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In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun's Tomb
In 1922, the British archaeologist Howard Carter opened King Tutankhamun’s tomb, illuminating the glories of an ancient civilization. And while the world celebrated the extraordinary revelation that gave Carter international renown and an indelible place in history, by the time of his death, the discovery had nearly destroyed him. Now, in a stunning feat of narrative nonfiction, Daniel Meyerson has written a thrilling and evocative account of this remarkable man and his times.
Carter began his career inauspiciously. At the age of seventeen–unknown, untrained, untried–he was hired as a copyist of tomb art by the brash, brilliant, and boldly unkempt father of modern archaeology, W. F. Petrie. Carter struck out on his own a few years later, sensing that something amazing lay buried beneath his feet, waiting for him to uncover it.
But others had the same idea: The ancient cities of Egypt were crawling with European adventurers and their wealthy sponsors, each hoping to outdo the others with glittering discoveries–even as growing nationalist resentment against foreigners plundering the country’s most treasured antiquities simmered dangerously in the background.
Not until Carter met up with the risk-taking, adventure-loving occultist Lord Carnarvon did his fortunes change. There were stark differences in personality and temperament between the cantankerous Carter and his gregarious patron, but together they faced down endless ridicule from the most respected explorers of the day. Seven dusty and dispiriting years after their first meeting, their dream came to astonishing life.
But there would be a price to pay for this partnership, their discovery, and the glory and fame it brought both men–and the chain of events that transpired in the wake of their success remains fascinating and shocking to this day.
An enthralling story told with unprecedented verve, In the Valley of the Kings is a tale of mania and greed, of fame and lost fortune, of history and its damnations. As he did in The Linguist and the Emperor, Daniel Meyerson puts his exciting storytelling powers on full display, revealing an almost forgotten time when past and present came crashing together with the power to change–or curse–men’s lives.
Carter began his career inauspiciously. At the age of seventeen–unknown, untrained, untried–he was hired as a copyist of tomb art by the brash, brilliant, and boldly unkempt father of modern archaeology, W. F. Petrie. Carter struck out on his own a few years later, sensing that something amazing lay buried beneath his feet, waiting for him to uncover it.
But others had the same idea: The ancient cities of Egypt were crawling with European adventurers and their wealthy sponsors, each hoping to outdo the others with glittering discoveries–even as growing nationalist resentment against foreigners plundering the country’s most treasured antiquities simmered dangerously in the background.
Not until Carter met up with the risk-taking, adventure-loving occultist Lord Carnarvon did his fortunes change. There were stark differences in personality and temperament between the cantankerous Carter and his gregarious patron, but together they faced down endless ridicule from the most respected explorers of the day. Seven dusty and dispiriting years after their first meeting, their dream came to astonishing life.
But there would be a price to pay for this partnership, their discovery, and the glory and fame it brought both men–and the chain of events that transpired in the wake of their success remains fascinating and shocking to this day.
An enthralling story told with unprecedented verve, In the Valley of the Kings is a tale of mania and greed, of fame and lost fortune, of history and its damnations. As he did in The Linguist and the Emperor, Daniel Meyerson puts his exciting storytelling powers on full display, revealing an almost forgotten time when past and present came crashing together with the power to change–or curse–men’s lives.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
March 12, 2018
British archaeologist Howard Carter had the technical expertise to uncover one of the greatest finds in history, the burial chambers of King Tutankhamun. But what about the man behind the myth and the curse of the pharaohs? Did he have a romance with Lady Evelyn Herbert, the teenage daughter of his patron, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon? This why I set out to read the book "In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun" by Daniel Meyerson. I have been slowly reading books about Egyptology since I visited the British museum which holds the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt.
Daniel Meyerson does not disappoint with his biography of the stubborn and unhappy loner, Howard Carter. I found Carter's life story very interesting and it only made me want to know more about him and the expedition. This is what a well-written book does, it whets the appetite for more knowledge. I recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated by archaeology.
Daniel Meyerson does not disappoint with his biography of the stubborn and unhappy loner, Howard Carter. I found Carter's life story very interesting and it only made me want to know more about him and the expedition. This is what a well-written book does, it whets the appetite for more knowledge. I recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated by archaeology.
September 1, 2016
Howard Carter and the mystery of King Tutankhamun's Tomb! Sounds exciting, right? But Daniel Meyerson went ahead and achieved the impossible here. I should say he did an “Ang Lee". Oscar nominated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was sure an achievement. But I felt it was... boring. An impossible feat to achieve for a Martial Arts movie! (Am I going to lose some friendship points by saying that?)
Meyerson did the same here. His research is good, but the writing is not up to par for such an interesting subject (Or maybe we should blame his editor?). The writing feels disjointed, and he tends to go off on tangents. One chapter might start by describing the events of the year 1908 and then by the middle, he starts writing about young Carter and then suddenly jumps to year 1898 and then without any indication, he returns to the year 1908, the original year proclaimed on the title of the chapter.
And what’s worse, Tutankhamun's Tomb just gets a passing mention and that too only in the concluding chapters.
It’s a shame really, because Howard Carter’s achievement was unprecedented. More so, as he had no education, no money, no family background, and no training in Egyptology. He couldn’t speak Arabic or French. And yet he became the first person to uncover a tomb that had been sealed for thousands of years (Every other tomb was robbed at some point of time in history by tomb-robbers). Carter had nothing but his stubbornness and an iron determination to do that.
If it’s this book’s editor fault for making a mess of it, I wonder if he can point out Egypt on the world map.
Meyerson did the same here. His research is good, but the writing is not up to par for such an interesting subject (Or maybe we should blame his editor?). The writing feels disjointed, and he tends to go off on tangents. One chapter might start by describing the events of the year 1908 and then by the middle, he starts writing about young Carter and then suddenly jumps to year 1898 and then without any indication, he returns to the year 1908, the original year proclaimed on the title of the chapter.
And what’s worse, Tutankhamun's Tomb just gets a passing mention and that too only in the concluding chapters.
It’s a shame really, because Howard Carter’s achievement was unprecedented. More so, as he had no education, no money, no family background, and no training in Egyptology. He couldn’t speak Arabic or French. And yet he became the first person to uncover a tomb that had been sealed for thousands of years (Every other tomb was robbed at some point of time in history by tomb-robbers). Carter had nothing but his stubbornness and an iron determination to do that.
If it’s this book’s editor fault for making a mess of it, I wonder if he can point out Egypt on the world map.
March 18, 2020
This book is a highly romanticized version of the life of Carter BEFORE the discovery of King Tut's tomb. If you're looking for a detailed account of the discovery of King Tut's tomb, this is not the right book for you.
Having said that, I enjoyed the style of the writer, it is a enjoyable read and it gives a good overview of the mood and atmosphere the various excavators were operating at that time.
Having said that, I enjoyed the style of the writer, it is a enjoyable read and it gives a good overview of the mood and atmosphere the various excavators were operating at that time.
November 25, 2022
Mostly a telling of Howard Carter's life as a youth with a talent for art - he provided paintings and watercolors of client's lapdogs and other animals in order to make a living until he was offered the opportunity to work in Egypt copying the walls, friezes and architectural decoration for an excavation. He actually was mentored by Sir William Flinders Petrie, noted excavator (archaeologist) where Carter acquired most of his digging and Egyptology knowledge.
Of course, a short history of Egypt from the ancient times through the many hands it passed and the convoluted leadership it was under during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - Ottoman control with an Egyptian ruler while England took it away but the French had control of the antiquities departments especially that of approving concessions to excavate (permits).
Carter was positive that the Valley of the Kings still held at least one more royal grave and it was with the fifth Earl of Carnarvon and six long seasons of excavations before he finally struck it - the seventh - and last - season and the staircase that had been buried under some diggers' huts from antiquity. The book basically ends with Carter peering into the tomb and saying that noted quote "Yes, wonderful things.". Of course, the world again was ancient-Egypt obsessed and wanted to personally see the tomb and maybe take a few artifacts home but the epilogue, which mostly takes place after the death of Carter's sponsor, reveals the two year battle between Carter & the estate verses the Egyptian antiquities who had declared the tomb intact so the contents had to stay in Egypt rather that not intact (robbed of jewelry and unguents thousands of years ago) so half was Egypt's and half belonged to the excavators. Carter eventually lost but gained the right to record and clear the tomb.
So many are focused on the thousands of the artifacts and their tremendous beauty along with the insight into the ancient life of a royal pharaoh without realizing the monumental egos of individuals as well as governments involved at that time.
It's been 100 years this year (2022) since the discovery of Tutankhamun and he still captivates all who manage to see the contents of his tomb.
2022-259
Of course, a short history of Egypt from the ancient times through the many hands it passed and the convoluted leadership it was under during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - Ottoman control with an Egyptian ruler while England took it away but the French had control of the antiquities departments especially that of approving concessions to excavate (permits).
Carter was positive that the Valley of the Kings still held at least one more royal grave and it was with the fifth Earl of Carnarvon and six long seasons of excavations before he finally struck it - the seventh - and last - season and the staircase that had been buried under some diggers' huts from antiquity. The book basically ends with Carter peering into the tomb and saying that noted quote "Yes, wonderful things.". Of course, the world again was ancient-Egypt obsessed and wanted to personally see the tomb and maybe take a few artifacts home but the epilogue, which mostly takes place after the death of Carter's sponsor, reveals the two year battle between Carter & the estate verses the Egyptian antiquities who had declared the tomb intact so the contents had to stay in Egypt rather that not intact (robbed of jewelry and unguents thousands of years ago) so half was Egypt's and half belonged to the excavators. Carter eventually lost but gained the right to record and clear the tomb.
So many are focused on the thousands of the artifacts and their tremendous beauty along with the insight into the ancient life of a royal pharaoh without realizing the monumental egos of individuals as well as governments involved at that time.
It's been 100 years this year (2022) since the discovery of Tutankhamun and he still captivates all who manage to see the contents of his tomb.
2022-259
September 10, 2009
A fascinating book that reads like fiction. Colorful characters, intrigue, suspense, humor...this is no academic read, thank goodness. Meyerson casts an unsparing light on Carter, yet seems genuinely fond of him, warts and all. It's a much more balanced view compared to other books I've read on this subject.
Read
January 20, 2023I checked out this book from the S.F. Public Library after a trip to the anemic Tutankhamun exhibition at the De Young Museum this summer, the former being something quite out of character for me as I normally am a book purchaser rather than a book borrower. Both my fiancée and I were keenly interested in learning more about the Carter expedition in the Valley of the Kings after feeling like we'd both been let down by the museum's lack of background information within the exhibit. As it turns out, our excavation for the greater story will go on, as I would not read this book past the fourth chapter.
It might seem unfair or even inappropriate to post a review of In the Valley of the Kings after perusing only a short section of the book. But the truth is that I simply do not have the time for Daniel Meyerson's writing style. In short, I found it fanciful, meandering, speculative, and self-reverential. Here we have a professor of writing at Columbia attempting to pen a narrative history of Howard Carter and the culture of the archaeology community surrounding him through his life. He does this using mostly primary-source journal entries rather than the longer list of survey and archaeological histories also present in his bibliography. That alone would not be a poor choice, but he insists on painting subjective and liberty-strewn portraits of the major players in this story, which gives it an air of spuriousness. From Meyerson's branding of Gaston Maspero's purview in the Service des Antiquitiés as that of a "dictatorship", to his assessment that period pictures of William Flinders Petrie, the father of modern archaeology, would be more fitting were he to be naked rather than suited, as befits his excavation style. It is these "gliberties" that brand the author as anything but a historian trying to write a popular history book, much more akin to something Dan Brown would call "accurate" than anything else.
Meyerson has trouble clearly conveying a timeline for his slapdash list of events: Howard Carter's horse trips over a stone tomb block in 1898 even though he is narrating from Carter's point-of-view in 1900. In the next sentence, he describes the archaeologist's report from 1901 that describes the fall three years earlier, which then brings us back to 1900, two years after the fall, when he could finally begin excavation on the block over which he had tripped. And in essence, this is all ancillary, because Carter's spill-discovery was virtually empty, and was certainly not the tomb of the famous boy Pharaoh. The end of the chapter then spends two pages foreshadowing the fact that, though this one was not an important find, Carter would eventually find Tut's tomb and go on to fulfill his childhood dreams, etc. The beginning of the next chapter contains nothing about that find whatsoever, only more character-building and creative attribution. I could not tell you what comes after as I have not read that far. One would suspect that the tomb is eventually found, as history has it, but I would not feel confident in letting the author decree it so, at least in his staccato style.
His citations are curious. Instead of numbered endnotes or footnotes, Meyerson has a chapter of Notes in the end section of the book that simply lists a series of journal quotes that he used with a citation from where they were taken. (ex. 19 "a dominant personality" Emma Andrews diary, January 17th 1902.) None of these have corresponding numbers within the chapters themselves, which makes finding them in the text an unnecessary chore. It goes without saying that seeing sentence fragments in any guise from a professor of writing seems odd to this reviewer.
These things could quite honestly be skills unsuited to Meyerson's discipline, so we turn to what we can only suppose is his specialty: the writing craft. But the narrative of Kings is perhaps too effulgent and clever to be easily readable or even cogent. The flowery, bardic prose is spattered with unnecessary parentheticals that seem like either a wink-nudge to his audience or maybe an admission that there really isn't the space here to offer properly parsed background. What should be the delicate use of foreshadowing is boldly hammered throughout the first third of the book, just about ruining "the mystery" altogether. The subject matter doesn't seem to follow a flowing storyline within the division of chapters he has chosen to delineate. Perhaps most markedly, Meyerson allows himself to divert from the telling to meander around the creative images in his head: "Here, in the barren land of the quarries, inscriptions on stone recorded jubilant voices raised in self-praise." This, right in the middle of our introduction to William Petrie. Distracting, to say the least.
I think I get what Daniel Meyerson is trying to do; I think I understand his angle. The professor has done some good research, and though he may not be an expert on the period or the subject matter, he is trying to tantalize his audience using the skills he has and also teach them a little about what was going on in the desert during Carter's tenure there. For this, I give this effort two stars. But the fact remains that some people don't want to slog through a mile of mangrove to learn about alligators. I picked up this book because I thought it would teach me the pertinent background to Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun's Tomb, but really, it only taught me that I enjoy proper history far more than narrative, speculative mythistoire. Moreso, I'm ashamed that I gave up on a book, something that I almost never do. Perhaps I'll try again one day, but not before I read a bit more on the subject from other sources.
Whatever Time, Harper's, and the Washington Post might have positively said about one of his other books, The Linguist and the Emperor, on the back of this one is a lone endorsement written by a colleague of Meyerson's at Columbia. This is all English, all Literature, all Writing. It is not History, and for me, it is not palatable. And it adds fuel to the fire that sometimes flickers between historians and literary-minded academics who dip their feet into history. It can certainly be done, as I have seen and enjoyed many times, but not like this.
It might seem unfair or even inappropriate to post a review of In the Valley of the Kings after perusing only a short section of the book. But the truth is that I simply do not have the time for Daniel Meyerson's writing style. In short, I found it fanciful, meandering, speculative, and self-reverential. Here we have a professor of writing at Columbia attempting to pen a narrative history of Howard Carter and the culture of the archaeology community surrounding him through his life. He does this using mostly primary-source journal entries rather than the longer list of survey and archaeological histories also present in his bibliography. That alone would not be a poor choice, but he insists on painting subjective and liberty-strewn portraits of the major players in this story, which gives it an air of spuriousness. From Meyerson's branding of Gaston Maspero's purview in the Service des Antiquitiés as that of a "dictatorship", to his assessment that period pictures of William Flinders Petrie, the father of modern archaeology, would be more fitting were he to be naked rather than suited, as befits his excavation style. It is these "gliberties" that brand the author as anything but a historian trying to write a popular history book, much more akin to something Dan Brown would call "accurate" than anything else.
Meyerson has trouble clearly conveying a timeline for his slapdash list of events: Howard Carter's horse trips over a stone tomb block in 1898 even though he is narrating from Carter's point-of-view in 1900. In the next sentence, he describes the archaeologist's report from 1901 that describes the fall three years earlier, which then brings us back to 1900, two years after the fall, when he could finally begin excavation on the block over which he had tripped. And in essence, this is all ancillary, because Carter's spill-discovery was virtually empty, and was certainly not the tomb of the famous boy Pharaoh. The end of the chapter then spends two pages foreshadowing the fact that, though this one was not an important find, Carter would eventually find Tut's tomb and go on to fulfill his childhood dreams, etc. The beginning of the next chapter contains nothing about that find whatsoever, only more character-building and creative attribution. I could not tell you what comes after as I have not read that far. One would suspect that the tomb is eventually found, as history has it, but I would not feel confident in letting the author decree it so, at least in his staccato style.
His citations are curious. Instead of numbered endnotes or footnotes, Meyerson has a chapter of Notes in the end section of the book that simply lists a series of journal quotes that he used with a citation from where they were taken. (ex. 19 "a dominant personality" Emma Andrews diary, January 17th 1902.) None of these have corresponding numbers within the chapters themselves, which makes finding them in the text an unnecessary chore. It goes without saying that seeing sentence fragments in any guise from a professor of writing seems odd to this reviewer.
These things could quite honestly be skills unsuited to Meyerson's discipline, so we turn to what we can only suppose is his specialty: the writing craft. But the narrative of Kings is perhaps too effulgent and clever to be easily readable or even cogent. The flowery, bardic prose is spattered with unnecessary parentheticals that seem like either a wink-nudge to his audience or maybe an admission that there really isn't the space here to offer properly parsed background. What should be the delicate use of foreshadowing is boldly hammered throughout the first third of the book, just about ruining "the mystery" altogether. The subject matter doesn't seem to follow a flowing storyline within the division of chapters he has chosen to delineate. Perhaps most markedly, Meyerson allows himself to divert from the telling to meander around the creative images in his head: "Here, in the barren land of the quarries, inscriptions on stone recorded jubilant voices raised in self-praise." This, right in the middle of our introduction to William Petrie. Distracting, to say the least.
I think I get what Daniel Meyerson is trying to do; I think I understand his angle. The professor has done some good research, and though he may not be an expert on the period or the subject matter, he is trying to tantalize his audience using the skills he has and also teach them a little about what was going on in the desert during Carter's tenure there. For this, I give this effort two stars. But the fact remains that some people don't want to slog through a mile of mangrove to learn about alligators. I picked up this book because I thought it would teach me the pertinent background to Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun's Tomb, but really, it only taught me that I enjoy proper history far more than narrative, speculative mythistoire. Moreso, I'm ashamed that I gave up on a book, something that I almost never do. Perhaps I'll try again one day, but not before I read a bit more on the subject from other sources.
Whatever Time, Harper's, and the Washington Post might have positively said about one of his other books, The Linguist and the Emperor, on the back of this one is a lone endorsement written by a colleague of Meyerson's at Columbia. This is all English, all Literature, all Writing. It is not History, and for me, it is not palatable. And it adds fuel to the fire that sometimes flickers between historians and literary-minded academics who dip their feet into history. It can certainly be done, as I have seen and enjoyed many times, but not like this.
March 12, 2023
So much potential, so many shortcomings! How can you mess up the story of the guy who discovered King Tut's tomb?? My main issue with this one was stylistic. The author was going for sort of a chummy, gossipy vibe - he uses an entirely unnecessary number of exclamation points, ellipses, asked-and-answered questions, out of date slang ("dough" instead of money? really?), etc. which makes the whole thing seem like it was written by a high school cheerleader in the 1970s. There's informality, and there's just being juvenile. Also, the timeline/narrative was quite muddled: Meyerson would often refer to a thing that would happen in the future, tease it prematurely (ie, at the wrong point in his timeline), and then not go into proper depth about it when it was time to actually discuss it. The most egregious instance of this was Lord Carnarvon's death of an infected mosquito bite (!!!). You would think that would be an anecdote worth telling at length when the time came. You would be wrong. And about 200 pages in, Howard Carter discovers Tut's tomb, and then, I am not kidding about this, THE BOOK ENDS. Howard Carter worked on the tomb for a decade after its discovery - seems like that ought to have been part of the story.
March 18, 2021
Deals almost entirely with the decades leading up to the discovery of Tut's tomb. A good overview of Carter's early career and the state of turn of the century archaeology. A lot of references and asides that aren't fully explained in the text. I spent a lot of time on the internet researching pharaohs, excavators, and the occasional odd reference. Overall, a good read.
Read
April 10, 2022DNF
November 14, 2018
Äärmiselt huvitav muhedas stiilis kirjutatud raamat, nii meelelahutuslik kui ka silmaringi avardav. Oluline peatükk arheoloogia ajaloos avanes läbi seotud isikute elulugude, iseloomude ja vastastikuste suhete kirjelduste. Autor avas samuti poliitilist ja kultuurilist tausta määral, mis oli vajalik toimunu mõistmiseks.
Romantikaoreooli väliarhitekti ameti ümbert kahandas mõnevõrra info, et lõviosa tööst on ikkagi ränkraske ja nürimeelne rügamine, saamaks mingisuguseidki tulemusi. Halastamatu konkurents hakkas peaaegu meenutama Metsiku Lääne püstolikangelasi.
Mine tea, kas kõik suured avastused on juba tehtud või näeb praegugi mõni uus Carter kusagil liiva sees orja kombel vaeva, kompassiks kõhutunne ning toeks vaid kangekaelne eneseusk ja raudne distsipliin. Guugeldasin natuke ja paistab, et nipet-näpet leitakse pidevalt. Küllap arheolooge hoiab motiveerituna kujutluspilt võimalikust Tutanhamoni haua väärilisest või veelgi silmapaistvamast leiust, mille otsa võib hea õnne korral ka täiesti juhuslikult komistada.
Romantikaoreooli väliarhitekti ameti ümbert kahandas mõnevõrra info, et lõviosa tööst on ikkagi ränkraske ja nürimeelne rügamine, saamaks mingisuguseidki tulemusi. Halastamatu konkurents hakkas peaaegu meenutama Metsiku Lääne püstolikangelasi.
Mine tea, kas kõik suured avastused on juba tehtud või näeb praegugi mõni uus Carter kusagil liiva sees orja kombel vaeva, kompassiks kõhutunne ning toeks vaid kangekaelne eneseusk ja raudne distsipliin. Guugeldasin natuke ja paistab, et nipet-näpet leitakse pidevalt. Küllap arheolooge hoiab motiveerituna kujutluspilt võimalikust Tutanhamoni haua väärilisest või veelgi silmapaistvamast leiust, mille otsa võib hea õnne korral ka täiesti juhuslikult komistada.
January 17, 2018
Lugedes nüüd varasemaid arvamusi...
Viis tärni sai see just selle pärast, et ei rääkinud neljasaja viiekümne teist korda üle ammu läbi nämmutatud lugu poissvaarao hauast ja sellest, mis seal sees oli. Raamat põhimõtteliselt lõpeb kuulsa matusepaiga leidmisega ja palju rohkem sellest ei räägitagi.
Plusspunktid lähevad Meyersonile just selle eest, et ta annab põhjaliku ülevaate hea joonistajakäega teismelise poisi üsna juhuslikust kujunemisest üheks oma aja (tänu Tutanhamonile ilmselt küll ka kõigi aegade) tuntumaks arheoloogiks. Selleks Howard Carteriks, kellena suurem osa maailma teda tunneb, teadmata suurt midagi ta varasematest tegemistest. Väga hariv lugemine! :)
Viis tärni sai see just selle pärast, et ei rääkinud neljasaja viiekümne teist korda üle ammu läbi nämmutatud lugu poissvaarao hauast ja sellest, mis seal sees oli. Raamat põhimõtteliselt lõpeb kuulsa matusepaiga leidmisega ja palju rohkem sellest ei räägitagi.
Plusspunktid lähevad Meyersonile just selle eest, et ta annab põhjaliku ülevaate hea joonistajakäega teismelise poisi üsna juhuslikust kujunemisest üheks oma aja (tänu Tutanhamonile ilmselt küll ka kõigi aegade) tuntumaks arheoloogiks. Selleks Howard Carteriks, kellena suurem osa maailma teda tunneb, teadmata suurt midagi ta varasematest tegemistest. Väga hariv lugemine! :)
July 11, 2010
The moment of discovery of King Tut's tomb really captured my imagination when we saw the King Tut exhibit a few years ago. This book chronicles the history of Carter, the discoveries of other tombs, and the discovery of that of King Tut in a very readable fashion.
October 9, 2020
I enjoyed this book overall. It was fascinating to me to read about the early years of archaeology, most particularly Egyptian archaeology. This was a time when amateurs could gain access to historic sites and, if they were not good at what they do, do harm to the sites they were trying to investigate. Howard Carter seemed to be an amateur in many ways, though it also seems he was born to do the work. He was meticulous, careful, and recorded everything he found - well, maybe not quite everything. He might have appropriated a few mementos for himself along the way.
Carter did not fit in with the high society types he had to rub elbows with, since at that time the work of archaeology had to be funded by someone, and if not a museum or university, than you needed a wealthy patron. Carter made enemies and was likely not a welcome addition to your average cocktail party, as he was a loose cannon and didn't suffer fools lightly. But the author does a good job of presenting Carter's complexities and strengths, while not smoothing out the rough edges, so that even though he wasn't very likable, I remained interested enough to keep reading.
I do agree with another review I saw that I was disconcerted at times by how the narrative skips around, but this often seems to be a device used in both fiction and non-fiction. I guess it is artistic. Me, when I write my novels I just start at Point A and move to Point B.
As a rule I do not read biographies. If I am interested in someone because of their life's work or due to their participation in history, I will want to read about that, but I don't want to read about their grandparents, parents and childhood leading up to where it gets interesting. This book mainly concerns Carter's (and other peers') body of work in the field of archaeology - how he came to be the discoverer of Tut, and despite that discovery, how precarious his role turned out to be in the Valley of the Kings due to his combative nature, described so well in this book..
Carter did not fit in with the high society types he had to rub elbows with, since at that time the work of archaeology had to be funded by someone, and if not a museum or university, than you needed a wealthy patron. Carter made enemies and was likely not a welcome addition to your average cocktail party, as he was a loose cannon and didn't suffer fools lightly. But the author does a good job of presenting Carter's complexities and strengths, while not smoothing out the rough edges, so that even though he wasn't very likable, I remained interested enough to keep reading.
I do agree with another review I saw that I was disconcerted at times by how the narrative skips around, but this often seems to be a device used in both fiction and non-fiction. I guess it is artistic. Me, when I write my novels I just start at Point A and move to Point B.
As a rule I do not read biographies. If I am interested in someone because of their life's work or due to their participation in history, I will want to read about that, but I don't want to read about their grandparents, parents and childhood leading up to where it gets interesting. This book mainly concerns Carter's (and other peers') body of work in the field of archaeology - how he came to be the discoverer of Tut, and despite that discovery, how precarious his role turned out to be in the Valley of the Kings due to his combative nature, described so well in this book..
December 5, 2010
This is my book review for my sophomore World History class. Anyone care to read and give me their insights on the writing and what grade I deserved? I'd truly appreciate it. Thanks, Brittany.
In the Valley of the Kings by Daniel Meyerson describes the tale of Howard Carter and his journeys to uncovering ancient royal burial tombs including that of King Tutankhamun. The author takes the reader through the ups and downs, the struggles and easy goings from the very start of his career to the point where Carter begins making a name for himself in the excavating of Egyptian tombs.
The aforementioned author, Daniel Meyerson, has taught literature at many well respected universities including Columbia University, NYU, and Bennington. He himself received his MA in English and Comparative Literature as well as his M.Phil from Columbia University, where he was an Ellis Fellow. Meyerson’s writing talents also place him as an historian, novelist, screenwriter, and collaborator. Aside from In the Valley of the Kings he is the author of the well praised The Linguist and the Emperor: The Race to Decipher the Rosetta Stone and Blood and Splendor: The Lives of Five Tyrants, From Nero to Saddam Hussein.
Howard Carter began his career in his father’s line of work, drawing portraits of household pets. While painting portraits for a family friend by the name of William Tyssen-Amherst, an “Egyptomanic, an addict” (p. 13), Carter started to notice his elaborate collection of Egyptian artifacts and art. Fate took its course and he set about painting the Egyptian gods and goddesses. He soon became captivated with Egyptian art.
At age seventeen, Carter was hired by the Egyptian Exploration Fund to sketch the walls and art of tombs. Even though he was uneducated, had no money, and his manners were incompetent and impetuous. Carter was paired with none other that of Sir William Flinders Petrie, the father of modern archaeology. Petrie served as Carter’s most important mentor in Egypt. Although he enjoyed copying the tomb art, in due time Carter became aware that he wanted to excavate. And so he did, he started working on his own only a short few years later.
In 1892, Carter was made known as a excavator and was no longer just a copyist. Carter started researching Tut’s family history: Tutankhamun, the son of Akhenaten, Queen Tiye, mother of Pharaoh Akhnaten, Pharaoh Akhenaten, Servant of the Sun Disk also a revolutionary thinker. Carter, throughout the years, had been on many trips where he excavated tombs and uncovered ancient treasures but with no luck of uncovering King Tut’s tomb.
Moirai struck yet again when the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon arrived in Egypt. In an accident involving his car (only the third to be registered in Europe), “Two tires burst, and the car turned over and fell on Carnarvon, while the servant accompanying him was thrown clear of the burning wreck” (p. 143). Upon recovery, his doctors recommended a warm, dry climate and Egypt was the intuitive pick.
The earl, having money saw potential in Carter and so he funded his expeditions. The two became a natural pair even though there were blunt differences in their personalities. Against the mockery of several respected explorers and excavators of that time period. Finally seven years after meeting, their hard work would pay off.
By 1922, Howard Carter had been through the many peaks and valleys, the ups and downs of the excavating business. The opening of the tomb of the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun was a discovery that to this day remains intriguing and compelling.
The book In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb is one that I believe to be misleading in a number of ways. The title itself, or rather the subtitle, presents the book to hold a telling of mystery of an ancient Egyptian tomb, when in fact it does not. When I first got the book it looked promising from the dust cover summary as well as from the first couple pages or so. The auspicious features lead the reader to believe the story is a good source of information on the conundrum of the teen King Tutankhamun.
After reading further into the book and down the line finishing it, it became obvious that I had indeed wrongly interpreted the idea of the book. This book deals mainly with Howard Carter himself rather than ancient Egypt. It is merely a compendium of Carter’s early adulthood and his career. Rather than a read that provides the historical information on Egypt that lured me into choosing this particular book, it is most simply about Howard Carter.
Although I would not have chosen the book if I had known its true contents, I must give credit where credit is due. Daniel Meyerson is a exceptionally intelligent man, how he gathered all the information written and the time he found to do it in is unknown to me. I would most certainly say that the man did he research, perhaps even a bit too much research. Meyerson even inserts pictures that relate to the subject at hand, none of which being focused on ancient Egyptian tombs.
There are those of us who may like to read books that are misleading and are packed full of entirely too much useless information such as this one. If you so happen to be one of those people then you just might enjoy reading In the Valley of the Kings, but I myself am far from being of such. Also I am not captivated by reads that have a habit of skipping around. This makes the story all the more harder get into and understand.
I have no doubt that it is clear to see that I have become disappointed with this book. Meyerson could have found ways to make the book more appealing to the reader. I might even go as far as suggesting a different subtitle for the story. All in all, the book is one that I would say is deceitful and I would recommend it to, if anyone, those who are extremely amused by the subject.
April 6, 2023
When I checked this book out from my local library I thought it would be a quick enjoyable read at 199 pages. Alas, that was not to be. The author jumps back and forth in modern time (1890s to 1920s) with no apparent rhyme or reason that I could fine. Throughout the book, I felt there had to be information I wasn't picking up on which caused me to never feel connected to what I was reading. Throughout the book I thought about not finishing it, but my stubbornness wouldn't let 199 pages defeat. I wanted something to show; i.e. a finished book for the time I expended.
January 27, 2025
Howard Carter and his search and discovery of the King Tut tomb has to be one of the great stories of one of the greatest discoveries ever. But Meyerson manages to make it not too exciting and harder to follow than it needs to be. His continual use of incomplete sentences made me read many parts twice, thinking I had misread. A story doesn't have to unfold chronogically to work, but this one went all over the place, backwards and forwards, so that the drama of that incredible discovery was lost. This was a fascinating story not so well told.
December 24, 2018
Only 1 star because only 1 chapter of the entire book pleased my curiosity and that was the discovery of the Tutankhamun's tomb. Litteraly everyting else was setting up towards the discovery of the tomb which killed it for me. I expected this book to be all about the contents of the tomb, the painstainking details about the tomb and subsequent conclusions learned from it but all i got was a book which is like a prequel to the book i wanted and i was dissapointed.
October 22, 2023
Light read on the stormy beginnings of modern archeology in Egypt. Full of eccentric archeologists and their mostly petty, long term arguments, the book bravely delves into the atmosphere of early 1900s.
Beware - it's written in a gossipy tone, with no chronological order. The main discovery is definitely not the focus of the book. It's actually at the very end of it.
Still, intriguing and pleasant to read.
(Polish edition review)
Beware - it's written in a gossipy tone, with no chronological order. The main discovery is definitely not the focus of the book. It's actually at the very end of it.
Still, intriguing and pleasant to read.
(Polish edition review)
November 7, 2022
Been a while since I disliked a book this much - since it was short, I forced myself to finish it... Kind of a "creative writing" style for a history book, lots of jumping back and forth, a lot of reading into motivations and character quirks, really weird cultural references (both period-relevant and modern-day)... Just not what I was looking for in a book on Tutankhamun...
July 26, 2023
This book was decent and informative, but there is very little covered on the actual discovery of King Tutankhamun. I believe it was 4 or 5 pages, right at the end. Most of the book is fragments about Carter's life, here and there, mixed in with fragments of others as well. I would have liked for it to have been more about Carter's life, if not about the tomb.
January 31, 2024
Is it an exacting history of Tut’s reign and early 20th century efforts that found his tomb? No. Is it an eminently readable look into ancient Egyptian history and the cult of Egyptology that unearthed many of the tombs? Absolutely. I wanted a better understanding of both after visiting the Tut exhibit in Houston and found this book to be a fantastic summary.
October 24, 2017
Interesting book for those with a mild interest in egyptology. While probably not a go to book for hardcore egyptology fans. Its a brief overview of the Howard Carter's Life and his involvement with his discovery in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt
March 3, 2021
While it was a fascinating topic about Carter pre-Tutankhamun, there was a lack of chronology in the book. It made it a disorientating read when Meyerson would jump from the 1900s, to the 1800s, and back within a few paragraphs.
June 8, 2025
Although the story bounces around a bit, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the detailed story of Howard Carter's life. I was left wanting to learn about Egypt's history, the study of archeology in that region, and, of course, King Tutankhamun. Like a good adventure, I'm sad it's come to an end.
June 7, 2018
A fascinating account of the backstory and story of the search for and finding of King Tut’s tomb by Howard Carter.
March 23, 2019
The unfolding of the history was a little uneven, peeking ahead in what was to come.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
December 4, 2022
Minu arvamuse leiab blogist https://triinuraamatud.wordpress.com/...
July 17, 2025
3.8 stars. I read this a while back, and thought it to be a very interesting look at a famous discovery.
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