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9781526603821 6290c705c338669172915e72 Alexandria The Quest For The Lost City https://www.midlandbookshop.com/s/607fe93d7eafcac1f2c73ea4/6290c706c338669172915e99/51ohkhidnvl.jpg
'This is a jewel of a book' - SUNDAY TIMES

'One of the great stories of archaeology, exploration and espionage' - William Dalrymple

'Immensely enjoyable' - BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE
____________________________________

For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, an ordinary working-class boy from London turned deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist and highly respected scholar.

On the way into one of history's most extraordinary stories, Masson would take tea with kings, travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have glimpsed since.

This is a wild journey through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire, amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession passed down the centuries.

'Impressive ... Masson has at last found the intrepid biographer he has so long deserved' - John Keay
 
 

Review

Charles Masson is the quixotic and wildly colourful subject of this exceptional biography ... This is a jewel of a book. It rescues Masson from history's cutting-room floor and brings him richly, ripely to life ... Brave, dedicated, endlessly curious, Masson deserves his rediscovery -- James McConnachie - Sunday Times

Only now, with this superb biography, is Masson's tale told in full for the first time. The result, evocatively written, impeccably researched and minutely footnoted, but with the pace and deftly woven plot complexity of a John le Carré novel, is a small masterpiece. It solves most of the mysteries of Masson's story and deserves all the acclaim it will undoubtedly win ... utterly brilliant -- William Dalrymple - Guardian

Masson was one of the most extraordinary of many extraordinary Europeans roaming between Persia and India in the 19th century ... A brilliant and evocative biography, written with consummate scholarship, great style and wit. Through the study of one man, Richardson illuminates an entire world -- Harry Sidebottom - Daily Telegraph

Masson's story is brilliantly retold by Edmund Richardson . A lucid, thrilling and poetic narrative that does justice to the subject. -- Bijan Omrani - Literary Review

Rarely has a work of non-fiction so brilliantly wrong-footed its readers as Edmund Richardson's Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City, which expertly subverts expectations, interweaving narrative, history and biography throughout ... A remarkable achievement, and that rare thing, a book guaranteed to change your perspective on the world -- Sebastian Milbank - Tablet

Immensely enjoyable . a highly entertaining representation of the world of 19th-century India and Afghanistan, and of the daredevil antics of an adventurer hooked on the past, looking to survive, prosper and make his mark in a world of shifting sands and shadows - BBC History Magazine

One of the great stories of archaeology, exploration and espionage told in full for the first time - and brought to life with passion, style, scholarship, empathy and anger ... full, extraordinary, heart-breaking ... Edmund Richardson is a new star whose painstaking research and evocative prose has resulted in an utterly brilliant biography. It deserves all the prizes and acclaim it will undoubtedly win. -- William Dalrymple

Richardson is a natural teller of such exuberant stories and the book is full of colourful characters -- A. S. H. Smyth - Spectator

Impressive. In a string of spirited encounters classicist Edmund Richardson tails the vagabond antiquarian who called himself Charles Masson to 1830s Afghanistan ... Masson has at last found the intrepid biographer he has so long deserved. -- John Keay --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Book Description

'Not all lost cities are real, but this one was.'

The extraordinary story of Alexander the Great, a lost city and a quest to unravel one of the greatest mysteries in ancient history

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Edmund Richardson is Associate Professor of Classics at Durham University, UK. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity (2013), and was named one of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers in 2016. --This text refers to the paperback edition.
 
9781526603821
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Alexandria The Quest For The Lost City

Alexandria The Quest For The Lost City

ISBN: 9781526603821
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Details
  • ISBN: 9781526603821
  • Author: Edmund Richardson
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury
  • Pages: 408
  • Format: Paperback
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Book Description

'This is a jewel of a book' - SUNDAY TIMES

'One of the great stories of archaeology, exploration and espionage' - William Dalrymple

'Immensely enjoyable' - BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE
____________________________________

For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, an ordinary working-class boy from London turned deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist and highly respected scholar.

On the way into one of history's most extraordinary stories, Masson would take tea with kings, travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have glimpsed since.

This is a wild journey through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire, amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession passed down the centuries.

'Impressive ... Masson has at last found the intrepid biographer he has so long deserved' - John Keay
 
 

Review

Charles Masson is the quixotic and wildly colourful subject of this exceptional biography ... This is a jewel of a book. It rescues Masson from history's cutting-room floor and brings him richly, ripely to life ... Brave, dedicated, endlessly curious, Masson deserves his rediscovery -- James McConnachie - Sunday Times

Only now, with this superb biography, is Masson's tale told in full for the first time. The result, evocatively written, impeccably researched and minutely footnoted, but with the pace and deftly woven plot complexity of a John le Carré novel, is a small masterpiece. It solves most of the mysteries of Masson's story and deserves all the acclaim it will undoubtedly win ... utterly brilliant -- William Dalrymple - Guardian

Masson was one of the most extraordinary of many extraordinary Europeans roaming between Persia and India in the 19th century ... A brilliant and evocative biography, written with consummate scholarship, great style and wit. Through the study of one man, Richardson illuminates an entire world -- Harry Sidebottom - Daily Telegraph

Masson's story is brilliantly retold by Edmund Richardson . A lucid, thrilling and poetic narrative that does justice to the subject. -- Bijan Omrani - Literary Review

Rarely has a work of non-fiction so brilliantly wrong-footed its readers as Edmund Richardson's Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City, which expertly subverts expectations, interweaving narrative, history and biography throughout ... A remarkable achievement, and that rare thing, a book guaranteed to change your perspective on the world -- Sebastian Milbank - Tablet

Immensely enjoyable . a highly entertaining representation of the world of 19th-century India and Afghanistan, and of the daredevil antics of an adventurer hooked on the past, looking to survive, prosper and make his mark in a world of shifting sands and shadows - BBC History Magazine

One of the great stories of archaeology, exploration and espionage told in full for the first time - and brought to life with passion, style, scholarship, empathy and anger ... full, extraordinary, heart-breaking ... Edmund Richardson is a new star whose painstaking research and evocative prose has resulted in an utterly brilliant biography. It deserves all the prizes and acclaim it will undoubtedly win. -- William Dalrymple

Richardson is a natural teller of such exuberant stories and the book is full of colourful characters -- A. S. H. Smyth - Spectator

Impressive. In a string of spirited encounters classicist Edmund Richardson tails the vagabond antiquarian who called himself Charles Masson to 1830s Afghanistan ... Masson has at last found the intrepid biographer he has so long deserved. -- John Keay --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Book Description

'Not all lost cities are real, but this one was.'

The extraordinary story of Alexander the Great, a lost city and a quest to unravel one of the greatest mysteries in ancient history

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Edmund Richardson is Associate Professor of Classics at Durham University, UK. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity (2013), and was named one of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers in 2016. --This text refers to the paperback edition.
 

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