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duchessofreadin's review against another edition
5.0
During the excavations in the Valley of the Kings, there were tantalizing clues to the tomb of Tutankhamun, a king who previously was unknown. Additionally, other clues were found, in blocks that had been removed from temples, and reused for other building projects by later pharaohs.
When Howard Carter began digging in the Valley, he was certain that there were tombs that had not been located, and he spend years searching for them. Under the employ of Lord Carnarvon, they began working in the Valley, eventually locating a tomb that was virtually intact.
Throughout this book, Bob Brier takes us on the journey of the attempts to find Tutankhamun, the politics surrounding the opening of the tomb, and the different figures that were prevalent in the clearing of the tomb.
This was a fabulous read, and I was not ready for the book to end! I was hooked, unable to set it down. It was one of those "give me more" reads, that you look forward to. Dr. Brier has again brought a work that leaves you enthralled, waiting to see what is going to happen on the next page. While we are familiar with the many items that were found within the tomb, and the fabulous treasures it contained, there are many items that have never been properly documented, researched, or put out for viewing. There is so much more to this tomb than what we have already seen!
When Howard Carter began digging in the Valley, he was certain that there were tombs that had not been located, and he spend years searching for them. Under the employ of Lord Carnarvon, they began working in the Valley, eventually locating a tomb that was virtually intact.
Throughout this book, Bob Brier takes us on the journey of the attempts to find Tutankhamun, the politics surrounding the opening of the tomb, and the different figures that were prevalent in the clearing of the tomb.
This was a fabulous read, and I was not ready for the book to end! I was hooked, unable to set it down. It was one of those "give me more" reads, that you look forward to. Dr. Brier has again brought a work that leaves you enthralled, waiting to see what is going to happen on the next page. While we are familiar with the many items that were found within the tomb, and the fabulous treasures it contained, there are many items that have never been properly documented, researched, or put out for viewing. There is so much more to this tomb than what we have already seen!
redhairedashreads's review
5.0
This was an in depth look at Tutankhamun and how the discovery of his tomb changed the world. This book is broken into three parts that break down the different parts of Tut’s discovery and legacy: history of the tomb, Tut finally revealed, and Tut’s legacy.
This starts by giving us the history of Howard Carter and what led up to him discovering the tomb, the long excavation of the tomb, and the tension and issues between Carter and the Egyptian Government. I found this part to be very interesting because while I know the basics of how Carter discovered the tomb, I didn’t realize how revolutionary he was in excavating, preserving, and documenting the process of clearing a royal tomb. I also never realized how much tensions and problems there were between Carter and the Egyptian government surrounding this discovery.
This goes over recent (pre-2022) discoveries surrounding Tut that involved x-raying his body, scanning Tut’s tomb for another hidden room, and DNA sequencing that led to identifying some of his family members' mummies. There are also multiple chapters about recent discoveries from items from Tut’s tomb due to all of his items being moved and conserved for the new Egyptian museum.
While Carter was way ahead of his times in clearing and documenting this tomb, we also see a lot of disregard in other areas, such as with the mummy of Tutankhamun. It amazed me how he didn’t care to damage the body of Tut as long as it came out of the coffins and he got the items that were wrapped up with him. We are also finding as the years pass that he gave things from Tut’s tomb to others and kept some for himself even when he wasn’t supposed to, all because he felt like he deserved it since he discovered the tomb.
Part three is about Tutankhamun’s legacy with the main one being pushing the Egyptians to fight against colonialism in Egypt, and enact strict laws about Egyptian cultural artifacts. This is why Egyptian artifacts belong to Egypt now and not the country/ person who finds them. While I knew Tut was one of the most well known things about Egypt, I never realized that his discovery is what pushed the government to fight to keep their treasuries and to enact strict policies on archeologists.
While this is a few years old now, I still think this is a great resource to learn about the discovery of the boy king and how he changed the world. I highly recommend this audiobook.
ialwayshaveabook's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
art_books_chemistry's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Classism, Violence, Slavery, Sexism, and War
emilyks's review against another edition
4.0
Informative, both regarding king tut’s life and the archeological milestones that occurred while uncovering his tomb.
mojostdennis's review against another edition
5.0
read harder challenge 2023: read a book with under 500 goodreads ratings
shanaqui's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I've been fascinated by ancient Egypt since I was a kid, like many people. One of the books that fed that interest when I was a teenager was Bob Brier's The Murder of Tutankhamen, so I was intrigued to get this and read about his current take on the state of Tutankhamun studies. I also knew he said some things people found controversial and unnecessary about Howard Carter (highlighting what appeared to be thefts from the tomb), which... I was curious about, and not too surprised about.
Brier writes engagingly, and there's a lot of fascinating stuff. I did find it not always entirely clear when a theory was considered solid or not -- sometimes he'd report a recent theory and say that this and that were found on experimentation, and give all positive-sounding evidence about it... and then sort of step back and say well, we can't trust that evidence. It's probably easier to digest if you discuss both the positives and the negatives all in one go! (In particular I found this with the chapter aDNA testing on the mummies to establish familial relationships. Brier sounded like he was behind their conclusions, at least to me, and then in the next chapter mentioned how obviously it couldn't be true.)
It's definitely an interesting update both on the understanding of Tutankhamun and on Brier's understanding of Tutankhamun, especially if you read his popular book, which suggested that Tutankhamun was murdered, when it was current. He's completely disavowed all those theories now, but makes brief reference to them here.
It remains a popular book and biased, I think, to the author's specific interests and view of the world. For example, he repeatedly conflates disability with frailty, which may or may not be true (someone with a club foot may still be fairly hale in other ways, for example). He's very keen to portray Tutankhamun a certain way, and it's important to remember that Brier is not neutral (no one is) in those interpretations. Some of this stuff we just don't know, and is very difficult to know now thanks to the poor condition of Tutankhamun's body.
Brier writes engagingly, and there's a lot of fascinating stuff. I did find it not always entirely clear when a theory was considered solid or not -- sometimes he'd report a recent theory and say that this and that were found on experimentation, and give all positive-sounding evidence about it... and then sort of step back and say well, we can't trust that evidence. It's probably easier to digest if you discuss both the positives and the negatives all in one go! (In particular I found this with the chapter aDNA testing on the mummies to establish familial relationships. Brier sounded like he was behind their conclusions, at least to me, and then in the next chapter mentioned how obviously it couldn't be true.)
It's definitely an interesting update both on the understanding of Tutankhamun and on Brier's understanding of Tutankhamun, especially if you read his popular book, which suggested that Tutankhamun was murdered, when it was current. He's completely disavowed all those theories now, but makes brief reference to them here.
It remains a popular book and biased, I think, to the author's specific interests and view of the world. For example, he repeatedly conflates disability with frailty, which may or may not be true (someone with a club foot may still be fairly hale in other ways, for example). He's very keen to portray Tutankhamun a certain way, and it's important to remember that Brier is not neutral (no one is) in those interpretations. Some of this stuff we just don't know, and is very difficult to know now thanks to the poor condition of Tutankhamun's body.
libreva's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
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