I watched the recent BBC television series ‘Egypt’ with great pleasure – despite a few minor quibbles I thought it was both serious in intent and extremely entertaining. This book of the series by Joyce Tyldesley is even better. Rather than concentrating on only three individuals (Carter, Belzoni and Champollion) as the TV series did, Dr Tyldesley gives a much broader, fuller and more balanced account of the history of Egyptology from its early beginnings up to the present day.
Carter, Belzoni and Champollion are given the recognition they deserve, but so are other giants of the subject such as Lepsius and Petrie, and the discoveries of current Egyptologists (of whom the best known is perhaps Dr Zahi Hawass) are also set in their historical context.
I found this overview of the history of archaeological activity in Egypt fascinating, useful and well-written. There are plenty of books describing the history of Egypt, but this is the first one I have come across which gives such a succinct account of the subject itself. It deserves to become a classic of Egyptological writing.