Secret from the Sand: My Search for Egypt's Past

Books on ancient Egypt abound but few of their authors have the authority of Hawass, the renowned archeologist who also serves as the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo. It was Hawass who discovered the famous Valley of the Golden Mummies, and he has excavated ruins at Giza, Heliopolis and at other important ancient sites. In this beautifully illustrated volume, he reviews his career, from the moment when, after training in Greco-Roman archeology, he decided to dedicate himself to the monuments of ancient Egypt, through the discovery of his first major artifact, a statuette of Aphrodite-Isis, to the spectacular discovery of the Valley of the Golden Mummies in 1999, which he found thanks to an escaped donkey. Appropriately, the volume closes with Hawass's plans for preserving the wonders that he has seen, which are threatened by the passage of time and the traipsing of tourists. Anyone with a passion for ancient Egypt will deem this volume required reading, an invaluable addition to their collection of books. 262 illus., 251 in color.