Three Empires on the Nile: The Victorian Jihad, 1869-1899 (ISBN 140010405X)

Scramble for Africa:
This concise and well-written book brings together strands of history from other books about the same period, and puts all of them into one shorterer publication. Of course, doing that does not give the average reader the depth of information available in one of the other books covering only one subject, but this one does have the advantage of telling the entire story, albeit in more condensed form. This is good for the general reader, and anyone interested in delving more deeply into one of the subjects told in the book would be well advised to search out and read the more inclusive works on a perticular matter. This is excellent entry level material about this period in history in and around the Nile delta.

Interesting but Confused Account of Complex Subject.:
I really wanted to like this book and looked forward to reading it. However, poor organization and what appears to be hasty editing turned this from an enjoyable to stumbling, confused read. Tackling the multiple cultures, religions and characters in this 'drama' is tricky business, and unfortunately I don't think the author was up to it. Its also appears that book was hastily trimmed down - because there are references to people and events that author assumes the reader already knows no matter how obscure. For example one passage read (i am paraphrasing) "the voyeagers turned out not to be hardy backwoodsmen, but clerks", well when did we ever expect them to be hardy backwoodsmen? I don't even know who they are. He also spends much of his time describing Gordon (of Khartoum fame) in the negative - then goes on to say how much he was admired by the Victorian public - he never shows or tells us why. I suppose he assumes we're all familiar with Gordon, but most people these days are not. On the upside, there some interesting insights into the "Jihad" in the Sudan and the confused and conflicting ambitions and goals of various factions - some like the anti-slavery society, were moral but misguided or impractical, others, simply wanted to keep the Suez and the passage to India safe at all costs. I love this time period and stories about it, and, as I said I really wanted to like this one but couldn't .

Amazing (audio book):
This book was one of the best history books I've ever read (I actually listened to it while commuting to NYC and while finishing chores). I have no idea what one of the other reviewers was referring to when they said it was generally hard to follow. I was able to follow it nearly in its entirety even when listening to it as a disjointed audio book. I highly recommend this amazing historical account, that reads as smoothly as even the best historical fiction I've read.

Solid but lengthy:
Overall very entertaining and informative. It is amazing how little has really changed in this region since. Well worth "listening" to...it might be a bit slow if actually read for some.

Good story--poor product:
About half of three of the cd's were unusable. They were simply silent, so we missed a good deal of the story. I will not buy from this vendor again. John H Reed, Jr., a dissatisfied customer.