Bedouin, Settlers, and Holiday-Makers: Egypt's Changing Northwest Coast

The arid regions impose strict limits upon human existence and activity. And yet by respecting those limits, the flourishing and stable culture of these regions has for centuries been sustained. In the late twentieth century, however, forces such as modernization, globalization, and the politics and economics of nations became so great that major changes in the old ways had to take place for the sake of survival.

Egypt's northwest coast, where meager coastal rains have supported a sparse but...