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ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY
HUMANIST GALAXY
OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS
KARA COONEY
October 29, 2022
THE WOMAN WHO WOULD BE KING:
Hatshepsut's Rise to
Power in Ancient Egypt.
by Kara Cooney
Crown, 2014
(320 pages)
Quote = "Kara Cooney has written a lively, engaging, historically accurate account of one of the most controversial of Egypt's female pharaohs, Hatshepsut. Weaving together evidence from historical texts, the queen's monuments, and archaeological finds, Cooney presents an accessible story of Hatshepsut's rise to power until her demise, bringing ancient Egypt, its people, and its rulers to life. A fun, interesting read." (By Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology, American University in Cairo)
Quote = "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." (Paraphrased by webmaster from publisher's blurb)
BOOK OUTLINE
Note = Numbers in parentheses refer to pages
CHRONOLOGY (viii-ix)
FAMILY TREE OF HATSHEPSUT'S IMMEDIATE RELATIONS (x)
AUTHOR’S NOTE (xi-xv)
PREFACE (1-4)
1) DIVINE ORIGINS (5-29)
2) A PLACE OF HER OWN (30-50)
3) KING'S GREAT WIFE (51-73)
4) REGENT FOR A BABY KING (74-08)
5) THE CLIMB TOWARD KINGSHIP (99-126)
6) KEEPING THE KINGSHIP (127-150)
7) THE KING BECOMES A MAN (151-171)
8) THE SETTING SUN (172-191)
9) THE KING IS DEAD — Long live the king (192-210)
10) LOST LEGACY (211-235)
NOTES (237-277)
FURTHER READING (279-289)
INDEX (291-298)
AUTHOR NOTES, SUMMARY,
AND BOOK DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR NOTES = Kara Cooney is a professor of Egyptology at UCLA. Her academic work focuses on death preparations, afterlife beliefs, and gender studies. She has participated in digs with the Metropolitan Museum of New York at the Royal Pyramid complex of Senwosret III and the Theban Necropolis with Johns Hopkins University. She appeared as a lead expert in the popular Discovery Channel special The Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen, and is a recurring team member of the History Channel's Digging for the Truth. Her first book, The Woman Who Would be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt. was published in 2014.
SUMMARY = "The book traces the unconventional life of an almost-forgotten pharaoh, Hatshepsut, and explores our modern complicated reactions to women in power. It is an engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power. The book constructs a rich narrative history using the artifacts which remain. Kara Cooney, a noted Egyptologist, offers a remarkable interpretation of how Hatshepsut rapidly but methodically consolidated power. It also explains why she fell from public favor just as quickly." (Paraphrased by webmaster from publisher's blurb)
BOOK DESCRIPTION = "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." (Paraphrased by webmaster from publisher's blurb)
"By shrewdly operating the levers of power, Hatshepsut emerged 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." (Paraphrased by webmaster from publisher's blurb)
EDITORIAL BOOK REVIEWS
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY = The life of Hatshepsut, Egypt's second female pharaoh, was replete with opulent living, complex royal bloodlines, and sexual energy; in short, the kind of drama that fuels Ancient Egypt's enduring appeal… From Hatshepsut's self-perception, political prowess, and lifestyle emerge an image of the ‘ultimate working mother' and a compelling insight into ancient gender roles.
LIBRARY JOURNAL = Cooney does a fantastic job of breathing new life into her subject and showing the woman who dared to keep herself and her nephew Thutmose III on the throne, as well as what led Hatshepsut's name to be tarnished and nearly erased from history. The book will be of great interest to those fascinated by ancient Egypt, history, and women's history.
KIRKUS REVIEWS = This biography could only be based on conjecture and guesswork, but the addition of expertise makes it well worth reading. The author's Egyptology background provides the nitty-gritty of daily life and animates this king (at the time, there was no word for 'queen')… Cooney's detective work finally brings out the story of a great woman's reign.
BOOKLIST = Egyptologist Cooney peels back the layers of the life of Hatshepsut, Egypt's second female pharaoh, providing a multidimensional portrait of a woman of strength, intelligence, and substance.
BOOKPAGE = Highly engrossing... and informed by experts. It is compellingly written conjecture that will cause curious readers to pay attention with its vivid depiction of life in Ancient Egypt as well as of the life of a truly remarkable woman.
PROFESSIONAL BOOK REVIEWS
[1] Kara Cooney has written a lively, engaging, historically accurate account of one of the most controversial of Egypt's female pharaohs, Hatshepsut. Weaving together evidence from historic texts, the queen's monuments, and archaeological finds, Cooney presents an accessible story of Hatshepsut's rise to power until her demise, bringing ancient Egypt, its people, and its rulers to life. A fun and interesting read! – Salima Ikram, author and professor of Egyptology, American University in Cairo.
[2] Engrossing and compulsively readable. -- Time Magazine
[3] The book is a fascinating look at one of the most formidable and successful women in all of ancient history. Before Cleopatra there was Hatshepsut. Now, thanks to Kara Cooney, the real Hatshepsut stands before us in all her glory. For the first time we have a full-length biography of her that is not only a great scholarly work but also a marvelous read. – Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire and A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War.
[4] The compelling biography of a fascinating woman: the daughter, wife and stepmother of kings, who defied tradition to rule the most powerful nation in the Mediterranean world as pharaoh. Cooney tells her tale with authority, sensitivity and imagination. It is a tale that deserves to be told." -- Joyce Tyldesley, author of Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt and Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh.
[5] What Stacy Schiff did for Cleopatra, Kara Cooney has done for Hatshepsut. An absolutely fantastic read about one of the most powerful Pharaoh-Queens in ancient Egypt. Completely unputdownable! – Michelle Moran, bestselling author of Nefertiti.
[6] The story of Hatshepsut, the woman who ruled Egypt as Pharaoh, is an amazing tale and Dr. Cooney tells it in a very personal way. Readers are going to love this version! – Bob Brier, author of The Murder of Tutankhamen.
[7] This biography of Hatshepsut is an ideal blend of historic analysis and an imaginative story. With her unique ability to address both the general public and scholars alike, Cooney's narrative flows as if it were a novel, but at the same time illuminates the historic, economic, social, and religious context of Hatshepsut's world, and that of the people surrounding her.
[8] The reader is given a glimpse into a vibrant ancient world — one that we oftentimes forget about in the midst of all the granite and mudbrick that remains today. Writing a biography of a woman about whom there is little archival information is difficult, to say the least. Nevertheless, Cooney presents a seamless picture of Hatshepsut's life and her rise to power in ancient Egypt. – Professor Kathleen Sheppard, author of The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman's Work in Archaeology.
AMAZON READER REVIEWS
[1] A recommendation for understanding the book: take the time (and trouble) to read the "Notes" at the back of the book! While it is annoying to have to flip back and forth at every footnote, at least try to catch up at the end of each chapter. I found the Notes section to be almost as interesting and informative as the body of the text, and the information within it provided evidence to all the conjectures. -- Anonymous reviewer.
[2] The repetitions made in the book sometimes seem like it was written as a serial. While I would not (unlike other reviewers) say I found this book to be "compulsively readable", I did find it a fascinating read. This was despite Cooney's frequent repetitions. To me, those repetitions made this book sometimes seem like it was written as a serial, a series of separately-published essays on different topics spinning off of often repeated fundamentals based on the understandably scarce factual historic information. But as I looked back on the whole experience, I realized that Cooney was probably just being very careful to demonstrate the logic behind the variety of interpretations of the archaeological evidence. -- Anonymous reviewer.
[3] After reading this book, I have a greater appreciation of Hatshepsut's role in the early New Kingdom. But it also gave me a new view into the early life of Thutmose III and his likely motivations. And it set the stage for some new thoughts I am having about why, a century later, Amenhotep III and IV felt motivated to undermine the power of the priesthood of Amen. -- Anonymous reviewer.
[4] An educated, realistic guess as to Hatshepsut's life = I have always been fascinated by Egypt's female pharaoh, Hatshepsut. I feel this way because she was that rare ruler — a woman — and because I love her best known architectural achievement below the cliffs, her temple. As others have said, the book's narration is refreshing because it consistently makes clear the tentative nature of its descriptions.
However, with a thorough knowledge of an Egyptologist, considering all the hints available, and taking each section of her life one at a time, Cooney has created a believable biography of an amazing woman. Even though several aspects of life in ancient Egypt are repeated, I found this pattern helpful for readers in our day and age who desire to understand life back then. Ancient Egypt was so very, very different than our own. The prejudice against effective women leaders is still so prevalent today, it is good to see that over 3000 years ago it was a major prejudice which could be overcome. Thank you, Kara Cooney. -- Dana Jo.
[5] The book tells the fascinating story of the woman who not only became a powerful regent for a king, but who was crowned king herself and enjoyed a long and prosperous rule. The biography details Hatshepsut's monumental achievements in building projects as well as her unique stylistic innovations. She represents herself as both masculine and feminine during her career as king. At various points in her reign, she had to represent herself as being male because of the masculine structure of leadership.
Hatshepsut was descended from pure royal blood in a civilization that preserved the royal blood line by keeping marriages within the extended royal family. She gained a series of titles that gave her access to rituals and status among priests, and it was this combination of impeccable lineage and occult access that gave Hatshepsut the leverage to become King of Egypt.
It was disheartening to read that many of her monuments were destroyed by her successor (her nephew). At the end of the biography I not only learned about Hatshepsut but also about the life in ancient Egypt. Life expectancy was short. Death was unpredictable and came early. It was these things that molded Egyptian succession into the royal system of totalitarian leadership that could put children onto the throne and could permit a woman to be in power behind the boy-kings. -- S. H. Wells.
I recommend this biography to anyone interested in gaining insight into ancient Egyptian history, with its many explanations for the possible motivations and rivalries behind the royal system.
[6] This book is not appropriate for children = My daughter just turned 12 and has to do a project at school about Hatshepsut. There is content in here that talks about orgasms, incest, masturbation, and much worse. Nowhere did I read that this book was not suitable for her. My daughter has a high reading level and books like these are not challenging. I would compare some of this "engrossing biography" to something that should be "X-rated" many times over. -- Kimberly.
RECOMMENDED BY WEBMASTER: You can re-read this summary according to a reinforcement schedule, such as a few hours later and a few days later and then several times in the next week or two. This strategy can help you take advantage of the power of the spaced-repetition method of memorization. Such deep introspection can strengthen your willpower and change your adaptive self-identity to increase your self-esteem.
REMEMBER ALWAYS:
You are your adaptable memory!
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