Treasured

<b>Christina Riggs </b>is Professor of the History of Visual Culture at Durham University and an expert on the history of the Tutankhamun excavation. She is the author of several books including <i>Photographing Tutankhamun </i>and <i>Ancient Egyptian Magic: A Hands-on Guide.</i> <b>'Impeccably researched </b><b>and </b><b>beautifully written' David Wengrow</b><br><b>'Utterly original' Paul Strathern</b><br><br>When it was found in 1922 the 3300-year old tomb of Tutankhamun sent shockwaves around the world turning the boy-king into a household name overnight and kickstarting an international media obsession that endures to this day.<br><br>From pop culture and politics to tourism and heritage and from the Jazz Age to the climate crisis it's impossible to imagine the twentieth century without the discovery of Tutankhamun - yet so much of the story remains untold. Here for the first time Christina Riggs weaves compelling historical analysis with tales of lives touched by an encounter with Tutankhamun including her own. <i>Treasured </i>offers a bold new history of the young pharaoh who has as much to tell us about our world as his own.<br><br><b>'Searching</b> <b>masterful </b><b>and </b><b>eloquent' </b><b>James Delbourgo</b> <b>A surprising new history of Tutankhamun published to coincide with the centenary of his tomb's discovery.</b> This <b>utterly original </b>work by Christina Riggs tells the <b>remarkable </b>story of how the discovery of <b>Tutankhamun </b>changed not only her own life but that of the century following its discovery. This is no dry tome but a tale of personal obsessions -- her own and that of many others who were affected by this most sensational discovery. <b>Searching</b> <b>masterful </b>and <b>eloquent</b> <i>Treasured </i>plunges the reader into the <b>mesmerizing </b>story of Tutankhamun and the unending struggle for meaning identity and money his rediscovery ignited a century ago. A deeply personal account that reveals how the scientific claims of Egyptology remain unable to match the mythological power of Tutmania and how gazing on the boy king's golden face has shaped our perceptions of Egypt - and ourselves. At last a serious treatment of one of the twentieth century's most important cultural icons. Through the lens of its most famous discovery Tutankhamun's tomb Christina Riggs demolishes the great man view of archaeology to reveal a true social history of our modern engagement with ancient Egypt - filled with messy tragic politicised and often haunting encounters that span the globe. <b>Impeccably researched </b>and <b>beautifully written</b> <i>Treasured </i>is infinitely more accurate and <b>fascinating </b>than what's gone before. Christina Riggs brings a host of fresh perspectives to the story of Tutankhamun - a story you might feel you know but really don't. A fabulous cultural history of the boy-king's discovery and the complex afterlife of that global event weaving together colonial and Egyptian elements with the strange international role the pharaoh's body and treasures have taken on in the last 100 years. <b>Elegant</b> <b>compelling </b>and <b>illuminating</b>.