The multi-volume chronicle of the Cairo scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (1753-1825), known in Arabic as caja-'ib al-atha-r fi- al-tara-jim wa-al-akhba-r, which translates roughly as The Most Wondrous Achievements: Biographies and Reports of Events, is the single most important primary source for the history of Egypt over nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule (1517-1882). This text, compiled by editor Jane Hathaway to appeal to the general reader as well as scholars of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, is a collection of excerpts from al-Jabarti's history, providing a multifaceted overview of Egyptian society during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The selections cover key political developments, including various power struggles and the French occupation, and offer telling glimpses of Egyptian society at large: the role of the Muslim scholar-officials and their interaction with the political authorities; the activities of merchants, shopkeepers, peasants, and tribespeople; the status of women and non-Muslims; and popular reaction to warfare, plagues, natural disasters, food shortages, and price increases. A general introduction and a brief introductory passage to each major excerpt help to place this indispensable primary source in its proper historical and social context. Abd al Rahman Al-Jabarti, author (1754-1825) was a renowned Arab historian and writer. Jane Hathaway, editor (Ohio State University) has edited Al-Jabarti's History of Egypt and provided introductions to books such as The Age of the Caliphs by Bertold Spuler and The Golden Age of Islam by Maurice Lombard, both available from Markus Wiener Publishers. 'Abd al Rahman Jabarti's (1754-1822) multi-volume 'Aja'ib al-athar fi al-tarajim wa-al-akhvar (The Marvelous Compositions of Biographies and Chronicles is universally hailed as the most accessible and comprehensive primary source for the history of Egypt under Ottoman rule. It was rendered into a superb English translation in 1994 by a team supervised by Thomas Philipp and Moshe Perlmann, and published by Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart. The four volumes are bit daunting for beginning students and general readers, however, so Hathaway (Ohio State U.), having written her own history of Ottoman Egypt, presents 64 excerpts from the sections on the era of great household rivalries, the era of the French occupation, and the era of Muhammad 'Ali Pasha. She sets each into the context of the full work and of its historical period. --Book News "'Abd al Rahman Jabarti's (1754-1822) multi-volume 'Aja'ib al-athar fi al-tarajim wa-al-akhvar (The Marvelous Compositions f Biographies and Chronicles is universally hailed as the most accessible and comprehensive primary source for the history of Egypt under Ottoman rule. It was rendered into a superb English translation in 1994 by a team supervised by Thomas Philipp and Moshe Perlmann, and published by Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart. The four volumes are bit daunting for beginning students and general readers, however, so Hathaway (Ohio State U.), having written her own history of Ottoman Egypt, presents 64 excerpts from the sections on the era of great household rivalries, the era of the French occupation, and the era of Muhammad 'Ali Pasha. She sets each into the context of the full work and of its historical period."--Book News --Book News " Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti. born in Cairo in 1753, combined biographies and historical accounts bv earlier chroniclers, covering events in Egypt as far back as 1688, with his own observations and research covering the period from roughly 1776 until his death in 1825. Printed in Arabic in 1879-80. The Marvelom Compositions of Biographies and Chronicles has long been regarded as the best primary source about Egypt under Ottoman rule. The present volume is composed of excerpts and brief contextual commentaries and will appeal to general readers. The sections describing the French occupation of Egypt (1798-1801) and its re-occupation by Ottoman forces are particularly interesting."--Saudi Aramco World --Saudi Aramco World "Whoever teaches Middle Eastern history, sociology, politics or global studies, will like to use this book. For Jane Hathaway of Ohio State University presents here in 64 very brief chapters highlights of Egypt's history written by Abd ar-Rahman al-Jabarti (1753-1825). She, well known by her related works and especially her seminal book on "The Arab Lands under Ottoman Rule 1516-1800" (Longman 2008), gives each chapter a short introduction. Occasionally she writes "As I have explained elsewhere..." and equips the reader there and in the part "suggested reading'' with tips for further literature research. The importance of this book comes not only from the work of the Egyptian historian al-Jabarti, but from the time he describes in his chronicle 'Aja'b al-Athar fi at-Tarajim wa al-Akhbar. This "Marvelous Remnants of Biographies and Reports" illuminates also Napoleon's invasion into the Egypti