Digging for God and Country: Exploration, Archeology and the Secret Struggle for the Holy Land, 1799 to 1917

New York: Alfred A. Knopf; A Borzoi Book, 1982. xv, 228 pages, [14] leaves of plates, illustrations; 25 cm. Tight, clean copy. Age toning. Stated First Edition. Dust jacket, with a creased front flap, protected in a mylar cover. "This volume presents a study of the beginnings of biblical archeology examines its historical background and the cultural conditions which influenced its development. The author knits together this period's events and trends, starting with Napoleon's campaign in the Middle East, to which he attached French scholars, and ending with the British conquest of Ottoman Palestine in 1917. He reports on the political in-fighting and covert plotting between rival nations and the individual battles between opposing scholars that led to many of archeology's greatest discoveries." - Publisher. CONTENTS: Preface; PART I: A LAND OF MYTHS. 1. The lure of the Holy land; 2. Rumblings in the East; 3. The land of the butcher; 4. Visions of the end of the world; 5. The evolution of a dream; PART II: POWER AND PRESTIGE. 6. Conquering the wilderness; 7. For the glory of France; 8. A matter of honor; 9. Building the New Jerusalem; 10. The pastimes of an empire; 11. Race for a relic; 12. Spying out the land; PART III: THE TRIUMPH OF SCIENCE. 13. One million pounds sterling; 14. Coming of age; 15. The Kaiser and the Sultan; 16. The American method; 17. Secrets of the Temple Mount; 18. The Last Crusade; Epilogue: The future of the past.. 1st.. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo.