ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY HUMANIST GALAXY OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS KARA COONEY October 29, 2022 Note: Kara Cooney has written three important books about Ancient Egyptian history and the unfortunate way women were systematically kept out of leadership roles at the highest level of king or pharaoh for most of the 3,000 years of the empire. She also describes how women were kept out of leadership roles in the other large ancient empires most of the time and even now in modern times. These books should all be read and discussed throughout the Humanist Galaxy. In Cooney's first book, The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt 2014, she celebrates the long and unique leadership role of Hatshepsut, who made innovative policies that expanded her empire. Also Cooney exposes the attempts by later pharaohs to erase her memory from history by destroying her image on government monuments and temple statuary. In Cooney's second book, When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt 2016, six female pharaohs: Merneith, Neferusobek, Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, Tawosret, and Cleopatra, are depicted. Cooney explains why female leadership was seldom allowed in the ancient world. And she explains why we should care about this historical fact. She adds speculation to the known facts about life in ancient Egypt among the royal social elites because hardly any written documentation exists about any historical female rulers. Also Cooney reflects about our similar perceptions of women in power today. In Cooney's third and most recent book, The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World 2021, she challenges the traditional ancient Egyptian "patriarchal male" leadership system. It was a well-defined pattern that she traces historically among five of the most famous male pharaohs who all claimed to be divine: Khufu, Senwosret III, Akenhaten, Ramses II, and Taharqa. Cooney claims that the alleged historic fact of their divinity had to be perpetually promoted. Also she believes that the remarkable prevalence of male leaders throughout the Middle Ages has been deliberately promoted and continued into modern times by the patrons of patriarchy: to the detriment of women. In the fourth book, Cooney is the co-author where she wrote a detailed essay providing documentary evidence from Deir el-Medina that describes how the ancient Egyptians attempted to ensure immortality through the purchase of funerary objects. She explains how burial practices depended upon the economic and social aspects of the different social classes. In addition, the editor, Edward Bleiberg, explained ancient Egyptian beliefs about death and the afterlife. He describes the practical economic considerations the ancient Egyptians faced when they prepared for the next life. (Paraphrased by webmaster from publisher's blurb) The bibliographic information for Kara Cooney's four books is listed below. And the files which contain the summaries and reviews of all the books are linked at the bottom. In addition, a National Geographic special edition magazine, Queens of Egypt: When Women Ruled the World 2018, is linked below, which features spectacular historical pictures and summaries of the textual data from Cooney's book, When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt. (Book #2 Below) Book #1 THE WOMAN WHO WOULD BE KING: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney Crown, 2014 (320 pages) AND Book #2 WHEN WOMEN RULED THE WORLD: Six Queens of Egypt by Kara Cooney National Geographic, 2018 (399 pages with 6 color plates) AND Book #3 THE GOOD KINGS: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World by Kara Cooney National Geographic, 2021 (398 pages) AND Book #4 TO LIVE FOREVER: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum Edited by Edward Bleiberg, with an essay by Kathlyn (Kara) M. Cooney Brooklyn Museum, 2008 (152 pages) AND Magazine #5 National Geographic QUEENS OF EGYPT: When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney Meredith Corporation, 2018 (96 pages) Click or Tap Links to: Outlines and Reviews Book #1 THE WOMAN WHO WOULD BE KING: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt (2015) OR Book #2 WHEN WOMEN RULED THE WORLD: Six Queens of Egypt (2018) OR Book #3 THE GOOD KINGS: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World (2021 OR Book #4 TO LIVE FOREVER: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum OR Magazine #5 National Geographic QUEENS OF EGYPT: When Women Ruled the World (2018) Click or Tap Star to: RETURN TO THE HUMANIST GALAXY OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY produced by Infinite Interactive Ideas®