INTO THE MUMMY'S TOMB

A brief but authoritative update on the archeological find of the century. In the same large format as Beattie's Buried in Ice (p. 392) and other ``Time Quest'' books, Egyptologist Reeves (The Complete Tutankhamun, 1990) describes the ``real-life discovery of Tutankhamun's treasures.'' The tale is oft-told, but the authors supply behind-the-scenes details: how the excavation became a media event; why Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon secretly visited the burial chamber the night before its official unsealing; the struggle for control over its contents—in fact, Reeves reveals, antiquities thought lost have turned up, hidden in Carnarvon's English castle, as recently as 1988, and he hints at more to come. Profusely illustrated with photos, maps, and paintings (particularly valuable are cutaway reconstructions showing the original disposition of major objects); sidebar essays; glossary; small, current bibliography. (Nonfiction. 11-15)