Jonathan Downs

This is my first foray into Napoleon's troops in Egypt - an angle which was going to appeal to me. It worked, with Nelson swooping in and ruining it for the French, Napoleon promising them a troop of comedians to cheer them up, the ghastly Menou despising his savants and the delightful Clarke and Cripps. Downes sets the scene brilliantly, introducing Egypt's various conquerors up to 1798, following the soldiers and savants throughout their hard and hopeless campaign, and summarising all the research into the journey of the stone from Rosetta to London, as well as the sarcophagus believed to be that of Alexander the Great.… (meer)