Treasured

A surprising new history of Tutankhamun published to coincide with the centenary of his tomb's discovery.

When it was found in 1922, the 3,300-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.

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. Treasured offers a bold new history of the young pharaoh who has as much to tell us about our world as his own.

“This utterly original work by Christina Riggs tells the remarkable story of how the discovery of Tutankhamun 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.” PAUL STRATHERN