“Conflicted Antiquities is superb, the definitive work on the place of ancient Egypt in the imaginations and politics of Europe and Egypt. Elliott Colla presents translations and analyses of Arabic literature not previously available, and he brings together for the first time European and modern Egyptian appropriations of and discourses on ancient Egypt. The range of materials that he analyzes is astounding and rich; the footnotes alone are worth the price of the book.” — Lila Abu-Lughod, author of Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt “Written in an engaging, thoughtful, and provocative style, Conflicted Antiquities provides a unique perspective on the ‘consumption’ of ancient Egypt. What makes it distinctive is Elliott Colla’s focus on Egyptian readings of the ancient past, an area which has been greatly neglected. Colla has much that is fresh and new to contribute, especially since the resources on which he draws are not widely known nor easy to get hold of.”— Stephanie Moser, author of Wondrous Curiosities: Ancient Egypt at the British Museum “Conflicted Antiquities presents an exhaustively researched and sharply written account of how Egyptian Pharaonic monuments, the sites and buildings that house them, and the personnel who have worked to uncover and care for them have acquired and changed meaning over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. . . . Anyone who picks up Conflicting Antiquities will come away from its reading with a more complete understanding of the relationship between science and colonialism, of the politics inherent to modern tourism, and of the power of the ancients to shape the governing practices of the present. In every case, readers will be delighted by Colla’s prose, impressed with his erudition, and engaged by the connections he forges between the appropriated past and the contested present.”
Lisa Pollard
International Journal of Middle East Studies