"Utterly original ...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
“Impeccably researched and beautifully written, Treasured is infinitely more accurate and fascinating than what’s gone before.” —David Wengrow, co-author of The Dawn of Everything
“Searching, masterful and eloquent, Treasured plunges the reader into the mesmerizing story of Tutankhamun and the unending struggle for meaning, identity and money his rediscovery ignited a century ago.” —James Delbourgo, author of Collecting the World
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.