Hessler 'spin[s] golden prose from everyday lived experience ... The result is a small triumph, one of the best books yet written about the Arab spring.

At once engrossing and illuminating ... this stakes a strong claim to being the definitive book to emerge from the Egyptian revolution.

Nuanced and deeply intelligent-a view of Egyptian politics that sometimes seems to look at everything but and that opens onto an endlessly complex place and people.

Hessler introduces unexpected prisms of enquiry and the intimate perspective of an endlessly curious observer ... The book achieves a great deal. It provides outstanding reportage of the Arab Spring but, better yet, are Hessler's accounts of the people he encountered. ... this spirited, deeply insightful book.

The Buried is wonderfully impressive, not a conventional travel book at all, but the chronicle of a family's residence in Egypt, in a time of revolution - years of turmoil in this maddening place. And yet Peter Hessler remains unflustered as he learns the language, makes friends, puts up with annoyances (rats, water shortages, mendacity) and delves into the politics of the present and the ancient complexities. It is in all senses archeology - tenacious, revelatory, and humane.

[An] extraordinary survey of contemporary China...really quite unforgettable

Original, richly layered, and often delightful reporting. Hessler has a sharp sense of humor, a gift for observation, a healthy skepticism, and a knack for using memorable characters and anecdotes to demonstrate larger truths . . . This is what reporting can be at its best: clear-eyed and empathetic, an addition to the historical record.

Drawing both from daily life and from interviews with highly placed political figures, the book is an extraordinary work of reportage ... Sensitive and perceptive

Destined to become the title that all first-time visitors to Egypt are urged to pack. . . . Hessler is an extraordinary writer.

This is writing at its best and highly recommended for anyone interested in Egypt, modern or ancient.

Peter Hessler is one of the finest storytellers of his generation.

If you read only one book about China, let it be this

Peter Hessler is one of the finest storytellers of his generation. The beauty of his writing is subtle and cumulative-it gets under your skin. After his years in China, Hessler moved with his family to Cairo during the electric, chaotic days of protests in Tahrir Square. Through him, you come to know many Egyptians as he came to know them-casually, intimately, forming deepening ties. And through them you experience Egypt's turbulent recent history as it was happening, as it felt to live through it.

It is both beautiful and heartbreaking ... Hessler has a genius for structuring a narrative. ... Every page is vivid and engaging, and each chapter packs in surprises.

A swirl of interconnecting stories and histories make up Peter Hessler's extraordinary, genre-defying second book