A.S.H. Smyth

A pawn in the Great Game: the sad story of Charles Masson

Edmund Richardson describes how an archaeologist, discovering priceless treasures near Kabul, was forced to spy for the EIC and was ultimately ruined

G.T. Vigne’s sketch of the plains of Bagram and Kohistan mountains, 1836. Credit: Getty Images 
issue 22 May 2021
  • Comments

  • Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City

    Edmund Richardson

    Bloomsbury, pp. 352, £25

Already a subscriber? Log in

This article is for subscribers only

Subscribe today to get 3 months' delivery of the magazine, as well as online and app access, for only £3.

  • Weekly delivery of the magazine
  • Unlimited access to our website and app
  • Enjoy Spectator newsletters and podcasts
  • Explore our online archive, going back to 1828

Read next

Trending

Mark Galeotti

How Putin will make Assad pay for his exile

‘Brave Assad fled to Putin. Where will Putin flee?’ asked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky after the Syrian dictator escaped embattled Damascus for Moscow at the weekend. Assad was granted asylum in the Russia capital on the ‘humanitarian grounds’ he had denied his own subjects for so long. But what kind of life is Putin offering

More on archaeology

Also by A.S.H. Smyth

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in