Mehmet Ali and his failed plan for an industrial Egyptian Empire in the early 19th century is, to me, one of the most interesting episodes in history. However, almost everything I’ve read on it is from 40+ years ago. What are the best recent (since ~2000) books on the topic? [English or French]

by ChubbyHistorian
Elgorn

There are two which are a must read if you want to know about Mehmed Ali or about who the modern Middle East in general.

Khaled Fahmy's All the Pasha's Men: Mehmed Ali, his Army and the Making of Modern Egypt Cambridge University Press, Nov 13, 1997

Peter Gran's Islamic Roots of Capitalism: Egypt, 1760-1840. Modern Middle East Series. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1979.

These books are foundational to the study of the Modern Middle East because 1798, the French invasion, is so often proposed as the arrival of Modernity in the Middle East, and the actions of Mehmed Ali seen as a direct result of that.

In the specific Egyptian context the leader is often viewed as the "founder of Modern Egypt" and that is best reflected in his naming. Muhammad Ali is the Arabized version while Mehmed Ali is the Turkish variety.

Both of these books are revisionary histories, one of the time before and one of the time during that look to complicate the easy narrative of the West awakening a decrepit and backwards Middle East and of Muhammad Ali/Mehmed Ali as the founder of Modern Egypt.

Places to go next

Kenneth Cuno's The Pasha's Peasants: Land, Society and Economy in Lower Egypt, 1740–1858 Cambridge University Press, 1993.

This is a personal favorite and goes deep in land ownership and economies before and after Mehmed Ali with a particular focus on rural Egypt.

Jane Hathaway, The Politics of Households in Ottoman Egypt: The Rise of the Qazdaǧlis might also be a worthwhile read to understand the politic scene in the century leading up to Mehmed Ali.

To get a primary local Egyptian source you might want to read anything by Al-Jabarti in translation. He was a scholar living during the invasion of the French.

You also might want to read a translation of Rifa'a al-Tahtawi's Takhlis al-Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz aw Diwan al-Nafis bi-iwan Baris) the memoir of a scholar sent by Mehmed Ali to France to study.