From its earliest days as a royal settlement fronting the pyramids of Giza to its current manifestation as the largest metropolis in Africa, Cairo has forever captured the urban pulse of the Middle East. In Cairo: Histories of a City, Nezar Al Sayyad narrates the many Cairos that have existed throughout time, offering a panoramic view of the city`s history unmatched in temporal & geographic scope, through an in-depth examination of its architecture & urban form. In twelve vignettes, accompanied by drawings, photographs, & maps, Al Sayyad details the shifts in Cairo`s built environment through stories of important figures who marked the cityscape with their personal ambitions & their political ideologies. The city is visually reconstructed & brought to life not only as a physical fabric but also as a social & political order--a city built within, upon, & over, resulting in a present-day richly layered urban environment. Each chapter attempts to capture a defining moment in the life trajectory of a city loved for all of its evocations & contradictions. Throughout, Al Sayyad illuminates not only the spaces that make up Cairo but also the figures that shaped them, including its chroniclers, from Herodotus to Mahfouz, who recorded the deeds of great & ordinary Cairenes alike. He pays particular attention to how the imperatives of Egypt`s various rulers & regimes--from the pharaohs to Sadat & beyond--have inscribed themselves in the city that residents navigate today.