Kevin Canfield, who previously reviewed the author’s Strange Stones: Dispatches from East and West for the paper in 2013, a collection of short form pieces from The New Yorker and elsewhere, reviews The Buried:
Like his terrific 2013 book "Strange Stones: Dispatches From East and West," this one seamlessly blends memoir, history and energetic reporting. ...Hessler subtly juxtaposes examples of ancient ingenuity with the intractable problems of the modern world. At a 4,000-year-old temple, he sees a hieroglyphic word — nefr — painted on an interior wall. This "means 'good,' " an archaeologist explains. "Supervisors in ancient times," Hessler continues, "used to check the construction quality and leave the hieroglyph.” ...Although Egypt and America may never fully understand each other, reporters such as Hessler help narrow the gap. In "The Buried," he's crafted an edifying portrait of a nation that experienced a dramatic uprising — and hasn't changed as much as many of its citizens had hoped.
Peter Hessler’s The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution is published by Penguin Press in North America, Profile Books in the United Kingdom, and Text Publishing in Australia and New Zealand.