Then and Now: Egypt's Story is a fascinating journey that takes the reader through Egypt's political, economic and social changes throughout the ages. With not a single boring page, but a rather colorful, and sometimes poetic text, it is an historical account in which Shabka describes the “events that reflected and influenced social and cultural values and practices in Egypt through the centuries," and how these shape the "core of an Egyptian's world-view and self-view." As a social scientist, Shabka focuses on the development of religion, customs, and values which have formed the foundation of Egypt's social structure and its people's view of the world, of themselves and of the very foundations of their ancient civilization. Indeed, this is not only a book for historians, but also one for all social scientists, and for any educated person.