite the (purposefully) sparse information about her. Cooney has done a remarkable job with this book, using data where she can and inference where she cannot. She is always careful to state what is conjecture and what is not, but at the same time presents the reader with the evidence for her statements. The Woman Who Would Be King is currently available for purchase.
    • 4/5
      When I was a little girl, my mom bought me a book about King Tutankhamen. It had beautiful glossy photos, and I was fascinated by the short life of the boy king...and the maybe-supernaturally shortened lives of the people who excavated his tomb and awakened the mummy's curse. From there sparked a love of ancient Egypt, peaking when I was absolutely nerdy enough at age 9 or so to write a letter to the editor to correct one of the Detroit papers when they ran an article that misidentified Osiris as a goddess. While my hardcore Egypt phase eventually faded, the Egyptian exhibit is still one of my favorite places at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and I'm always interested in reading more about it.Quick, name me an Egyptian queen. I'm guessing that for most of you, Cleopatra crossed your mind. Maybe some of you went for Nefertiti. But while Cleopatra is remembered for her dramatic life and death and Nefertiti is remembered for her beauty, the queen that had probably the most successful reign as the ruler of Egypt has been largely forgotten: Hatshepsut. Like most Egyptian queens, she was initially married to her brother, Thutmose II. But he was sickly, and when he died when she was only about 16, she successfully finagled a role as regent for her toddler stepson/nephew, Thutmose III, and from there, had herself crowned king in her own right alongside him. In The Woman Who Would Be King, author Kara Cooney walks us through how Hatshepsut pulled off this highly unusual feat by using the authority and power she'd acquired through her religious role, surrounding herself with the right advisors, and emphasizing her own royal lineage. During her reign, she embarked on an ambitious temple building program throughout her country and maintained her country's security while continuing to subjugate its vassal states. Her gender was, of course, the elephant in the room, and Cooney describes how Hatshepsut's depiction of her own gender in statuary shifted over time, from frank acknowledgement of her femininity near the beginning (when she served as regent) to an entirely masculine presentation as her co-ruler grew up and became a man himself. She goes on to detail what became of Hatshepsut's legacy after she passed and how Thutmose III initially embraced but ultimately rejected reminders of her rule, having artistic depictions of her altered or destroyed to erase to her from the record as much as possible. Cooney is an actual Egyptologist, and it shows: she presents tons of information about ancient Egyptian social, religious, and royal life in the context of spinning Hatshepsut's story. She must be a good teacher in her day job as a college professor...the information she gives us is detailed but not dull; it doesn't feel like reading a reference text. For as much as we do know details about ancient Egyptian society, it's amazing to me how much we don't know at the same time...Cooney's writing, as well-researched as it is, is peppered with "probably" and "might have", because there is just no way to know for sure. I'll admit I found this same quality irritating in Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life, but maybe that's just because I'm relatively accustomed to reading about Cleopatra in the context of historical fiction. I've never read about Hatshepsut before, so I don't have the same kind of expectations about being told a fleshed-out story. Also, Cooney makes it very clear, repeatedly, that the kind of records that would lead to a better story simply don't exist, because the Egyptians at that time kept written records only of the official version of events, with any sort of juicy personal interest tidbits left off entirely.Cooney's writing is lively and interesting, and I think she does a good job of presenting the information in a way that makes you care about it...she doesn't just dump it out there without context, it's always clear that the things she's telling you about are necessary for an understanding of what happened. That being said, unless you're inclined to enjoy reading a factually-dense non-fiction book, you might find your attention wavering during some of the longer passages about religion or royal administration.
    • 3/5
      This book is very approachable and written relatively lightly, for what is essentially a history book, but it is a bit slow and hard to get into. I do like that the author takes the time to clarify how she combined the scant detailed information she has with supposition, and I appreciate that she doesn't weigh down the text with footnotes. The story is interesting, and the character of Hatshepsut is fascinating, but the book itself is a little dense.
    • 4/5
      *I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.*Kara Cooney has gathered the known information on the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut and crafted a very readable work on on her rule in Ancient Egypt. The gaps in what is known about Hatsheput are frustrating, as with nearly any ancient historical figures, but Cooney clearly knows her subject well and is able to create informed guesses about what is likely to have occurred, even when the evidence is sparse. I also felt I gained a better sense of how Egyptian royalty functioned and a few glimpses are seen of the complex politics which must have held sway at the Egyptian royal court. Highly recommended for those with an interest in the Ancient World.
    • 4/5
      In this intriguing work, Cooney takes on the challenging prospect of tackling a full-length biography of a woman about whom we know relatively little. As Cooney states in her work, this has as much to do with the way that information was recorded and represented in ancient Egypt as it does to the fact that these events simply took place so very long ago. Given that much of Hatshepsut's life as represented in this work must be conjecture, Cooney draws on her extensive experience in the field to present a vividly convincing picture of both day-to-day life in this time period, and the ins and outs of court intrigue. While there are many aspects of this texts that are both compelling and enjoyable, I found Cooney to be at her strongest when constructing her reading of Hatshepsut's theater of power. The fascinating and often surprising process by which Hatshepsut transforms herself from regent to Pharaoh is a joy to read. Her choices in self-representation are chronicled and illuminated by Cooney in a way that reads well, grounded in serious scholarship but open to speculation when required. Obviously, due to the amount of speculation required in such an endeavor, there will always be detractors who believe this sort of thing should not be taken seriously. I think, however, that Cooney's expertise in the field does give credibility to her writing, even if imagination does occasionally run away a bit too far. Ultimately, I feel the effort is worth it. Cooney argues convincingly, creating a rich portrait of a vanished world and a unique, extraordinary woman. Thank you to LibraryThing and Broadway Books for the Advanced Readers' copy.
    • 3/5
      This is a solid biography of Hatshepsut, a woman who reigned as a king in Egypt first as regent for and then alongside her nephew, in an attempt to solidify her family's hold on the kingship. Cooney is writing half to a general audience and half to Egyptologists who she thinks have misinterpreted Hatshepsut's reign, so it turns out to be a fascinating insight into Egyptology research, too.
    • 2/5
      I didn't finish this book. It just didn't grab my attention. I think it would have made more sense to write it as an historical fiction. So little is known of the subject that there is really no narrative thread. Much of what the author says about the subject is speculation and everything else is what is known about that period in ancient Egypt. It's a subject that appeals to me and the author obviously knows about the period. But alas no one knows much detail about Hatshepsut.
    • 5/5
      Not much is factually known about Hatshepsut, but Cooney takes what is known, and offers intelligent, accurate conceptions of what might have happened to bring this woman to rule ancient Egypt as KING. This is an easy read, somewhat novel-like in its approach but again Cooney is careful to delineate what is actually known from what is theoretical. Having loved the representations of Hatshepsut at the MET and longed to visit her temple, this was an enjoayble read for me.
    • 4/5
      Since childhood I have had an interest in Hatshepsut, and Cooney fed that interest fully in this book. I enjoyed the narrative and conjecture combined with well researched and interesting notes. As a history buff I love getting into the nitty gritty of life in the past, and this book certainly does. There are times when the narrative language moves into a more academic style, but I appreciate the scholarship.
    • 3/5
      Hatshepsut has always been a fascinating individual for me and I was looking forward to learning more. I did glean more information yet found the book a challenging read. Biographies don't have to be dry and confusing but this one seemed to have missed that memo. Still I am glad to see that someone is tackling the topic and raising awareness of a strong woman ruler.
    • 2/5
      I enjoyed learning about Hatshepsut's story but felt the book went back and forth to much and the dryness made the story hard to read through. I loved the content but felt it could have been written differently.
    • 3/5
      Summary: Hatshepsut was a rarity in the ancient world - and even in the modern one - a woman who held power of the greatest empire of her day. Born as daughter to Thutmose I, she served in the ceremonial position of Gods' Wife, before being married to her younger half-brother Thutmose II. When Hatshepsut failed to produce an heir, and Thutmose II died young, Hatshepsut managed to become regent with the infant king Thutmose III, outmaneuvering his mother for political power, and eventually ascending to be pharaoh in her own right, ruling for 14 years, and overseeing one of Egypt's busiest periods of building. But shortly after her death, her monuments began to be defaced or destroyed, and her legacy was largely forgotten. Review: This was an interesting look at some ancient history, and I certainly learned a lot, but I didn't always find it the easiest read. Hatshepsut was a fascinating figure, and I like Cooney's idea to use her to examine the perception of and reaction to women in political power, although this was used more as an introduction to the biography than analyzed in any critical detail. Cooney does a nice job of explaining the relevant social, political, and religious aspects of life in ancient Egypt, something which I - as a relative neophyte to Egyptian history - greatly appreciated as a means of putting Hatshepsut's life into context. The writing was generally smooth, although there were places where it was harder for me to get through - I felt like it occasionally lost track of the main narrative thread of Hatshepsut's life and struggles, and thus lost some of its driving force and became somewhat dense.I also thought that Cooney did a good job of differentiating fact from interpretation in her reconstruction of Hatshepsut's life, something that is not always the case in histories based on limited or fragmentary sources. (She occasionally ventured a little far into the "may have" form of sentence construction when discussing aspects of Hatshepsut's life for which there is no direct evidence, but that's preferable to treating interpolation and interpretation as truth.) One issue that did bother me is that the evidence that Cooney did have was rarely "on display", as it were. Early in the book she discusses how most of Hatshepsut's monuments were destroyed, but I was never entirely clear on a) how archaeologists could tell they were Hatshepsut's monuments in the first place, and b) what evidence remains that wasn't destroyed. Not that I need to see every statue or read every hieroglyph, but I would have appreciated some more direct discussion of where this information was coming from. 3 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: I found this book interesting but not exactly compelling. Those with a strong interest in ancient Egypt would certainly find this one worth a try, although those with a more casual interest may do better to stick to historical fiction set in ancient Egypt (a la Michelle Moran).
    • 3/5
      "The Woman Who Would be King" (2014) by Kara Cooney is a biography of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut, who ruled in the 1400s BCE. Or at least, it tries to be a biography of Hatshepsut. Unfortunately, it seems that not very much information about Hatshepsut's life has survived, and even Kara Cooney's skillful detective work and writing are not sufficient to assemble the fragments into a satisfying story.Hatshepsut was a remarkable person- that much is clear. She was the daughter of the king, held one of the two highest religious offices in the land (God's Wife of Amen), married her brother when he became pharaoh, and served as regent for his young son after he died. But in the seventh year of her regency, she was crowned king, and thenceforth ruled as co-king with the young boy, and eventually young man, until her death around age 40. During that time, she ruled over a time of plenty, paid for the construction of many temples and obelisks, sponsored a trade expedition to the far southern land of Punt, and oversaw wars with against the Nubians to the south. Cooney points out that Hatshepsut was the only woman in the ancient world to achieve the highest political office of a kingdom (king) in a time of peace and rule successfully for an extended period of time.The sad thing about this exceptional woman is that we don't know much more about her than that. All we have are the records that have survived for over 3000 years, carved in stone. These consist primarily of the offices she held (King's Daughter, God's Wife of Amen, King's Wife, Regent, and King), the major military campaigns and trade expedition she sponsored, and devotions to the gods. Cooney points out that we don't know something as basic as whether she had more than one child- all we can confirm is a single daughter, Neferure. Worse, we have no visibility whatsoever into her state of mind. We don't really know why she did anything that she did- whether there were political pressures, what she worried about, how her young co-king felt about her sharing his office, nor the nature of her relationship with her father, mother, brother/husband, or daughter. Cooney sometimes points out that two diametrically opposite feelings or motives could have been behind a single action or relationship, a telling way to highlight the lack of knowledge we have about anyone who lived so long ago- even a king who built more stone monuments to herself than any previous ruler.I had hoped that perhaps, even lacking details of Hatshepsut's life, the book might give a comprehensive look at what life was like in the 1400s BC for ancient Egyptian royalty, nobility, and perhaps everyday folk. In a few ways, it delivers: I have a much better sense of royal family priorities, religious rituals, and dynastic succession than I did before. But most aspects of day-to-day life (what sorts of foods were eaten, how were they prepared, what servants were in the palace, etc.) are not covered, and there is no coverage of life for Egyptians who were not royalty or the very highest advisors serving royalty. I was also disappointed with the lack of coverage of military campaigns: though Cooney says that Hatshepsut successfully waged multiple wars throughout her reign, we don't know any of the details of how these campaigns were fought, the history behind them, etc. War is casually mentioned as something in the background of Hatshepsut's life, giving the sense that it was a topic of little interest to Cooney, or that we simply have no significant information about how the wars were fought.Given the task of writing a biography of Hatshepsut, I think Cooney did a good job. She extrapolates a great deal of material from very few sources, convincingly making a case about the broad strokes of Hatshepsut's life. But even this skillful reconstruction is deeply unsatisfying. In the end, I feel like I am generally left with impressions of what she could have been like, most of which are probably wrong. Reading this book makes me wish that somehow, we could have had good records of Hatshepsut, written by a variety of observers who were not afraid to document her personal life and struggles, come to us across 3,500 years of time. Perhaps there are people who lived so long ago that what we know about them can best be summarized in 30 or so pages; there may not be enough surviving knowledge about them to enable the creation of a good biography.
    • 4/5
      I collect odd characters. Often these are women whom history has tried to erase, or forget. Hatshepsut has been one of these, both character and woman, history would rather forget. After her death, tremendous efforts were made to remove her from the pharaonic record, as though she had never existed.Archeologists are fascinated by what this destruction might mean. And while Egyptians kept great records, their journals do not include emotional insights into what happened day to day. Historians can only surmise.Kara Cooney's work brings what can be known to light and provides a better idea of what could have caused both the rise and fall of this smart, ambitious woman.Unfortunately, one of the conclusions Cooney comes to is that Hatshepsut's reign as pharaoh had such a negative effect on Egyptians that women were kept from positions of authority for generations (p. 223).
    • 4/5
      Well-researched, but there is just too little archaeological evidence on the reign of Hatshepsut for a full-length book. I think a shorter work, like a treatise or monograph, would have been sufficient. I did enjoy learning about some of the more esoteric details about religious rituals and political framework of this period of ancient Egypt, and the author's thoughts on how and why Hatshepsut was able to become a king in a time when women were mere adjuncts with little power of their own, though after a few dozen "maybes" and "could haves," I started to get annoyed. I also found it interesting that her successor didn't begin his work of destruction of her monuments and obliteration of her accomplishments and her very name until 20 years after he became ruler, which kind of rules out revenge as a motive. It was interesting but just a bit too long for my taste.
    • 5/5
      I have long been fascinated with Egyptian history in general, and with Hatshepsut in particular, so I was very pleased to get this book from Early Reviewers. Kara Cooney takes a somewhat different approach to analyzing Hatshepsut's life by adding mostly logical conjecture about why Hatshepsut did what she did, and how she may have thought and felt about her own situation and her place in history. This book goes beyond a general recitation of facts, but not, in my opinion, beyond the bounds of reasonable interpretation of the motivations, thoughts and feelings that may have driven Hatshepsut's novel and daring decisions. If you like your history books to stick strictly to the facts, you may not enjoy this book. But if you enjoy attempting to analyze the psychology behind what drives powerful people, especially women, to make the choices they make, then you'll probably enjoy this book. As a psychologist I found it fascinating, and as an enthusiast for Hatshepsut, I found a new understanding of the possible personal and cultural elements that may have made her remarkable rise to power a possibility. I also enjoyed the more colloquial and less academic style of writing. Overall, this was an interesting and unique approach to telling the story of one of the world's great historic leaders.
    • 5/5
      I loved this novel. In the interest of full disclosure, I love anything in the historical fiction genre pertaining to ancient Egypt. However, I thought the book was not only well written, I felt like I was right there with characters, and that is a hallmark of brilliant fiction.
    • 3/5
      I did not win this book during the Early Review selection, however, the description caught my attention. Therefore, I bought the book when it hit the bookstores. Conney did an excellent job with the writing, research and analysis of archeological information. It simply may be me, but I was expecting even more information about the magnificent Hatshepsut.
    • 3/5
      In the spirit of Sesame Street, this book is brought to you by the words "perhaps," "maybe," "might," and the entire conditional tense. I realize there is little known about the reign of Hatshepsut. That's why I wanted to read a ne book about her. But I felt that Cooney tried too hard to spin a monograph's worth of information into an entire book. I did learn interesting details about the ceremonies of the god Amen, and about the details of Hatshepsut's reign in terms of campaigns, rituals, temple building etc. I also learned that Thutmose III did not begin to destroy his aunt's legacy until over 2o years after her death. In summary, this book was interesting, but too long for the amount of information it contains.