Dr. Lynn Meskell attempts to reveal the daily life of ancient Egypt in her monograph, Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt. As the title reveals, his work focuses on New Kingdom Egypt, particularly the 18th and 20th dynasties, between 1539 and 1075 BC. The book summarizes material relating to the areas of lived experience and social interaction, particularly in the village of Deir el Medina, the community of workers employed to build the royal tombs of the New Kingdom. Much of his work has drawn on the wealth of largely overlooked evidence from 18th Dynasty village cemeteries. It makes use of village texts, as well as incorporating material and textual evidence from other sites and contexts, seeking a thorough integration of textual, visual and archaeological material. His thesis aims to "present the complexity and sophistication of Egyptian society" (2) and to "argue that the life cycle model is more consistent with the Egyptian evidence than... traditional categorizations" as outlined in his first chapter (93 ). He further states that "textual, pictorial, and archaeological evidence makes it clear that the cycle itself was open to gender differences" (93). Thus, chapters 2 through 7 present the big picture of the individual life cycle, moving from "becoming a person" (chapter 3) to courtship, marriage, and divorce (chapters 4, 5), and finally, explorations of sexuality and sensuality centered on the individual body, in life (chapters 5, 6) and in death (chapter 7). Many of the discussions in this context focus on women's lives and the thematization of female bodies in different fields. The author takes a negative position regarding the social position of women in ancient Egypt s...... middle of paper ...... which may be of interest to Egyptologists, in particular, on the private lives of women and children in Deir el Medina. Meskell is very editorial in his interpretations, but scholars and students of Egyptology will be able to see beyond his comments and make their own assessments from the integrated primary source evidence. This book will be especially useful in upper-level classes, as it serves as an example of a scholarly source filled with controversy. Meskell challenges conventional views and opens new perspectives on Egyptian culture and its interpretation. Work cited Meskell, Lynn Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt. Princeton University Press: Princeton. 2002