A leading physician, Aboul-Ghar is also an avid traveller and a devoted reader who regularly publishes book reviews in two leading Egyptian daily newspapers.
His interests are wide-ranging, and each month he explores numerous books that go far beyond the field of medicine.
Over the past 25 years, in cooperation with Al-Shorouk, Aboul-Ghar has published several works that show a strong interest in history, particularly lesser-known subjects.
These titles include The Egyptian Platoon: On the Crime of Kidnapping Half a Million Egyptians to Fight in World War I, The Pandemic That Killed 180,000 Egyptians, The US and the 1919 Revolution, and Egyptian Jewry in the 20th Century.
He has also published parts of his memoirs under the title On the Fringes of the Journey.
Aboul-Ghar is currently working on a new book on King Fouad of Egypt, which involves extensive research in archival sources.
Many of the books he reviews in Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Shorouk focus on history. When Ahram Online asked him to reflect on some of the most memorable books he has read over the past 25 years, he provided a list largely made up of historical works.
Many of these titles examine life in Egypt at the end of the 19th century and during the early decades of the 20th century. Some are written in English and others in Arabic. All shed light on events that have strongly shaped life in Egypt in the 21st century.
Cairo 1921: Ten Days That Made the Middle East is one of the books Aboul-Ghar found especially compelling, as it offers alternative perspectives on a pivotal moment in history.
Published in 2022, the 264-page book revisits the 1921 Cairo Conference, convened by Winston Churchill to determine the future of the region in the aftermath of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
According to Aboul-Ghar, the book focuses on how the Middle East was redrawn in ways that have largely endured.
In the book, historian C. Brad Faught traces Churchill’s journey to Cairo. Coming after World War I, the conference appeared to be a last-ditch effort by the declining British Empire to maintain control over its vast colonial territories.
Aboul-Ghar highlights details that reveal much about the political dynamics of the time. The conference was almost entirely male, with only one woman participating, Gertrude Bell. The book also presents a portrait of TE Lawrence that differs from the negative image commonly held in the Middle East.
Another striking contrast described in the book is between the lavish reception Churchill received from Fouad, then still Sultan and one year away from becoming king, and the anti-British demonstrations by Egyptians protesting the continued British mandate.
Overall, the book shows how the former colonial powers, Britain and France, sought to agree on a plan to divide interests in the region, while showing little commitment to a fair solution to the Palestinian question. Bell warned that implementing the Balfour Declaration would be disastrous for the region.
“The book shows Churchill walking out of the Cairo Conference meetings many times, carrying his drawing kit to stroll through Old Cairo and sketch what he saw as a remarkable heritage,” Aboul-Ghar said. “Unfortunately, a century later, many of the scenes Churchill tried to capture have become demolished monuments.”
Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt’s Ancient Temples from Destruction is another book that combines monuments with major historical moments that caught Aboul-Ghar’s attention during the past quarter century.
Published in 2023 by Scribe Publications, the 448-page book by Lynne Olson, a New York Times bestselling author of several history titles, is set in the second quarter of the 20th century.
The book gives long-overdue recognition to French archaeologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt.
Her life spanned roles ranging from a courageous member of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II to a determined advocate who persuaded European leaders, including French President Charles de Gaulle, to help save major Egyptian temples threatened by the reservoir of the High Dam before construction began in 1960.
“This book is not only about saving the temples, important as that story is,” AboulGhar said. He added that it is also the story of a courageous woman who developed a passion for Egyptology at a young age and left a lasting mark on the preservation of ancient Egyptian monuments.
Her contribution was so significant that she was exempted from an Egyptian decree ordering the deportation of French and British citizens following the October 1956 Tripartite Aggression, after Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal earlier that year.
Beyond being an engaging read, Aboul-Ghar said the book offers a broad overview of international political developments from the end of World War I to the early years of the 21st century. Desroches-Noblecourt was born in November 1913, just months before World War I, and died in June 2011.
Her work, Aboul-Ghar noted, extended beyond saving temples to exposing the colonial looting of Egyptian antiquities, “a practice she strongly condemned.”
Florence Nightingale’s time in Egypt between 1849 and 1850, when she was 29, is another subject that captured Aboul-Ghar’s interest.
Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the Nile, 1849–1850 is based on letters Nightingale sent to her family while in Egypt.
“She arrived at a historic moment, only months after the death of Mohamed Ali Pasha,” Aboul-Ghar said.
Nightingale’s sister compiled some of these letters in 1854, the same year Nightingale went on to gain fame as a nurse during the Crimean War, fought by Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia against Russia.
The book was published in 1987 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and spans 223 pages. “This is another work by a European woman who strongly criticizes the theft of Egyptian antiquities that were sold in Europe and the United States,” Aboul-Ghar said.
On Barak is a social and cultural historian whose book, On Time: Technology and Temporality from Modern Egypt, is another of the 10 titles Aboul-Ghar selected as among his most influential reads of the first quarter of the 21st century.
Published by the University of California, Berkeley, in 2013, the book examines a key aspect of Egypt’s modernization: the introduction of steamships, railways, telegraphy, and tramways during the colonial period.
“The book tells a fascinating story about the early days of train operations in Egypt, which were rather chaotic,” Aboul-Ghar said. He noted that it took several years before trains running between Cairo and Alexandria operated on a fixed schedule.
“At first, the journey took 12 hours,” he said. “Later, a timetable was introduced, but it was written only in English.”
Egypt’s first railway line between Cairo and Alexandria opened in 1854, while tramways began operating about a decade later. By the end of the 19th century, Egypt had an extensive network of train and tram lines.
“The arrival of these transport systems created remarkable connectivity and triggered major social and cultural changes,” Aboul-Ghar said, referring to a book he purchased at the Cairo International Book Fair.
Salam Tram (Tribute to the Tramway) is a detailed study by Mina Ibrahim and Tamer Nadi that documents 125 years of tramway service in Egypt, from 1894 until 2019, when the tracks were completely removed.
Drawing heavily on oral history, the book goes beyond the technical story of the tramway to recount the experiences of the people who used it.
Published in 2023, the book was produced with support from the AUC School of Humanities and Social Sciences and CEDEJ-Egypte (Centre d’études et de documentation économiques, juridiques et sociales).
“This is a lively and engaging book that I truly enjoyed,” Aboul-Ghar said. “The story of the tramway is closely linked to the 1919 Revolution and many other social and political events in Egypt’s history over more than a century.”
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