This is the history of ancient Egypt. And since the Nile controls life in that distant country, this is also the story of a river.

On the rich black mud banks of the Nile lived the people who first began to make history thousands of years ago. Those earliest Egyptians lived in primitive mud huts, and their system of government was crude. But as centuries passed, the Egyptians prospered. Mighty Pharaohs ruled their land—Pharaohs who founded powerful empires and left monuments that still stand. A civilization came into being which gave the world discoveries and inventions that are still used. The Gift of the River tells the story of the rise and fall of this civilization in terms of the simple men and women who lived on the banks of the river that brings rich soil yearly to Egypt from the heart of Africa.

The games, gardens, flowers, homes, boats are shown in pictures carefully redrawn from authentic ancient ones. Soldiers, farmers, fishermen, and kings—how they lived and how they looked—are portrayed vividly in picture and simple text.

This story of an ancient people is presented by a distinguished writer for children. It makes history colorful and dramatic, and invests it with the allure of fiction.

From the dust jacket