The King's Shadow

Eine wahre Abenteuergeschichte: vom einfachen Arbeiterjungen zum ForschungsreisendenDeserteur, Pilger, Arzt, Archäologe, Spion und Wissenschaftler: Die Lebensgeschichte des einfachen Arbeiterjungen James Lewis, besser bekannt als Charles Masson, klingt wie eine abenteuerliche Erzählung. Doch sie ist wahr: Edmund Richardson nimmt uns mit in die Abgründe der Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Sein erzählendes Sachbuch entführt in die Welt imperialer Mächte und Spionage, berichtet von Besessenheit, Hoffnung und unfassbaren Entdeckungen aus einer anderen Zeit.Es ist die sorgfältig recherchierte Geschichte eines Abenteurers, der in Afghanistan die verlorene Stadt Alexanders des Großen entdeckte.- Das atemberaubende Leben eines Forschungsreisenden in einer packend erzählten Roman-Biografie- Als Europäer für die Ostindien-Kompanie in Indien, Balochistan und Afghanistan- Ein fesselndes Buch über den Entdecker von Alexandria und weiterer Zeugnisse afghanischer Geschichte- Für alle, die an außergewöhnlichen Biografien, Entdeckungsreisen und der Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts interessiert sindAls imperiale Mächte und die Ostindischen Kompanien die Welt beherrschtenWir schreiben das Jahr 1827, als Charles Masson beschloss, seinem Leben eine andere Wendung zu geben. Was er als Soldat für die Ostindien-Kompanie erlebt hatte, war zu viel. Er wollte nach eigenen Vorstellungen leben und die Gewalt durch die imperialen Handelsgesellschaften nicht länger mittragen. Schon bald wurde er als Deserteur durch Indien gejagt.Plötzlich ist man mittendrin im Abenteuer eines Mannes, der sein Leben selbst in die Hand nimmt. Und schier Unfassbares entdecken sollte. Lassen Sie sich zurückversetzen in vergangene Zeiten und reisen Sie Seite an Seite mit einem legendären Entdecker durch faszinierende Länder und ihre Geschichte.

'Not all lost cities are real, but this one was.'<BR>The extraordinary story of Alexander the Great's lost city, and a quest to unravel one of the most captivating mysteries in ancient history.<BR><BR>'Superb . impeccably researched, but with the pace and deftly woven plot complexity of a John le Carré novel ... utterly brilliant' William Dalrymple, Guardian<BR>'[An] exceptional biography ... This is a jewel of a book' Sunday Times<BR>'A brilliant and evocative biography, written with consummate scholarship, great style and wit' Daily Telegraph<BR><BR>______<BR><BR>For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, an ordinary working-class boy from London turned deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist and highly respected scholar.<BR><BR>On the way into one of history's most extraordinary stories, Masson would take tea with kings, travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have glimpsed since. He would spy for the East India Company and be suspected of spying for Russia at the same time, for this was the era of the Great Game, when imperial powers confronted each other in these staggeringly beautiful lands. Masson discovered tens of thousands of pieces of Afghan history, including the 2,000-year-old Bimaran golden casket, which has upon it the earliest known face of the Buddha. He would be offered his own kingdom; he would change the world, and the world would destroy him.<BR><BR>This is a wild journey through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire, amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession passed down the centuries.<BR><BR>**Chosen as a Book of the Year by the Spectator, Listener and Sydney Morning Herald**

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2026<BR><BR>'I really cannot overstate how fabulous this book is' DAILY MAIL<BR>'Dazzling... This is biography of great brilliance and rare resonance' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE<BR>'A pulsating, vivid life of a true historical titan' DAN JONES<BR>'A splendid book, lively, erudite... where myth and heroism meet' RORY STEWART<BR><BR>A stunningly written new biography of Alexander the Great, based on a series of important new discoveries and the author's own translations of source material from twelve ancient languages.<BR><BR>In 336 BCE, at the age of twenty, Alexander, a wide-eyed boy from the hills of Macedon, inherited a tumbledown kingdom, a pile of debts and an army which answered to nobody. Desperate to hold on to power, he led the army east, into the heart of the vast Persian Empire, and inadvertently began the greatest military campaign in history. The young man became a king, the king became a hero, the hero became a living god, and the god died aged thirty-two, broken-hearted in Babylon.<BR><BR> For centuries, historians have told his story, yet Alexander has remained a mystery. But now, the ruins of his cities have emerged from the bottom of the sea and the dust of Central Asian hillsides. The diaries of Babylonian astronomers who knew him have been deciphered. The tombs of his ancestors have been unearthed. For the first time, instead of the legend, we can meet Alexander the man.<BR><BR> Based on more than a decade of cutting-edge research, Alexander allows readers to feel the desert wind and experience the full horror of battle. Richardson's research has taken him from the catacombs of Egypt to the passes of Afghanistan. Alexander is a cinematic work of non-fiction: a revelatory retelling of one of the most famous and elusive stories in history.

23:B&W 6 x 9 in or 229 x 152 mm Perfect Bound on White w/Gloss Lam