Adult Book Group (Hybrid)

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Program Type:

Book Group, Hybrid

Age Group:

Adults
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Program Description

Event Details

Join us for a lively discussion about this month's title. All are welcome.

For June, we will be discussing Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olson.

In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against time: the international campaign to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples from drowning in the floodwaters of the gigantic new Aswan High Dam. But the coverage of this unprecedented rescue effort completely overlooked the daring French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples—including the Temple of Dendur, now at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art—would currently be at the bottom of a vast reservoir. It was an unimaginably complex project that required the fragile sandstone temples to be dismantled and rebuilt on higher ground.

Willful and determined, Desroches-Noblecourt refused to be cowed by anyone or anything. As a member of the French Resistance in World War II she survived imprisonment by the Nazis; in her fight to save the temples she defied two of the most daunting leaders of the postwar world, Egypt’s President Abdel Nasser and France’s President Charles de Gaulle. As she told one reporter, “You don’t get anywhere without a fight, you know.”

Desroches-Noblecourt also received help from a surprising source. Jacqueline Kennedy, America’s new First Lady, persuaded her husband to help fund the rescue effort. After a century and a half of Western plunder of Egypt’s ancient monuments, Desroches-Noblecourt helped instead to preserve a crucial part of that cultural heritage.

Pick up a copy of this month's book at the Accounts Desk at Vancouver Community Library.

Attending virtually? Call 360 906-5140, and ask the staff to have a copy delivered to your local branch.


Join us online at the time of the event by clicking here: Google Meet Link.

Need a reminder? Click on the "Remind Me" clock button above and enter your email or select the "Add to My Calendar" feature.

You will need a computer, tablet or phone with a camera and microphone.

Note


Library events and programs are open to the public and provided at no cost. Special accommodations may be requested using our Disability Accommodation Request Form no later than 15 days prior to the event.

Los eventos y programas de la biblioteca están abiertos al público y se brindan sin costo. Se pueden solicitar adaptaciones especiales utilizando nuestro formulario de solicitud de adaptaciones para personas con discapacidades (en inglés) hasta 15 días antes del evento.