From James Bruce's intrepid journey up the Nile to the departure of the last British troops from Suez, Lifting the Veilportrays the shifting interests, dreams and failures, passions and intrigues of an extraordinary cast of characters. From Napoleon Bonaparte with his schemes to control the overland route to India, to tomb raiders such as Giovanni Belzoni; from scholars such as hieroglyph-decoder Champollion to Thomas Cook and his wide-eyed tourists and Cromer and his bureaucrats, this fast-paced and richly described narrative illuminates a bygone world and charts the end of imperialism and the advent of Egyptian independence