THE British Museum has played a huge role in constructing the world鈥檚 view of Egypt鈥檚 past. Stephanie Moser shows how the museum came to define Egyptian culture by the way it presented objects to the public. This fascinating exploration looks at the history of some of its iconic treasures and how they ended up at the museum, like the sarcophagus of Nectanebo II, seized from the French as a prize of war. The French, according to the British, were lawless plunderers, while the museum鈥檚 aim of bringing the past to the public somehow absolved it of a similar charge.
Wondrous Curiosities
University of Chicago Press
