Mirage Napoleon's scientists and the unveiling of Egypt
Two centuries ago, only the most reckless Europeans dared traverse the Middle East. Its history and peoples were the subject of myth and speculation--and no region aroused greater interest than Egypt. It was not until 1798, when an unlikely band of scientific explorers traveled from Paris to the Nil...
| Main Author: | Burleigh, Nina. |
|---|---|
| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Harper,
c2007.
|
| Edition: | 1st ed. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
Two centuries ago, only the most reckless Europeans dared traverse the Middle East. Its history and peoples were the subject of myth and speculation--and no region aroused greater interest than Egypt. It was not until 1798, when an unlikely band of scientific explorers traveled from Paris to the Nile Valley, that Westerners received their first real glimpse of what lay beyond the Mediterranean. Under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte, a small corps of Paris's brightest left the safety of their laboratories, studios, and classrooms to embark into the unknown--some never to see French shores again. Over 150 astronomers, mathematicians, naturalists, physicists, doctors, chemists, engineers, botanists, artists--even a poet and a musicologist--accompanied Napoleon's troops into Egypt. They approached the land not as colonizers, but as experts in their fields of scholarship, meticulously categorizing and collecting their finds, and secured their place in history as the world's earliest-known archaeologists.--From publisher description. |
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| Physical Description: |
xv, 286 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-269) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780060597672 0060597674 |
| Author Notes: |
Nina Burleigh grew up in several different regions including San Francisco, Baghdad, and later Michigan. She began as an intern at the Associated Press where she learned a great deal about govenrment and writing journalism. She covered The White House and Congress for People and Time. She soon became a staff writer for People Magazine in the 2000's. She then went on to be a National Politics Correspondent for Newsweek in 2015. Her journalism experience motivated her to become an author. Her book title's include: Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt, Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land, The Fatal Gift of Beauty, and The Stranger and the Statesman: Jame sSmithson, John Quincy Adams and the Making of America's Greatest Museum. (Bowker Author Biography) |