Burton is more intensely aware that if all the preparations he has put into this disguise-preparation that would put the likes of Robert DeNiro and Daniel Day-Lewis to absolute shame-were seen through he would never walk out that room again. Chapter One begins with a thrilling portrait right out of a spy novel of an explore Richard Burton sitting in a room in Egypt in 1854 disguised as a man claiming to be Shaykh Abdullah. The Prologue fashions a thematic introduction out of the date it begins: 1801, quite literally the first year of the 19th century. It is one of the great ironies of the modern world that many of the greatest archaeological treasures extricated from beneath the sands of ancient Egypt are stored in the British Museum. In fact, he won’t even make it beyond the Prologue, but the little short story about him making up that section previews most of the greater themes the book will proceed to pursue. Hamilton is by no means a major character in the book or even a supporting character for that matter. This book begins with a Prologue which describes a British soldier named William Richard Hamilton arriving at the gates of Alexandria in the wake of Lord Nelson’s defeat of Napoleon. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.
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