A thrilling history of the West’s scramble for the riches of ancient Egypt by the foremost Egyptologist of our time.

Praise for Toby Wilkinson and The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

"With a literary flair and a sense for a story well told, Mr. Wilkinson offers a highly readable, factually up-to-date account."
– Wall Street Journal

"[Wilkinson] writes with considerable verve…[He] is nimble at conveying the sumptuous pageantry and cultural sophistication of pharaonic Egypt."
– New York Times

"Magisterial…[A] rich portrait of ancient Egypt’s complex evolution over the course of three millenniums."
– Los Angeles Times

"A magnificent, illuminating, and refreshingly readable overview of the entire phenomenon of ancient Egypt."
– Washington Post

"Absolutely divine…[A] thorough, erudite, and enthusiastic gallop through an astonishing three thousand years."
– Sunday Times (UK)

"I had always presumed, before I read Wilkinson’s book, that it was impossible to write a history of Egypt which combined scholarship, accessibility, and a genuine sense of revelation. I was wrong."
– Tom Holland, Observer (UK)

"Egypt has for the past four thousand years been much vaunted, much debated…The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt [adds] impressively to this tradition."
– Bettany Hughes, The Times (UK)

From the decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822 to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon a hundred years later, the uncovering of Egypt’s ancient past took place in an atmosphere of grand adventure and international rivalry.

In A World Beneath the Sands, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson chronicles the ruthless race between the British, French, Germans, and Americans to lay claim to its mysteries and treasures. He tells riveting stories of the men and women whose obsession with Egypt’s ancient civilization helped to enrich and transform our understanding of the Nile Valley and its people, and left a lasting impression on Egypt, too. Travelers and treasure-hunters, ethnographers and archaeologists: whatever their motives, whatever their methods, a century of adventure and scholarship revealed a lost world, buried for centuries beneath the sands.