In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun's Tomb

An entirely new perspective on one of history’s most fascinating subjects—not just what was inside King Tutankhamun’s famous tomb, but the amazing journey of the remarkable man who discovered itThere is no more famous moment in all of archaeology than the opening of King Tut’s tomb by Howard Carter. But the real story lies in who Carter was and what it took him to get there. Egypt was like the Wild West in the early days of the twentieth century. Millionaire patrons with little knowledge or experience funded enormous digs by eccentric and often unscrupulous archaeologists. Carter, an artist with little education and no sophistication, traveled to Egypt as a seventeen-year-old with an uncertain future. His patron, Lord Carnarvon, originally came to Egypt to restore his shattered health.The two men would make history—but only after seven years of backbreaking work with absolutely no results to show for it. They were considered the laughingstocks of Middle Egypt until fame overtook them both. Only two months later Carnarvon was dead (a victim of the tomb’s curse, men said) and Carter was discredited, bitter, and broken. Archaeology would never be the same.