Hello, Historians :)
This is my first time studying history seriously and I want to start with Modern Egypt's history, starting after the Islamic period until Nasser and Sadat. Since these are my baby steps into the historians world, I found it dumb to randomly pick books from the library and decided to list what I found down and listen to the experts here.
Do you recommend any of the books listed below? Do I have to start with the Ottomans or just dig my way through different periods? Is it a bad idea to study Modern Egypt when I still haven't done Ancient or Medieval Egypt?
I want to study the history until I can imagine myself walking in the streets of 16th Century Egypt or 1952 Post-Coup Egypt, thinking what people are thinking, living what people are living.
Note: I can't get access to other books than the listed below in the time being.
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Cairo Cosmopolitan by Diane Singerman
Cairo Contested by Diane Singerman
The Greeks and The Making of Modern Egypt by Alexander Kitroeff
Access to Knowledge in Egypt by Lea Shaver
Egypt's Culture Wars by Samia Mehrez
Egypt's Desert Dreams by David SimsRevolutionary Womanhood by Laura Bier
Modernizing Marriage by Kenneth M. Cuno
For Better, For Worse by Hanan Kholoussy
Judges and Political Reform in Egypt by Nathalie Bernard
Popular Housing and Urban Land Tenure in the Middle East by Dupret &. Den Ababsa
Social Capital and Local Water Management in Egypt by Dalia M. Gouda
Historical Dictionary of Egypt by Arthur Goldschmidt Jr. and Robert Johnston
Gypsies in Contemporary Egypt by Alexandra Parrs
Marginality and Exclusion in Egypt by Ray Bush
Shop Floor Culture and Politics in Egypt by Samer S. Shehata
Witness to War And Peace by Ahmed Aboul GheitWomen in Revolutionary Egypt by Shereen Abouelnaga
Committed to Disillusion by David Dimeo
The Political Economy of Reforms in Egypt by Khaled Ikram
Re-Envisioning Egypt by Arthur Goldschmidt Jr.
Living with Heritage in Cairo by Ahmed Sedky
The Poets of Alexandria by Susan A. Stephens
Egyptian Customs and Festivals by Samia Abdennour
Nubian Encounters by Nicholas S. Hopkins
Caliph of Cairo by Paul E. Walker
The River Nile in the Age of the British by Terje Tvedt
Dividing the Nile by David E. Mills
The Turks in Egypt and their Cultural Legacy by Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
Human Capital: Population Economics in the Middle East by Ismail Sirageldin
starting after the Islamic period until Nasser and Sadat.
That's a very broad period of Egyptian history. "Modern" Egyptian History typically starts with either Napoleon's invasion of Egypt or the reign of Mohammed Ali Pasha.
As an introduction to the modern period I would recommend The History of Modern Egypt by P.J. Vatikiotis, and maybe Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age by Albert Hourani, which is largely about Egypt.
As an introduction to the much lengthier period you asked about, I would stat with the multiple volumes of the Cambridge History of Egypt.
I have to admit, I haven't read the monographs in your initial list. I'm sure they're interesting, but if you're starting from scratch I would start with what I've recommended here and then dive deeper.