Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Politics & government

EMPRESS OF THE NILE

Lynne Olson

The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction

The fascinating story of the feisty French archaeologist who led the international effort to save ancient Egyptian temples from the floodwaters of the Aswan Dam, from the New York Times bestselling author of Madame Fourcade's Secret War.

In the 1960s, the world's attention was focused on a nail-biting race against time - an international campaign to save over a dozen ancient Egyptian temples, built during the height of the pharaohs' rule, from drowning in the floodwaters of the gigantic new Aswan High Dam. But the massive press coverage of this unprecedented rescue effort completely overlooked the gutsy French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples - including the Met Museum's Temple of Dendur - would now be at the bottom of a gigantic reservoir. It was a project of unimaginable size and complexity that required the fragile sandstone temples to be dismantled, stone by stone, and rebuilt on higher ground.

A willful, real-life version of Indiana Jones, Desroches-Noblecourt refused to be cowed by anyone or anything. As a brave member of the French Resistance in WWII she had survived imprisonment by the Nazis; in her fight to save the temples she had to face down two of the most daunting leaders of the postwar world, Egyptian President Abdel Nasser and French President Charles de Gaulle. As she told one reporter, "You don't get anywhere without a fight, you know."

Yet Desroches-Noblecourt was not the only woman who played a crucial role in the endeavor. The other one was Jacqueline Kennedy, America's new First Lady, who persuaded her husband to call on Congress to help fund the rescue effort. After a century and a half of Western plunder of Egypt's ancient monuments, Desroches-Noblecourt had done the opposite. She had helped preserve a crucial part of its cultural heritage and, just as important, made sure it remained in its homeland.

Lynne Olson has written eight books of history, most of which deal in some way with World War II and Britain's crucial role in that conflict. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called her "our era's foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy." In addition to MADAME FOURCADE'S SECRET WAR, she's written LAST HOPE ISLAND, THOSE ANGRY DAYS, and CITIZENS OF LONDON. She is the consulting historian for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

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Book Published 2023-02-28 by Random House

Comments

An exhilarating, in-depth look at a woman whose courage never faltered, whether facing Nazi interrogators, back-stabbing archeologist colleagues, or the imminent destruction of the Egyptian monuments and artifacts she held most dear. Olson's richly detailed biography takes the reader for a magnificent ride in this heart-stopping read.

Lynne Olson's many fans know her gift for storytelling and bringing to life heroes who may not be well known but demand - indeed, rivet - our attention. Who else but Olson could have found Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, a beautiful and brave French resistance fighter who is brazen enough to tell her Gestapo interrogators to stand up when a woman enters the room? Who also happens to be a kind of female Indiana Jones working behind the scenes - alongside Jackie Kennedy! - to save the ancient temples of Egypt? Readers will devour this wonderful book

Bestseller Olson follows up Madame Fourcade's Secret War with another scintillating biography of a woman who spearheaded 'the greatest single example of international cultural cooperation the world has ever known, a campaign in the 1950s and '60s to save Nubian temples and other antiquities from flooding caused by the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt...' Enriched by fascinating digressions into Egyptian history, museum rivalries, the plundering of archaeological sites, the 1956 Suez Crisis, and more, this is a captivating portrait of a pathbreaking woman. Readers will be enthralled.

The subject of Lynne Olson's excellent biography, Empress of the Nile, isn't, as you might think, Cleopatra, but rather the "daredevil archaeologist" Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, best known for helping save massive ancient temples from destruction. Olson, whose many previous books spotlight unsung heroes and heroines of that war, is here at her best... Empress of the Nile tells her story well, embedding it in the history of modern Egyptian archaeology. Empress of the Nile is a welcome and needed work of both rescue and reclamation.

Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt was one of the leading Egyptologists of the 20th century, yet her remarkable achievements have received little attention. Lynne Olson has done her justice with this comprehensive biography.

A well-documented and sensitive portrait of a remarkable woman who shared her passion for Egypt and inspired so many others to find their calling, myself included, while at the same time helping to reinvigorate the Louvre.

UK / C: Scribe ; Chinese (simpl.): Chongqing Everbook Media

Lynne Olson now spotlights a pioneering French female Egyptologist... who fell in love with Egypt's rich history and wealth of archaeological treasures at a young age... Olson provides a gripping account of an extraordinary life.